by Taylor Hart
Punching out an old friend—well, semi-friend—had not been what Kent had planned on doing while in Denver. All of the old feelings of jealousy pulsed through him, but he quickly squashed them. That was stupid. They all just stood there for a couple of seconds.
Ty exhaled, glancing from her to him. Kent thought he might get angry, but then he just let out a long breath and said, “Hey, Kent.” He stepped toward him, holding out his hand. “Good to see you, man.”
It hadn’t been the reaction he’d expected when he saw Ty again. Befuddled, he shook Ty’s hand. “Hey.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Ty said. “Honestly, I didn’t know until recently, and then … I wanted to reach out, but I didn’t know how.”
Kent was touched. “Thank you.”
Ty hesitated, then exchanged a nod with Jewel. “Catch you guys later,” he said, and he walked away.
He watched Ty leave, then he turned back to face Jewel. For a long moment the two of them just stood there, staring at each other.
The woman was gorgeous. She wore a pin-striped skirt suit, a red silk blouse, and red shoes to match. Raw attraction surged through him, surprising him. He’d tried to convince himself that this was nothing more than a visit with an old friend, but now those thoughts retreated to the deep recesses of his mind.
Judging by what he’d just witnessed with she and Ty, she hadn’t been kidding when she’d told him that things were complicated. Unable to stop himself, he grinned at her. “I guess I should have called first.”
Their eyes met again, and a tiny smile lifted her lips. Those were the exact words she’d told him when she’d caught him kissing Addy all those years ago—though neither of them had been smiling back then.
“Guess so.”
He took that as a good sign. “So that was that complicated thing you were telling me about?”
Suddenly, she started laughing so hard that she put her hand over her stomach and stumbled back. “This is crazy.”
He didn’t know if she was having some kind of breakdown, but laughing was better than crying, right? “What?”
“Right, you should have called,” she said, a bit out of breath. “I can’t believe I said that when I saw you kissing Addy.”
Something released all the emotion he’d been feeling the past couple of days, and he was laughing too. He had to lean back and support himself against the car. It was one of those awesomely messy moments between two people that just feels so darn good.
After a bit, she sucked in a long breath and just smiled at him.
“What?” he asked her.
“I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I can’t either.” He raked a hand through his hair.
Her face turned a bit coy. “Do you still want to ride that Ferris wheel?”
His heart rate spiked. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Two hours later, they were seated on the Ferris wheel at Elitch Gardens. Music played and the place was full of people enjoying the rides. The sun was going down, and contrast of bright lights against the deepening dusk gave the scene a strange, movie-like quality.
They’d done the small talk on the way over, discussing his conference and his passion about having all doctors implement a year in Africa into their training. Now, as they sat by each other, he just felt calm. All the nerves from the past two weeks were gone.
They patiently waited for more people to load into the Ferris wheel.
“Isn’t it strange how all of life can just come back to one nice sunset if you’ll let it?” he asked.
She leaned back into the seat. “It’s beautiful. Colorado has some of the best sunsets.”
He turned back to her, smiling. “California had nice ones, too. Do you remember how we would race around the Santa Monica Pier from ride to ride?”
She went still. “I still think about those times. A lot, actually.”
Their shoulders touched, and he felt a surge of that familiar chemistry. Too bad this was so confusing. How could he still be this attracted to her? He focused on the sky. “My mother used to talk about how everything sorted itself out when you watched a sunset.”
“I like that.”
Neither of them spoke, and the Ferris wheel kept circling.
Truthfully, if Adds hadn’t died, this would all be a nonissue, locked away in the recesses of his heart. He never would have gone to Africa. He never would have been off-grid. Maybe he never would have come to Denver for a conference.
“Are you okay?” she asked quietly.
“I think so. I’m not going to lie; it’s been a rough year, and I was more than surprised to hear your name again, Jewel. I have mixed emotions about being here, things that I’m still working out in my mind.”
She put her hand on top of his. “I’m so sorry again about Addy.”
The gesture was kind, and he nodded. “Thank you.”
“I can’t imagine how hard it’s been.”
He had long gotten over the fact that no one could understand what he’d gone through, losing Addy so suddenly. “It was really hard.”
Silence descended on them.
Part of him didn’t want to ask this question, but he found himself giving in. “So what is the status between you and Ty, exactly?”
Her features seemed to sag, and she leaned back, letting out a long breath. “Ty came out to Denver with me last year when my mom got sick. But…he’s going back to Boston now.” She hesitated.
He wanted to press more, but didn’t know how.
“That was a final goodbye.”
“Is that what the kiss meant?” He glanced at her.
“Yes, that’s what that kiss meant.”
Adrenaline spiked through him. He shouldn’t be so jealous and disconcerted to see her and Ty kissing. It was ridiculous.
“As you know, Ty asked me to marry him a couple of months ago,” she said, not looking at him. “And I turned him down because I realized I couldn’t love him the way I needed to and it wasn’t fair to him.”
There was silence for a few moments.
He changed the topic. “Your father will be fine in Africa, just so you know.”
