10 Years Later

Tom Kent sat at the wheel of his red Mustang, unable to believe he’d won the trip to Maui. He grinned at his brother, Will, who was lounging in the passenger seat. Will played quarterback for the Denver Storm, and he’d taken a good hit a couple of weeks ago and was recovering. Luckily, the league had ten days off, so he’d been able to come with Tom.

“Whoo! We’re in Maui! Doing the road to Hana!” Will called out, throwing a fist into the air like he’d just intercepted a ball for a pick-six.

They’d gotten in late last night but woke early this morning because of the four-hour time change. So it was only seven in the morning, and they were cruising across the island to do the popular historic journey to the little town Hana. Tom had been reading guidebooks about it.

Will turned down the radio. “Tell me again about this old lady and her prediction that you think led you to winning this contest?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Because I could have just bought you this trip if you wanted it so badly.”

Tom shrugged. “This old lady walked into the station and gave us fruitcake to thank us and insisted we all try some. Then she cursed us with finding true love this Christmas.” He laughed and waved a hand through the air. “I actually think she was my lucky charm to win the trip. It’s not love, but it’s good enough.”

“Wow. That’s crazy. But if you would have asked me, I would have bought you the trip.”

Tom’s amusement faded, and he shot a dirty look at Will. The last thing he wanted was to hear about his bigwig brother throwing money around. “I. Won. It. Now, that’s when you know the universe is on your side—you win!” He grimaced. “I don’t want a trip that my brother paid for. And you’re my guest, so quit complaining.”

Will frowned. “I’m not complaining. You got me out of a bunch of PR stuff back in Denver. I could honestly tell them I couldn’t go to some charity event.”

Tom didn’t want to talk about how his brother was angry about not playing the last two games because of a shoulder injury, so he put his foot on the gas and drove faster, loving the fact that there was no traffic right now. Most likely, Will wouldn’t play the rest of the season. That wasn’t good when you were a professional player.

Will let out a long sigh. “Let’s have fun. Maybe your fruitcake curse will rub off on me and I’ll find true love too.”

Tom smirked. “Doubt it.”

Will scowled. “I hate you.” When Tom laughed at that, Will pointed at him. “It’s gonna work. We’re going to meet some nice ladies. I can feel it.”

“Not the way you date prima donnas.”

“Do not,” Will protested.

“That woman you dated last month dropped you like a sack of hot rocks after you got hurt because … she’s a prima donna. Only wants the guy at the very top.”

Defensively, Will grunted. “Hey, like you can talk. You asked me to come with you to Hawaii. You don’t have anyone, either. That’s pretty pathetic.”

The comment bugged Tom. “I’m not like you with a different flavor every month.”

Will shook his head, not talking for a few minutes. Then he turned to him. “Do you ever think about Emily?”

The mention of her name made Tom want to punch something. Her face flashed into his mind, and he thought of their last night together. The night he’d thought would be the beginning of everything, until she’d left the next day. Gripping the wheel tighter, he forced a lid onto his temper. “Nope.”

Will let out a disbelieving laugh. “Sure. Whatever. Check your grip, bro.”

Tom took a few moments to cool off. Then he said, “Do you think about Tara? She was your first love, right?”

Will snorted. “Nope.”

Tom thought about the letter Emily had left for him. The one he’d torn up and burned before grinding the ashes to fine black dust and heading to boot camp.

“Emily Times,” Will said, all breathily.

“I know her last name, idiot,” Tom growled. Will might be the brother closest to him, but he was also the most annoying because he knew exactly how to needle him. “Why would I think about Emily Times?”

Will tapped his hand on the side of the Mustang and pointed ahead. “Because she messed you up.”

The cars ahead of him gave him an opening, and Tom stepped on the gas. “She didn’t mess me up,” he argued.

“You loved her, stupid.”

“That was ten years ago. I haven’t seen her since she left for Yale.”

Will glanced around, inspecting the lush Maui rainforest on this side of the island. “I actually saw her and her sister after a game a couple of months ago.” His tone was light, like he was testing Tom’s reaction.

This took Tom off guard. “When?”

Will shrugged, still inspecting the scenery around them. He pointed above their heads. “Dude, look at those vines just hanging down. I feel like I could be Tarzan or something.”

“When?” Tom said again, trying to keep his voice nonchalant.

Will glanced at him. “What?”

“When did you see Emily?”

“Hmm, let’s see.” Will put a finger to his chin.

Tom grumbled to himself. This was Will, always getting under his skin. “Never mind.”

Will laughed. “We played the Miami Surf in Florida, so that was the end of October. Emily’s law firm had a client in Florida who invited her to go to the game. I guess Trina was visiting. Somehow, they convinced security they were old friends of mine. I was shocked to see them.” He winced. “That was the game right before I hurt my shoulder.”

Adrenaline shot through Tom. The thing he wouldn’t admit to his brother—or to anyone, really—was that he thought about Emily at least once or twice a week. Sometimes he would dream about her, and it messed with his head. She’d been his first … everything. She was the woman he’d known he would marry. He’d been so blindsided by her breaking things off the day after he’d proposed. Maybe Will was right. Maybe she had messed him up.

A million times, Tom had analyzed that relationship and all the reasons why she’d broken it off with him. It was why, after he’d come home from the Army, he’d jumped at the opportunity to leave Colorado and go to Utah to be a firefighter. He’d been running. Not just from the small town they’d grown up in, but from all the things he couldn’t be for her. From how badly her rejection had hurt him.

“Tom.”

Ripped out of his thoughts, Tom turned to face his brother.

“Dude, you went all pensive face there.”

Tom lifted a shoulder. He tried to shrug off thoughts of Emily, but wasn’t quite able to.

“Sorry I brought it up.” Will patted his shoulder. “Look, don’t worry about it, bro. You’ve just been working out your demons since—what was her name, Sarah? Didn’t she dump you pretty hard last summer?”

“She didn’t dump me,” Tom countered, sounding a bit defensive. She hadn’t. He’d finally had to tell her he couldn’t commit. They’d been together for less than six months before it’d fallen flat.

Will shrugged. “Sorry, man.”

“Just focus on the guidebook. Where do we stop next?”

Shifting to open the book, Will searched for a bit. “Dude, there’s a black-sand beach about two miles up.” He laughed, then let out a holler. “And a red-sand beach a couple miles after that.” He lifted a hand in the air for Tom to slap. “Black and red sand, man!”

Letting go of any memory of Emily and the past, Tom laughed too. He was determined to enjoy this vacation and not think of how he and Emily were supposed to go to Hawaii for the first time together on their honeymoon. “Black and red sand!”