Queen of my Heart

02

FATE WAS A VERY CRUEL THING.

With the best of my efforts, I hid my face with my thankfully ruffled hair and grabbed his outstretched hand.

Immediately I felt the all-too-familiar electricity down my spine. Aw, man. I was dead meat.

If I were angry a while ago, it was nothing compared to what I feel now. This couldn't be just a mere coincidence. Some kind of force must hate me so much to do this to me.

"Miss? Are you a'ight?" Shane was waving his hand in front of my face, oblivious to my real identity.

Or maybe he was just pretending . . .

I blinked back the moistness of my eyes and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Soaked, but fine."

Damn my heart and it's erratic beating.

I noticed the way his eyes squinted at me. They were as deep as I remembered. I clenched my shaking hands and straightened my back, a poor attempt at intimidation.

Finally, after a few heartbeats, he spoke again. "Juliet?"

Uh-oh.

"It is you, isn't it, Juliet?" Somebody please take his hands off my shoulders. And wipe that stupid grin off his face in the process.

"Who's Juliet?" I'm telling you, it's always the best to play dumb.

Shane barked out a laugh. "Oh, you're silly, woman. I wouldn't forget your voice, you klutz."

But don't try to act like an idiot in front of a person who knows you almost their whole life.

I sighed, defeated, and ran my fingers through my hair in a pathetic attempt of trying to tame my brown mane. "I'm Juliet, all right. Who are you?"

Oh, yeah. It was still worth a try.

He blinked once before saying, "Funny how I took that seriously for a moment."

I let out a strangled chuckle. You should, actually. "Ha ha, look how I got you."

There was an awkward pause. Here we are, two stupid people in the middle of the sidewalk not sure of what to say to each other.

I shifted from one foot to the other. "So," I started uneasily, "what brought you here?"

Interesting enough. I mean, I would probably ask why he was still here on Earth if he could just spend his remaining life rotting in hell if he didn't look so shell shocked in seeing me again.

My talking seemed to wake him up a little.

"Oh, me and the lads—I mean, my friends—were here in Sligo to have a brief rest from the endless recordings," he answered.

I hoped he didn't notice my cringe-worthy expression.

He and his friends. . .

But still, I kept the fake smile on my face, praying hard that he wouldn't question my lack of genuine happiness.

I wasn't exactly glad to see him, but I would pretend for both our sakes. Saves him the guilt, saves me from the pain.