Reclaimed Hearts: A second chance, forced proximity romance

Scavenger’s Surprise

“Reid?”

Reid lowered the bat, and I gathered my wits enough to look at his face, finding the same look of utter exasperation as I had.

He set the bat on the counter and sunk into one of the barstools next to him, his hands rummaging through his head full of dark curls and tugging on the ends.

“Holy crap, Marlowe, you gave me a heart attack. I thought you were an intruder, but then I heard music, and got confused. The last person I expected to come around that corner was you.”

I blinked a few times, not sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Reid wasn’t supposed to be here this summer. His parents all but promised he was staying at home. Which was hundreds of miles away.

Yet… there he was, in the flesh. Sitting on a stool, wearing jeans and a tighter gray t-shirt than I remembered him liking. As I glanced down, I found comfort in seeing the same, old, scruffy black tennis shoes on his feet.

That was the only bit of comfort I took, though. Pure adrenaline had gotten me out of the guest room and to this point, but now anxiety took over, causing everything to crash. My head spun, my vision going slightly blurry on the edges.

Reid wasn’t supposed to be here. I wasn’t supposed to be seeing him like this. This wasn’t how this was supposed to happen.

Emma’s comment from the other day hit me—her “vision” of Reid and I seeing each other from across the room. Cue the music, and we ran into each other’s arms.

If she could only be here to see how not right she was. Me, standing in the middle of the kitchen in a set of towels, and Reid, collapsed onto a stool looking like he wanted to puke.

The expression on his face made me want to match it, too. Nothing was going right. Everything was wrong. This was all wrong. Not just the way we were meeting again, seeing each other for the first time since we stood on the driveway right outside of this house, him holding my hands and telling me that while he loved me, he had to let me go. For my own good. Or something like that. But it was all wrong because this wasn’t how I imagined things would go.

A few months ago, I had started a mental list of all the ways Reid and I would reunite when he came back to the island for the summer. Most of them had me looking like a snack, so he would be instantly jealous. That’s what Livvy said, anyway.

But then Mrs. Bennett said he wasn’t going to be here and I mentally erased that entire list. He had been pushed out of my mind, assuming I wouldn’t see him again.

I was aware of myself enough to realize I was on the edge of a panic attack. Aware enough to know that the person sitting in front of me used to be the best one to help me through one.

Which, in turn, made me even more anxious, knowing that he wasn’t that person anymore.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to center myself by feeling the cold tile under my feet and focusing on that.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered, my heart still pounding in my chest. Except, I wasn’t entirely sure it was due to fear…

His brows crinkled, a frown pulling his full lips down. “Me? Shouldn’t I be asking that about you?”

I stared at him, just as confused as he was. Did his parents not tell him I was staying here? That they hired me so they could leave on business? What did and didn’t he know?

“Where are the dogs?” I asked, my brain turning the conversation completely around. I swung my head toward the back door, finding two extremely happy puppies waiting to be let in.

As I did, the towel on my head fell off, reminding me I was currently standing in Reid’s kitchen, with only a towel covering me.

Every inch of exposed skin flushed. I stared at Reid, not bothering to pick up the fallen towel. All I could do was stand there with my arms wrapped around my body.

“I put them outside. Marlowe, what are you doing in my house? In the shower, no less? What is going on?” He stood and took a step toward me, almost like he wanted to hug me. I matched his step with one of my own, backwards, slightly away from him.

The smile on his face fell briefly before he grimaced and sat back down.

He was taller now, and seemed larger somehow. Before, the top of my head came to about his lips, making it easy for him to plant a quick kiss here or there. Now, it was almost as if he could rest his chin on top of my head.

His voice had softened, no longer sounding upset or scared. It sent a direct hit to my heart, but I didn’t have time to process.

“I’m house sitting. Dog sitting. Your parents… you do know your parents went overseas for the rest of the month, don’t you?” I tilted my head, my hair falling over my shoulder. While it was no longer dripping, it was still wet, and I probably looked like a complete mess.

Reid nodded, a smile turning up on his face. “They told me. But they didn’t tell me you were staying here. Not that I’m mad about it. I’m really happy to see you, Marlowe.”

I kept my eyes on him, not sure what to say to that. “They said you were staying home this summer. They hired me as a last resort, since they had the dogs and it was a last-minute trip.”

Reid pursed his lips, and it took all my self-restraint to not think about having kissed them before.

He and I were done. Over. Moved on.

But it seemed like my heart had forgotten that right now.

His smile fell. “So you only agreed because you thought I wouldn’t be here?”

Reading between the lines was a specialty of mine, but it wasn’t hard to do in this situation. “They hired me. They’re paying me to stay here and take care of the house and dogs for the month.” I shifted, pulling the towel around my chest tighter and clutching to it for dear life.

His eyes drifted away from my face and down my body. “I, uh, didn’t realize…”

His cheeks went pink against his light tawny skin. “Why don’t you go get dressed and we can figure this all out?”

He didn’t have to say that twice.