8
Brynn
It smells like vanilla and baking cookies, and there’s a disproportionate number of glass jars filled with hard candies placed atop paper doilies.
The little old lady behind the counter even looks like my granny when she glances up as I walk in and asks in the sweetest old-lady voice, “Is there anything in particular you’re looking for, dear?”
I don’t know the polite way to ask her if she’s seen the first male to ever give me an orgasm—albeit with the help of his Tiger Beat centerfold poster and my electric toothbrush. Instead, I shake my head and smile back.
“No thanks. Just browsing.”
Then I quickly duck behind a display of saltwater taffy.
There was a moment earlier when our escape plan failed for the second time and I was suddenly plagued with thoughts like: What if we are trapped here forever? And how will my mom know what happened to me? What about my job? Who will pay my mortgage? Thank god Matt and I never did go through with our plans to get a dog.
But then I saw him.
It was just a brief glimpse. A flash of summer blond as he crossed the street and opened the door of the fudge shop. It felt as if time stopped, and the only thing left moving was my beating heart, shouting him, him, him. It was then I knew, with every fiber of my being, that I was supposed to be in Carson’s Cove, and Spencer Woods was the reason.
Now, as I push aside two boxes of gingersnaps to sneak a peek of the next aisle over, I’ve calmed down a little bit. Then he strolls into view, and my heart starts beating so hard that I wonder if he can hear it.
He’s so close. I could easily reach out and stroke the flannel of his button-down.
Instead, I stalk him like a creep.
His back is half-turned. He’s reaching for a bag of artisan pancake mix, and as he does, the hem of his T-shirt lifts just enough to expose a small strip of skin above his khakis. It’s one shade away from paper white, with a small trail of dark-brown hair, and I have to grip the shelf in front of me to avoid melting into a puddle on the fudge shop floor.
“Who are we spying on?” The heat of breath in my ear makes me startle so badly that I knock the boxes of gingersnaps with my hand, causing them to crash into the neighboring aisle.
Luce Cho, my mystery whisperer, stands with her arms crossed over her cropped tee and an amused smile on her lips.
“Luce. You nearly gave me a heart attack,” I whisper-yell.
She rolls her eyes. “I think you’ll survive. And it’s nice to see you too. It’s been awhile.”
I stare at her for what is probably a good three seconds past normal, still absorbing this brand-new idea that I am now Sloan Edwards, and so far, none of the characters seem to find that weird at all. Like Pop, Luce doesn’t look fazed to have been plopped back into Carson’s Cove life. If anything, she looks relaxed. Dressed in a pair of cutoff shorts and a simple white T-shirt, she has her black hair pulled back into a long, glossy ponytail, and her skin is a deep golden brown, as if she’s spent some time in the sun recently. She’s aged in the last fifteen years, for sure. Her body is a little curvier. There is a sharper cut to her cheekbones. If anything, she’s even more beautiful than she was at eighteen.
“It’s nice to see you too,” I answer, unsure how to navigate things with Luce. She and Sloan weren’t really friends. Luce was Poppy’s rival at everything from class president to cheer captain, and with Poppy as Sloan’s designated ride-or-die, it made Luce her adversary by default. There was a time during season three when the two characters got along. They both applied for a program director job at the Carson’s Cove Sailing Club, and instead of making them compete for the job, the general manager decided the two should split it. Luce and Sloan bonded over their shared loathing of the rich jerks who treated them like second-rate citizens, but that camaraderie faded early in season four when Spencer formed a crush on Luce.
They only dated for a couple of episodes before they broke up because they had sex. The entire school found out when Spencer told Sloan, and then Sloan in turn wrote this deep, heartfelt poem about the whole ordeal, which Poppy accidentally lost, resulting in it being read by the halftime announcer at the school football game.
Sloan was rightfully devastated by the whole situation but had pretty much moved on with her life by the end of season four, when it was clear that Spencer and Luce were just friends again.
Sloan is sweet and forgiving.
I, however, can hold a grudge.
