Something New Blooms

Chapter 2

Sitting on the bench that used to be mine and Lorraine's favourite in the park, I watch my shadow drag over the ground as the sun passes from the sky and wonder why I let Keanu fool me again.

The metal bars turn cold against my back. The last of the teenagers drift down the trail and disappear down the path leading to the park's exit. Soon, I am alone with only the gentle afternoon breeze for company.

Still, I wait.

Still, there's no sign of Keanu.

Of course he isn't coming. He has a fiancée, and she didn't look pleased to let him go anywhere with me. Not that I blame her, knowing Keanu's wandering eyes and philandering hands.

He probably only offered to make plans to be polite, but he didn't mean it. Most people don't.

I check my watch. It's 7:12. I can wait a little longer.

When darkness creeps into the sky like rot spreading through a tree trunk, I stand with a sigh. There are better ways I can be spending my evening than waiting for a man who's never going to show up.

I promised Ellery I'd be back in time to binge Bridgerton with her after dinner. I may as well go home now so we can get an early start on the series.

Before I can leave the bench, a man in shorts and sneakers comes sprinting from between the bushes flanking the path.

"Thank goodness you're still here! I thought I'd missed you." Keanu stops, panting as he smiles at me.

In the fading light, his dimples sink deep into his cheeks. That smile makes my heart clench, makes me want to kiss him even after how he hurt me.

Even though I can't.

"Well, I'm still here," I say brightly, stating the obvious just to fill the silence.

The last I saw of Keanu, he was undressing Lorraine in our kitchen. It shouldn't be a surprise that we don't know what to say to each other on our first meeting alone.

Our actions of the past have tangled us in a web we have yet to unravel.

"So, ready to hike?" Keanu tilts his head in the direction of the trail.

"Oh, yeah. I even put on my hiking boots." I lift a leg to show him.

He grins. "I'm afraid I'm not as prepared as you are, but I should make it to the top, shouldn't I?"

I nod, a smile pulling at my reluctant lips. "You should. The trail isn't that long, and we're not so old that we need special shoes to take it."

"Am I glad about that," Keanu says as I fall into step with him. "I thought I'd be a grandfather when you finally returned to Colorado if old age didn't take me before that."

His voice holds a jesting note, but I don't laugh. I don't even smile, because if it wasn't for Ellery and her son, it would've been the truth.

An uncomfortable silence wedges between us.

The ninebark shrubs growing beside the path brush against my legs like an overly familiar cat. I don't remember the walkway being so narrow. It used to have enough space for Keanu and me to walk side by side.

Then again, we didn't have such a big space between us all the times we came up here.

Keanu clears his throat as we reach the first bend in the road. "Sorry I kept you waiting. We had an emergency at the restaurant."

At that, I can't help but smile. "Good Food is still around?"

"And better than ever." Keanu's voice is warm with pride.