“Ahh,” he crooned. “I see.”

“Yeah, so if you ever hear him make a comment about my building skills, you know why.”

“Let me take a look at it. I’m sure I can help you if you want,” he offered.

What was I going to do? Tell him no?

* * *

Four and a half hours later, the six of us were elbowing our way out of the packed movie theater. The showing we’d originally intended to see had been sold out, so we ended up buying tickets for the following screening. To kill time, we’d gone to the nearest burger joint for dinner. When I’d gone for the bill, Dallas had swept my hand to the side and said, “That’s cute.”

I wasn’t even going to reminisce on how his forearm had been pressed against mine the entire length of the movie. Dallas’ hazel eyes had met mine the instant our body parts touched and we’d stared at each other. We both wanted the armrest and neither one of us had been willing to give it up.

Actually, I just liked having his arm touching mine. That’s why I never moved it. I really couldn’t have cared less about the armrest, but I would never admit that out loud.

“Can we go play at the arcade, Tia?” Josh asked as we wound our way through the crowd, heading toward the exit after the end of the movie. “Please?”

“Yeah, Dad, can we?” Dean asked Trip.

I wasn’t the one driving; I glanced at Dallas who shrugged. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He blinked down at me.

“All right. Sure, go. But once I run out of money, that’s it. I have a bunch of change….” I trailed off as we made our way to the giant arcade by the front doors. The entire movie complex was packed with people going to see the brand-new movie, but there weren’t more than maybe fifteen kids hanging around, playing games. Feeling around the bottom of my purse, I scooped out a handful of coins.

“You got a vending machine addiction I don’t know about?” Dallas joked.

I crossed my eyes as I picked out the quarters and handed an equal amount to all three of the boys. “I would if any of them carried Pop-Tarts. Hold on a sec, guys. I have more.” One more scoop of change from my purse, three five dollar bills from Trip, and a twenty-dollar bill that Dallas gave Dean with the promise that he’d get change and split it between the three of them, and the boys were gone.

“I’m gonna take a piss while we’re waiting,” Trip announced. “I’ll be right back.”

“I think Dean’s having problems with the change machine, let me go see,” Dallas said too, disappearing into the cavern of the arcade.

All right. Keeping an eye toward the front doors, I watched people come inside. I hadn’t thought too much about Anita in the last few weeks, but with hundreds of people coming in and out, I couldn’t help but remember how she’d shown up to my house unannounced. I had no idea where she was even living now, and a part of me was worried it was Austin. I was looking around when something caught my eye on the other side of the doors by the ticket counter. It was something about the golden-brown hair that triggered a memory in my brain and stole the breath right out of my mouth.

From one instant to the next, my stomach started cramping as the man took a step ahead in the winding line of people waiting to purchase tickets.

My head started pounding. My hands started sweating. I was dizzy.

It had been three years since I’d last seen Jeremy, but it felt like days.

My right hand started shaking.

I dropped my head forward and tried to take a deep breath. I was fine. I was fine. I was fine.

I glanced back up to process the sight of the man again. He looked shorter… and no, this man had facial hair. Jeremy had never been able to grow facial hair.

And what would he be doing in Austin?

It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him, I told myself, but still, I couldn’t ease the knot in my stomach or the way my hands were trembling and slick from sweat. It wasn’t him.

“We got it sorted—Diana, what’s wrong?” came Dallas’s voice going from his normal voice to a low, distressed one.

I was fine, I repeated to myself, trying to steel my spine, to stand up straight and catch my breath. It wasn’t him. On top of that, it had been three years. Three long years, and I wasn’t the same person I’d been back then.

“What is it?” Dallas asked again, stopping directly in front of me; his body long and wide, inches away. His voice was low as he noted, “You’re pale.”

When I raised my head and focused on the triangle of brown ink right above the collar of his faded brown T-shirt, I fisted my hand at my side, even as goose bumps spread out over my arms. “I’m all right,” I mostly lied.

“I know you’re not. What is it? You feel sick?” He dipped his face closer to mine, those hazel eyes finding my own even though I didn’t want them to. His eyelids dipped over his irises and that pale pink mouth formed the shape of a frown. “What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t help but look away, biting the inside of my cheek as I let out a breath that was a lot shakier than I would have wanted it to be.

“Someone say something to you?” he asked, his voice getting more worried by the second.

Shit. Shit. Reaching up, I scrubbed my hand over my eyes and met his gaze again. I was fine. What happened had been a long time ago. I wasn’t that person anymore. I wasn’t. “I thought I saw my ex,” I told him, as my throat burned.