After a four-hour flight, I finally arrived in Miami. I was extremely proud of myself at the fact that I’d only cried once during the whole trip. That was when I found one of Mia’s binkies in my carry-on. But, I quickly got myself together and made a vow that I was done crying for the week. I was going to have a blast with my friend and enjoy every blessed moment of this mini-vacation.

Callie picked me up at the airport and once we’d gotten settled in at the house, we decided to head out to the beach to work on our tans and to catch up. Of course, I had my fifty SPF sunscreen with me, because my ghost-white skin fried to the color of a lobster if I wasn’t careful. We quickly donned our suits, my chubby, leftover baby belly fully covered by a now modest one-piece, and grabbed our towels. We descended the stairs off the back of the house and trekked across the sand.

We found a relatively open spot and settled in. Callie applied sunscreen to my back for me, and I took a well-needed nap in the sunshine. I woke shortly after and was roasting. Needing to cool off before I had a heat stroke, I hustled out to the water and wandered farther out until I was neck deep in the waves. I grew up around the water and had always been an avid swimmer when I was younger.

I bobbed up and down with each incoming wave, enjoying the coolness of the light ocean breeze. Once, I cooled down, I exited the water and started back to my towel, when out of nowhere, someone called my name.

“Sofie?”

I turned in the direction of the voice and could only stare in shock at the man in front of me. Even though he’d grown his hair out, I’d never forget those piercing green eyes. Oh my god. It can’t be him. I’m seeing things; I just know it.

“God, Sofie, is it really you?” Shit. I wasn’t seeing things.

“Hey, um, how’s it going? Long time no see.” What are these stupid words coming out of my mouth? Please, shoot me now.

He looked at me quizzically, his head tilted slightly to the left. The lines in his forehead flattened and his expression softened a little.

“You don’t remember me, do you?”

“No, no, I do.” I just can’t remember your name. “I’m a little embarrassed honestly.”

He smiled widely then, his white, even teeth glowing brightly against his darkly tanned skin, his dimples forming deep crevices in his cheeks. I felt that familiar flutter in my belly.

“I don’t know, I thought it was a great night. Definitely not anything to be embarrassed about.” His smile shrank, and a serious expression now crossed his face. “I looked for you, you know. After that night. Longer than what most people would consider healthy. Then I was deployed and had to leave town. How have you been?”

I was still processing the fact that he’d looked for me. I wasn’t sure what to think of that. It took me a minute to answer.

“I’ve been doing well. Working a lot. Not too much excitement in my life.” Mia’s face flashed inside my head proclaiming me a liar. “How about you?”

This awkward conversation was going to be the death of me. How in the world was I going to explain Mia to him?

“I’m good. I just retired—”

“For Christ’s sake, Marshall, if you’re going to flirt all day, at least buy the woman a drink.”

A flush crossed his cheeks, and without missing a beat, he shot the bird to whoever had just spoken before quickly bringing his attention back to me.

“Sorry about that. Are you going to be here for a while? I mean in Miami? I’d love to get together.”

Surprise had me speechless, again. This was a whole new situation for me. Before me stood the father of my child, and he had no idea. How do you spring that on someone? By the way, you have a kid. What made it worse was that he was still as gorgeous and sexy as I remembered. Even though a lot of the finer details of that night were a blur, I would never forget the way this man made me feel. Like I was someone special. And who knows, maybe it was just the booze and the fact that I had been hurting that exaggerated those feelings. Regardless, I really wanted to take him up on his offer.

“I actually just got here today. My girlfriend and I are here for the week for a yearly vacation. We’re staying at the yellow house right there.” When I pointed at out our rental house, he started laughing.

“Well, what do you know? We’re neighbors. I’m in the blue house right next door. One of my former military buddies and I are celebrating my retirement from the Navy.”

“Congratulations. How long will you be here for?”

The smoldering look he sent my way had my nipples pebbling, and a throbbing started deep inside me.

“I’ll be here for as long as it takes.”

“As long as it takes for what?”

“To convince you that we could be good together. I’ll pick you up for lunch tomorrow at eleven-thirty. Wear something comfortable.”

He winked, and before I could even respond, he took off and rejoined his friends, laughing as though he hadn’t just dictated I was going on a date with him. Still speechless and with nothing else to do, I continued my journey toward my friend, who was gaping at me with rapt attention.

“Holy shit, was that who I think it was?”

All I could do was nod.

“Ho-ly shit.”

“You’re repeating yourself, Callie.”

“I don’t care. This is crazy. After all this time, you randomly run into Mia’s father on a beach in Miami. A ‘holy shit’ bears repeating I would think.”

The air was thick with silence no matter the chaos surrounding us, until suddenly it was broken when Callie spoke again.

“What are you going to do?”

I could only shrug. “I have no idea. He wants to take me out to lunch tomorrow. And I can’t even remember his name! God, what am I going to do?”