Page 99 of Somewhere Only We Know
Then something felt different.
The air was charged in a particular way, like when someone turns on a TV in a quiet house—you canfeelit before you hear or see it. I peered out from under the brim of my hat. What was it? It was tugging at me, insistent.
My eyes skimmed the room, but it was hard to see with the dim lighting.
I stopped on a dark figure in the arched entryway. The familiarity of that silhouette zapped me. That buzz in the air amplified by a billion.
I dropped my guitar onto the floor, the thud reverberating through the room. “Sorry, guys. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” I said into the microphone. Then I stood up and walked across the room, shouldering past people, moving too slow. He was so close.
When I reached him, he hadn’t moved an inch. His hands shoved into his pockets, his shoulder leaning against the doorway.
It was him.
CHAPTER SIXTY
JACK
As I watched her walk toward me, I couldn’t move. I’d come here to see her but couldn’t quite believe it was actually happening.
She stood in front of me, her eyes bright and disbelieving.
“Jack?” She said my name with a question mark, even though sheknew.
Time had passed, and it hadn’t.
“Hi.” It was the only thing I could say. It was so good to see her.
She nodded—quick and awkward. “Hi!”
We stared at each other. The so-muchness of it was overwhelming. I had no idea how to talk to her anymore. My eyes traced over her, memorizing every new thing. Her shorter hair and the way it grazed her collarbones. The bronzed glow of her tan skin, the loose cropped tank top she wore with blue jeans. It was Lucky and it was Catherine.
“Cool, glad we got those pleasantries out of the way,” I finally managed to say.
Catherine laughed, quick and pure, and it was a gift to be able to hear it again. Then she threw her arms around me.
The hug was brief but incredibly strong, her arms tight around my back before she pulled away. I took a deep breath. I had forgotten what her proximity did to me.
She grinned. “How did you know I was here? Wait, no, what are you doing here?”
A man pushed by her then, jostling her to the right, and I reached out to steady her without thinking. That one familiar move brought us back to Hong Kong instantly. Heat scorched between us. We moved away from the doorway, into a dark corner of the bar where we were hidden by gauzy curtains. I thought of all the spaces in Hong Kong where we had stood so closely, surrounded by people but always alone, somehow.
There was so much to say but I gave her a quick answer. “I won the lottery today.”
She looked incredulous. “Youentered?”
“How could I not?” I said with a teasing smile. “I, uh. I live in LA now.”
“What!” I couldn’t tell if the startled expression was happily surprised or…
I nodded. “There’s a lot to catch up on, I guess.”
Her expression softened. “Yeah.”
Our text messages had dropped off considerably the past few months, and while it had felt natural at the time, it felt totally insubstantial now that we were standing here face-to-face.
She gave me an inscrutable look. “I can’t talk for long right now, so I want to say something quickly.”
I braced myself.