Now she faced him, looking vulnerable. “I hope so. I fought it for a long time, but recently I realized that I want him to be able to live, ya know? Be able to still have fun and do all the things he wants to do. Be happy. So I’ve been working really hard to support him.”
“That’s good.”
Another round of awkwardness.
“I never thought we’d be on a Ferris wheel together ever again,” she said shyly. Then she laughed. “Remember how we wanted to go hang gliding over that spring break, too? But it didn’t work out.”
Suddenly, he remembered the huge list of all the things they’d wanted to do in Denver on their spring break. “Do you remember why we didn’t go hang gliding?”
“Because we ended up spending the day with Molly and McKay and McKay has a terrible fear of heights.”
He grunted. “Yep.”
The Ferris wheel started letting people off. Part of him didn’t want this to end. He liked sitting on the Ferris wheel, talking like things were just normal and ten years hadn’t passed between them.
“It was real, wasn’t it?” she asked suddenly.
The question took him by surprise. He met her pale, green eyes.
She blew out a long breath. “I’m sorry, don’t answer that.”
Kent didn’t know what was happening between them. It was familiar and yet fragile and new.
Their turn came to get off, and Kent waited for her to go first.
“A gentleman,” she said as they walked down the ramp. “You know, that’s one thing I didn’t realize I’d been spoiled by when we dated in college. Your mom pounded manners into the Hardman brothers.”
He smiled. “Yes, she did.”
They moved out of the exit ramp, and he didn’t know what to do next. He was feeling so many things, having so many memories.
“Kent,” she whisp
ered.
“Yeah?” he said, feeling out of sorts.
“Want to walk around while we’re here?”
It’d been a long time since he’d ridden a roller coaster. “Nope, I want to race you from ride to ride. You in?”
Jewel beamed. “It’s on.”
Chapter 17
The next morning, Jewel drove into Denver. She was going to stop at work and check in, then head to Kent’s conference. He was the speaker at eleven a.m., and he’d asked her to come listen. It was a good thing that her boss was out of town today, because she could be late and no one would care.
She thought of the night before, of running from ride to ride with Kent. “You sounded like a girl,” she’d said after they’d gotten off the Tilt-a-Whirl ride.
“Shut it, Jackson,” he said with a laugh.
And bam! It had all come back, as if the past ten years hadn’t existed. They’d gone from ride to ride to ride, laughing, screaming, and high-fiving. After each one, he’d take her hand and pull her to the next one. It had felt so easy and natural.
Could it be a beginning with Kent again? She wasn’t sure yet. The attorney in her wanted to make him give a definition of terms, but she wouldn’t do that.
Her phone rang and she saw that it was Molly, so she answered it through her Bluetooth. “Hello.”
Right out of the gate, Molly announced, “I heard from a birdie that you and Kent Hardman were together last night.”
Jewel giggled. She wasn’t sure how her friends knew, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with her father. “Hey to you too. What are you doing, just sitting around gossiping about me?”
“Yeah, we are,” she heard McKay say.
They probably had her on speaker. She envisioned them in their little law firm on the outskirts of Denver, drinking coffee. “Was it my father?” she had to ask.
Silence. Crap, what was going on?
McKay cursed. “Ty showed up at my apartment last night. Even though he was trying to be brave, he had a bruised ego the size of Texas. Or maybe even one of those small foreign countries. The kind of country that buys up nuclear weapons to threaten America from time to time.”
Jewel’s stomach lurched. She hadn’t even thought about him last night, much less worried about him. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” said McKay. “And after I talked him off a ledge about getting on a plane immediately and leaving for Boston, we had a nice heart-to-heart about you and him and how you both wanted different things in life.”
With a rush of relief, Jewel took the exit and headed straight to her building. “Thank you, McKay.” She couldn’t help but ask, “So is Ty staying in Denver or going back to Boston?”
McKay sighed. “As of right now, he’s staying. He has huge opportunity at his firm.”
McKay had a way of helping people see the blunt truth. Jewel didn’t always appreciate that quality when it was directed at her, but right now she was grateful for it. “You’re a good friend, McKay.”
“Dang straight, I am,” McKay growled. “And please tell me that all my settling of Ty was worth something, because you owe me, Jewel. Doing therapy with ex-boyfriends is something I bill out at five hundred an hour, just so you know.” McKay always decided random billing hours for things she hated.
Jewel laughed. “Add it to my bill.”
“So tell us everything.” Molly took over, rambling on excitedly. “How is Kent?”
Butterflies flocked in Jewel’s stomach. She wanted to play it cool, but she couldn’t hide it from her friends. “We went to Elitch Gardens and rode on the Ferris wheel.”
“Ahh,” Molly sighed.
“Barf,” McKay commented.
“Yeah, it was totally a barf kind of night. We even had cotton candy at the end.”
Mckay’s tone was dry when she said, “Well, I’m glad it’s working out.”
Jewel parked her car and cut the engine. “Thank you.” She wondered why Ty had gone to McKay’s house, but she didn’t want to get into it. She got out of her car, putting in her AirPods and streaming her phone to them.
“Are you going to see him today? How long is he here?” Molly asked, still the ever-bubbly voice.
