Page 27 of Barron's Second Chance
"About to crack open the white wine. Might be carrying Mom outta there tonight," she joked with him.
"Wouldn't be the first time, sweetheart."
She chuckled before blowing at her sausage and taking a cautious bite.
"Eden!" Ryan bellowed at her.
Thank God. Somehow she knew that they were rescuing her.
"Better go see what he wants. Looking forward to the food."
She could see Simon inching through the group toward her, so before he could make contact, Eden quickly strode through the gap in the crowd and made a beeline to her friends.
"Thank you," she murmured as she sat at the end of their pool lounge.
Sofia reached up and stole her half-eaten sausage out of her hand. "No, thankyou." She took a massive bite before blowing it through her lips and waving at her mouth.
"There's plenty more upfront.”
"Too much effort," she mumbled through her mouthful.
Eden sighed and took a large swig of her drink, the effervescence settling nicely in her stomach.
"He looks good."
Eden turned and gave Ryan a death glare. "I didn't notice."
"Liar," he snickered before taking a sip of his cider.
She slapped his leg in mock anger.
"How was the call?"
"I might as well not have done it with the amount of anxiety I had before getting here," she told him honestly. "I was expecting to come in, nod hi at him, maybe even say hello, but seeing him just brings up a lot of shit."
"I get it. He was a big part of your life. This must be a difficult walk down memory lane, being here."
"Yeah, but it's nice to be back here at the same time, ya know?" She glanced back towards the house. Her sunglasses helped to disguise her perusal as her gaze naturally fell toward the fair-headed man chatting to Mike.
With his attention elsewhere, she was free to look him over, something she had avoided over the years. Of course, he had grown taller. His hair was a little shorter than he had worn as a young boy, short on the sides and a little longer on top but kept away from his forehead. She used to love sweeping his hair back when it stubbornly fell forward. He still kept himself in shape, lean and muscular, with defined biceps. She knew from New Haven's Instagram page that he had created a social soccer league with a few of his old teammates, and they regularly partook in friendly competitive matches with surrounding towns. She watched his side profile as it broke out in a smile, his head tipping back as he laughed.
Suddenly he turned to where they were sitting. He hid his eyes behind dark sunglasses, but she could feel the sear of his gaze penetrate her. A flutter started low in her stomach, and she immediately looked away, staring down at her bottle of cider that was beginning to go flat in the heat of the day. She didn't need to look up to know he was still watching her. The magnetic pull that seemed to connect them no matter where they were in a room hummed around her.
She pushed the feeling aside. It was her first time back here in years; no doubt she would feel a lot of emotions. It didn't mean anything; she was just feeling a little nostalgic.
"Fuck, incoming," Sofia said out of the side of her mouth.
She tensed in discomfort. Oh, God, please, no.She wasn't ready.
But she didn't have anything to worry about. It wasn't Barron.
"This where all the cool kids are?" Simon stood right in front of her, so she was forced to tip her head back to look at him.
He was smiling down, a full bottle of beer in his hand. Sofia grabbed the magazine she had cast aside and held it up to her face, effectively dismissing the other man. Her girl was still pissed at him for pulling Barron away that fateful summer. Eden reminded Sofia on more than one occasion that Barron was a grown as boy, almost eighteen, and could have stood up for himselfandtheir relationship if he wanted.
She saw Simon’s smile dim at Sofia’s antics, so ever the nice girl that she was, Eden made an effort to be polite.
"Hey, Simon. How are ya?" Since he was blocking her sun, she popped her sunglasses back on top of her head.
