Until Then (Cornerstone Book 2) (28 page)

She walked past Quincer and glanced at the bench she and Sean sat on so often freshman year. She could still remember the way he looked at her with those intense blue eyes. How could she still so vividly remember his face after all these years?

A group of students wandered by her, talking and laughing, and it made her miss her friends. As much as it pained her, she and Simon had agreed to take some time apart in the hopes that one day they could be best friends again. She missed his friendship more than she thought possible. And she often wondered if she and Maggie would ever be friends again.

Michelle arrived at the game and took a seat low on the bleachers to watch. Cornerstone scored several baskets in a row, and the crowd roared.

Her eyes wandered the room. There were familiar faculty members there, a whole section of rowdy, cheering students, and cheerleaders on the sidelines. People filtered in and out of the entrance. She looked closer at a small group of people just outside the doors. There were two dark-haired men standing with a teenaged boy and girl. One of the men looked very familiar to her. He stepped through the door into the room, holding the teenaged girl’s hand.

Michelle squinted.
No! It couldn’t be!

They walked toward her. The man was speaking to the girl as they passed by. He looked a little older, and his hair was shorter, but she would recognize those eyes anywhere.
Sean!

She watched them walk toward the far end of the gym, closer to the rowdy students, where they found a seat near the top. She couldn’t believe he was actually there. Her heart raced, and her palms began to sweat. Her nerves kept her from jumping up and running to their end of the gym. It had been more than fourteen years, after all. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize her.

She glanced in their direction again. He seemed to be looking her way, but she couldn’t tell at that distance. He could have been watching the action in the game. She turned back to watch a foul shot and played with a loose thread on her sweater.

Oh, Lord, what should I do? He’s here. He’s actually here. Should I go talk to him? Or should I just let the past stay in the past?

“Michelle?”

Her prayer was interrupted, and she looked up into those blue eyes she remembered so well. “Sean.”

“Oh my gosh, I thought that was you.” He shook his head back and forth and blinked a few times, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

She stood and awkwardly held her hand out to shake his.

He let out a little nervous laugh and hugged her instead.

Oh, man, he smells good.

The noise of the crowd around them grew louder. He turned his head and spoke into her ear. “It’s so good to see you.”

She smiled.

He pulled back, keeping a grip on her forearms. “You look great.”

“So do you,” she managed.

He motioned toward the bleacher behind her, and she gave him a shy smile as they sat down together.

He kept shaking his head, another nervous laugh escaping his lips. “I’m sorry, I just … I can’t believe it’s you. You’re here. I thought about you when we got here today. I wondered if you still lived around here or if you ever went back to Chicago.”

“I’m still here.”

“I think I was secretly hoping I might run into you, but I thought that was pretty much impossible. I’m … I don’t know. I have no words.” The smile never left his face.

“I actually saw you come in, and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me or something.”

They sat in silence for a few moments, his attention turned to the game. He made a few comments on the game play, but she wasn’t listening. She was distracted by his presence, by how good he still looked, and by the glint of gold on his left ring finger. She knew he was married. Simon had told her so years ago.

“I’m here with my family. Do you wanna come sit with us?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

He stood and motioned for her to follow. “Don’t be silly. Come on.”

They walked across the gym, his hand resting against her lower back as he guided her along. It felt so good, so natural. But a surge of guilt overcame her for the things she was thinking about a married man.

He led her up the bleachers to where his family was seated. “Guys, this is my friend, Michelle, from back when I went to college here. Michelle, this is my brother, Scott, his son, Alex, and my daughter, Ashley.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Michelle responded politely.

“Nice to meet you, Michelle.” Scott gave his brother a look. Maybe it was an unspoken brother language that only they could understand, but she took it to mean that Scott did not approve of his brother hanging out with a woman other than his wife.

“Hey,” Alex greeted her casually.

Ashley flipped her long, golden blonde hair over her shoulder and said nothing. She was a beautiful girl, probably no more than thirteen, and she had that new teen attitude to prove it.

Sean made space for Michelle, and she joined them.

“So, what brings you to Grand Rapids?” she asked.

“Alex is here for a college visit,” Scott replied. “He’s been offered a basketball scholarship.”

Michelle locked eyes with Sean, and he looked back at her knowingly.

The group of students next to them cheered loudly. They tried to talk throughout the game, but it was difficult to carry on a conversation.

“I really wanna catch up without all this distraction. Are you busy tomorrow night?”

She shook her head no with a little too much enthusiasm, unintentionally revealing how eager she was to spend more time with him.

“Great!” He looked pretty eager himself.

They swapped phones and entered each other’s numbers into their contact lists. When she handed his back, their fingers brushed, and she felt it deep down inside.

He smiled, and she wondered if he had felt it, too.

He turned his attention back to the court below for the last minutes of the game.

Michelle glanced over at Ashley and smiled, which got her a dismissive eye roll.

When the game was over, they all walked out together.