Jewel walked toward her building. “I’m going to see him speak at eleven.”
“Yeah, yeah,” McKay said. “I want to see him.” She made it sound like a threat.
“I do too!” Molly squealed.
Nervous angst wove through Jewel. She did not need her two best friends coming around before she knew where she stood or what this even was. “Today’s not going to work.” She yanked open the door and rushed up the stairs to her floor.
“I mean it,” McKay said.
Jewel laughed. “I’ll let you guys know, I promise.” She slowed when she saw Darrin standing next to his desk. His back was to her, and he was speaking intently with someone. Who was it? Was Mr. Warren back? Dang, what project would he have for them?
“Good luck,” Molly said, and the call was cut off.
As she got closer, Jewel saw that Darrin wasn’t talking to Mr. Warren at all. Nope. He was talking to Kent Hardman, who was dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes. His old ball cap had Carolina Panthers on it.
Kent’s eyes went to hers, and it was like time stood still. “Morning.”
Her mouth went dry and she couldn’t help but smile. She could feel herself turning red.
Darrin gave her an accusing look. “I had no idea you liked roller-coaster rides so much.”
She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected to see Kent here. “I thought you were speaking today.”
He shrugged. “The online itinerary changed, and I’m slotted for tomorrow now.”
“Oh.”
Kent grinned. “I thought if you’re up for it, we could go hang gliding today.”
Happiness surged inside of her. “What? Today?”
“I just wanted to go hang gliding, and I know you might have to work and that’s totally cool, but I don’t need to go to the conference today. Want to go play hooky?”
Even though she’d never done it, she wanted to try. Then she remembered they weren’t alone. “Uh.” She looked at Darrin. “Hi.”
Darrin snapped his fingers. “I’ll just get out of your way. Or I’ll open your door for you.” He moved around Kent and opened her door, but he made a goofy expression as he whispered to her, “He’s cute.”
She thought about all the things she had to do today. “Come on into my office and we can chat for a second, but I’m really sorry,” she told Kent. “I have a full load today.”
“Actually,” Darrin said, moving back toward them, “I can cover for you. Mr. Warren is gone.” He winked at her.
She laughed in confusion. “Really?”
“It seems the stars have aligned for you two. So go have fun.” He nodded to Kent. “Nice to meet you, Doctor Hardman.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” Kent turned to her expectantly. “So should we go?”
Chapter 18
“I still can’t believe I’m doing this,” Jewel said, staring out the window as they sped through the Eisenhower tunnel toward the mountains. Kent had found a resort called Copper Mountain in a town an hour north of Denver called Frisco. The resort offered hang gliding.
“We always talked about it,” he said.
She let out a light laugh. “I just can’t believe you’re here.”
A nervous rush went through him, and then it turned to excitement. “Me neither.” He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to tell her the truth, even though he’d brought it up. “Beau keeps telling me that this could be our second chance, but—” Why was he saying this?
She turned to look at him. “What?”
“Nothing. I don’t even know what I’m saying.” The truth was that he’d hardly been able to sleep last night; his thoughts had been consumed with comparisons between current Jewel and college Jewel. He had to admit that he liked current Jewel, even though he’d shown up right w
hen she’d been kissing his old roommate goodbye. He had to appreciate the irony of it all.
“O-kay,” she breathed out. She reached forward to switch the radio to a country song.
A Texas Waters song sounded through the speakers. She started humming and lightly singing along. He joined in. Man, he felt like was about to ask Sharla Penn to prom his senior year, all nervous and excited.
“I can’t believe Darrin’s covering for me and I’m actually going to the mountains to go hang gliding.”
“So you’ve never been?” he asked.
“Nope. Honestly, I’m always working.”
That made him sad, but he knew that sometimes attorneys put in just as many hours as doctors did, if not more. “Gotcha.”
Soon they arrived at Copper Mountain Resort, and he parked the car. He pulled his phone out and tapped on it. “Let’s do it.” Too late, he realized that she was getting out of the car, and he protested as he did the same. “You should have waited for me to open your door,” he said, falling into step with her.
The side of her lip turned up. “It’s not a date or anything, right? We’re just having fun.”
“Right.” But even as he said it, he knew this was more than just fun.
They got to the office and filled out all the paperwork; then Kip, one of the trainers, put them through a training course. “I have a motor on one of my gliders. It’s already up the mountain. We’ll take the ski lift up, and Hank and I will get you guys all strapped in.” He gestured to another guy there, who waved back. “You’ll be able to work the hand instruments and tilt the machine any way you like it.”
“Sounds good.” Kent turned to Jewel. “You good?”
“Oh yeah, I’m in.” She put her fist out and he fist-bumped her back.
That was one of the cool things about Jewel. She was always up for trying new things.
He and Addy had fought about stuff like this. She said he was being too impulsive, and she hated heights. While they were married, she hadn’t allowed him to do anything she considered “dangerous,” and he had missed the exhilaration.
Of course, he felt guilty about comparing Addy and Jewel. So he tried to focus on what Kip was explaining to them about the equipment.
