The Reunion (Love Stories From a Small Town #5)

18. Numb

It should have made me nervous or flustered or something to have Dom sitting in the chair next to me like that after all that time. But I felt more relaxed than I ever had before, instead.

The calm and chatty to my anxious and backward, he was at my shoulder to guide me through the hard stuff and boost my confidence when I needed an extra dose again. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

Pulling his lips from my ear as Anna closed the door, Dom shrugged when I glanced at him. “Not that you haven’t always, but that shade of pink makes your eyes pop.”

Still stuck on the call he’d been on since we sat down, Mister Stryker sat with his back to us, so I shoved my elbow at Dom and whispered to him. “I see you’re still the sweetest talker in town.”

Grinning at me in that way he knew I couldn’t resist, he flickered his eyebrow as he kept some kind of rhythm against the chair’s arm with his thumb. “I can’t help that the truth sounds so good dripping off my tongue.”

The secretary leaned out of her chair, attempting to wedge herself into our conversation with her wide eyes pointed at me. “Doctor Vasser here said the two of you went to high school together?”

Dom’s shoulders jumped when he laughed at hearing our love story condensed into such a bland description. So I pushed him away a bit when I saw the offended look on Anna’s face. “He was my very best friend in the whole world. Hands down.”

Blowing out in frustration, Mister Stryker turned around again and dropped his phone to the desktop. “Sorry about the interruption. My wife said the painters used the wrong shade of white in my living room, and the world is coming to an end, apparently.” He clasped his hands in front of him. “I hated to have to drag you in here like this, Miss Bennett. But, of course, we have to do the whole routine since we’re hiring from the outside.” Puffing his lips, he flung out his fingers. “Even if we don’t have anybody else to fill the vacancy and haven’t had a single bite on the job post in two years.”

I had a bit of an upper hand in my negotiations with them, securing me six-hour princess shifts instead of eight. Despite the compromise, I was still doing them a huge favor by accepting such a lowball salary, and they were well aware of it, too. So when I told them I could only meet for one tiny half-hour block the day before I’d start, they were happy to fit me in. “I appreciate you all accommodating me this morning. My storage container with all my stuff is coming at eleven, and I wanted to intercept it before my father starts picking through everything.”

Turning down his lips, James lifted his hand as he rocked his chair. “No problem whatsoever. We have a pile of meetings this morning, so this time block worked out well for us, too.” He wiggled his finger between me and Dom. “I didn’t realize you two knew each other already, though.”

Dom straightened up in his seat, putting his signature I-don’t-give-a-damn-if-you-are-in-charge-here spin on every answer. “Hell, yeah, I know her. Are you kidding?” He uncurled his thumb at me. “Let me introduce you to the state’s high school all-star pitcher three years in a row.” I glared at him with an awkward laugh, knowing he was only chatting me up to watch me squirm. “Makes a mean batch of apple dumplings, too, if my memory serves me right.” Leaning over, he flipped up the edge of the folder Anna put on James’ desk. “She must’ve put that in her resume somewhere.”

Not so much as batting an eye at Dom’s tendency to dominate every conversation, James ignored him as he flipped over his hand. “For whatever reason, getting a Speech Therapist up here has been extremely difficult. So, I’m glad you guys get on so well.” The pen he picked up to entertain himself with pointed at Dom. “Maybe you can convince Faith to stick around for a while.”

Clicking air through his teeth, Dom turned to me and nodded. “I’m going to try my damndest. That’s for sure.”

James sighing at his phone when it rang again got Dom’s lingering eyes off me, and Anna rattled her fingers on the desk to rescue her boss from having to deal with us anymore. “We should head to our morning meeting, Mister Stryker. So, maybe Doctor Vasser wouldn’t mind giving Faith a little tour on her way out if he has a few minutes to spare.”

Hooking his finger into my sleeve to bring me with him, Dom rocked up out of his seat. “Yeah. I think I can swing a little walkabout.”

They went one way in the hallway, and we went another, inching along in no hurry to get away from each other. His arms crossed over him, and he rocked into me a little. “There’s not a lot to tour. So. if you just want to skip all that until orientation, I’ll walk you to your car instead.”

Only from how his eyes bounced around my face like that I knew I’d be getting kissed if I let him. So, I pushed the down button and nodded, because I wasn’t about to miss out on that possibility. “That’d be great. Thanks.”

The doors closed behind us, and after a slight pause, his head dipped toward me as we stared at our warbled reflections ahead. “Please tell me you don’t have a man tucked up in the storage container you got coming in a little bit?”

I understood if I gave him the slightest hint that I might be interested in getting back together with him, he’d consider it done already. So, when the doors opened up again not two seconds later, I shrugged back at him as I stepped outside. “As long as you tell me you don’t have some chick waiting for you to come home from work.”

His hand came to my lower back as we rounded the corner into the lobby. “No. Definitely not.”

We didn’t go out the front door more than a foot or two when his phone started ringing, and he groaned at it as soon as he pulled it from his pocket to check the caller ID. “I’m going to have to bail on you. I have something I need to deal with.”

Disappointed that I wouldn’t have another dose of his arms around me, my belly flooded with that falling sensation. “It’s alright. I’ll catch up with you later.”

His flirty gaze stayed on me until he reached the front door. But when he laid his hands on his hips, that playfulness disappeared as he shook his head. “I want to say about a million things to you right now, and I don’t even know where to start. But I just want you to know I’m so happy you’re back. You have no idea how happy.”

The wind caught my hair to come between us, and we both smiled as I pulled it away again. I didn’t understand yet the depth of the emotion in how his eyes teared over, but I knew how just being near him again made me feel. “And I want you to know what it means to me that you were the first person I ran into. It’s like I’m actually home now, Dom.”

I kissed my fingers, and he caught it in his fist. Whatever lies that tore us apart a whole lifetime ago disintegrated into only dust as the bond between us stomped them out.

Hearing the thwump of the glass doors parting for him as I went to my car, I released the whimper I’d been holding back. Getting more hysterical with every step I took across the parking lot, I could hardly breathe as I fought with my keys to get my car open. “Oh, my God. Did that just really happen?”

I probably lost a year off my lifespan already, because anytime I came across a man with blond hair for the last twenty years, my heart stopped. I looked for him in every face, just hoping he found me somehow, and knowing he’d been there all along left me completely numb.