Sean held back from his family and hugged Michelle once more. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“OK.” She grinned happily.

He started to walk away, but suddenly stopped and turned around. A huge smile spread across his face, and his eyes lit up. “Until then.”

She could not contain her smile. “Until then.”

He lifted his hand in a wave and went to catch up with his family.

As she walked to her car, she tried to breathe slowly to calm her rapidly beating heart. She couldn’t believe he remembered that. She was so happy he remembered. But she tried not to get too excited about dinner with a married man.

It didn’t work — her plan to stay calm about dinner. She was giddy. All day long. Giddy as a school girl. Sean was picking her up at six-thirty at her apartment, and she hadn’t been able to think of anything else all day long. She kept trying to check herself. He was married, and they were just two old friends getting together to catch up.

When six-twenty arrived and he came knocking, she practically jumped out of the living room chair. She breathed slowly in and out, smoothed her shirt, and opened the door.

He wore a smile and held a small bouquet of flowers for her.

“They’re so pretty. Thank you. Come in, while I put them in some water.”

“OK.” He looked around the small space.

“It’s not much, I know, but it’s mine.”

He stepped further inside, taking in the simple decor. “No, it’s nice. It feels like you.”

She grinned. She liked Sean in her apartment.

While she searched her cupboards for a vase, he wandered around the living room looking at the photos she had displayed.

“Oh my gosh.” He leaned in closer to look at the frames on top of the bookcase. “This is so great.”

“What is?” She closed the cupboard door, vase in hand.

“This picture of all of us at Celebration On The Grand.”

“Oh, yeah.” She had forgotten that was there.

“I love it. We look like babies.”

“I know.”

“So, you and Maggie and Simon are still friends?” He pointed at two other photos — one of her with Maggie at graduation, and one of her and Simon when they were dating.

“Not really,” she replied.

He looked over at her.

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a long story.” She snipped the ends off the flowers and placed them in a vase.

He walked over to where she stood in the kitchen. “Well, you can tell me all about it over dinner.”

And she did. Over chicken parmigiana at The Olive Garden, she filled him in on Maggie and Ben’s engagement and breakup, minus the horrible thing she had done. She told him about her long friendship and relationship with Simon, and how Maggie was part of the reason for their breakup. She didn’t tell him the whole story there either, but she gave him enough information to understand why her friendships with Simon and Maggie were damaged.

Sean was as easy to talk to as ever. They talked about work, and her recent job change. He told her he never finished his college degree, but dropped out after his wife got pregnant with Ashley.

“But a degree seemed so important to you.”

“I don’t regret it. I went to work for my father-in-law’s construction company and worked my way to upper management. It’s a great job, and I actually love being part of a team that creates something out of nothing. Seeing projects from the design phase all the way through to completion is really rewarding.”

She liked how passionate he was about his work.

When dinner was over, she took a sip of her bellini tea and sighed. “I’m sorry. I feel like I’ve talked your ear off the whole time.”

“I loved hearing all of it.”

“But we’re done eating, and I haven’t heard much of anything about your life.” What she really meant was the topic of his wife and kids.

“The night’s not over yet.”

Sean drove to the Cornerstone campus next.

“What are we doing here?” she asked.

“I thought it would be fun to revisit all the places I remember from our time here. We already went to the gym last night. I think The Skillet is next.”

She laughed. “It’s not called The Skillet any more.”

“It will always be The Skillet.”

Along with Cornerstone’s upgrade from college to university came many improvements around campus, including an update to what they had known as The Skillet. The look and name had been changed, but the spirit of the place remained the same. It was busy on this Friday evening. They grabbed some greasy food and pop and found an open table in the corner.

“So, your nephew got a scholarship here, huh?”

Sean nodded proudly. “He’s good. Better than I ever was. He’s gonna do great.” A shadow crossed over his face for an instant. “I just pray he doesn’t mess things up like I did.”

Michelle gulped her pop.

“That kid is gonna go places. I know it.”

“Your daughter’s very pretty.” Michelle felt the need to change the subject. “I see a lot of you in her.”

“Really? That’s nice to hear. Most people say she looks just like her mom.”

Her mom.
They had yet to speak of her.

Sean took a sip of his pop. “I’ve been having kind of a hard time with Ashley lately.”

“Teenagers, right?”

He nodded, then paused like he was going to finish a thought, but he didn’t. Instead, he spent a while bragging about his brilliant, tech-savvy, soccer-loving, eight-year-old son, Aaron.

“He sounds like a great kid.”

Sean nodded. “He really is.”

“So …” Michelle decided it was time to broach the subject. “Tell me about your wife.”

Sean took another sip of his pop and stared at the table. The shadow fell over him again, and there was a long silence between them.

“I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong? Should I not have asked about her?”

He let out a sad sigh. “My wife died in a car accident two years ago.”

Michelle covered her mouth with her hand. She didn’t know what to say.

Though the room was noisy with students, the silence at their table seemed endless.