“I heard you were back in town.” Luce makes a show of giving me a once-over. “Carson’s Cove’s favorite sweetheart has come home. It’s been all anyone can talk about.” She takes a step forward. “So, what’s your plan? Is this a permanent thing or a stop until you move on to bigger and better?”
The tone of her voice is so breezily nonchalant that I can’t tell if she’s genuinely curious or making a backhanded comment. Either way, I don’t know how to answer this question as Sloan. I can’t even really answer it for myself.
“No definitive plans quite yet,” I hedge. “I have some unfinished business I need to figure out. I guess it depends on how long that takes me.”
Luce narrows her eyes, but there’s a smile on her lips as if she’s about to laugh. “Some unfinished business, huh? Well, I guess I better let you take care of it. Hey, Spence—” She nods at someone over my shoulder. “Look who I ran into.”
She shifts her gaze back to me. “I’ve got to take care of some business of my own, so I’ll leave you two to catch up.”
She winks at me before heading out the door.
“Sloan? Sloan Edwards, is that you?”
His voice is so deep that it pierces my chest, sending waves reverberating through my entire body.
Closing my eyes, I turn to face him, not yet mentally prepared for what is about to happen.
When I open my eyes, he’s there: glowing like an apparition. Blue eyes. Blond hair. An NBC demigod, so beautiful that I’m sure I’m imagining him.
“It is you,” he says. “I can’t believe it.”
As I blink, I realize that the ethereal glow is coming from the ice-cream flavor display sign behind him. But the man is real.
He holds out his arms.
I crash into them. Real and solid, he holds me tight to his chest.
He smells of ocean breezes. Of sunshine and hope.
Spencer Woods.
We embrace for what arguably are the best four and a half seconds of my entire life until he pulls away and shoves his hands into his pockets.
“I can’t believe I’m running into you like this,” he says, completely oblivious to the fact that I just drooled on his shirt.
His hair is a little longer than it was on the show, and there are a few fine lines on his forehead, but he is so undeniably Spencer still that I feel like I’m going to cry.
“How are you?” he asks. “What have you been up to? My god, it’s been, what? Fifteen years since we last saw each other?”
I swear to god, his eyes are the same shade as the ocean outside.
“Are you sure?” I play dumb. “It can’t be that long.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “I know, right? But I did the math as I was getting into town. It will be fifteen at the end of the summer. It was that day I left for LA. Time flies, doesn’t it?”
Apparently. My smile wavers for a moment as I think about how that last episode was truly how Sloan and Spencer ended their relationship.
Sheldon was right. They both deserve better.
“Hey.” Spencer rubs the side of my arm. “Are you feeling okay? You’re looking a little pale.”
“I think I’m just in shock,” I answer honestly, then remember I’m supposed to be Sloan. “You know, being back here. Seeing everyone. So what’s new with you, then? I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot.”
He nods as if agreeing. “Well, I just got back into town this afternoon. I got tired of the acting thing and really missed this place, so I decided to come home. It feels so surreal to be back again after all this time. It hasn’t changed a bit though.”
He glances at his wristwatch. “Listen, Sloan, I really hate to do this, but I’m expected at my parents’ house in ten minutes. We’re having a big family reunion brunch. My mom has it all planned.” He holds up the pancake mix, corroborating his story.
“But we really need to hang out. We still have fourteen and a half years to catch up on.” He pauses. “Actually, what are you doing tonight? Have you been out to the islands lately?”
The islands.
Spencer and Sloan’s favorite place.
My heart flutters with the kind of nervous excitement that only comes with the possibility of something special.
It’s a feeling I haven’t had in years.
Not since Matt.
“No plans,” I say in answer to his first question. “And no, I can’t tell you the last time I’ve been out there.”
He smiles. “Then you should join us. We’re going to take the boat out later. Paddle around.”
I find myself nodding enthusiastically until, once again, my brain catches up.
“Us?” My voice is half an octave higher than a moment ago.
Spencer nods, oblivious. “Yeah. Me and Luce. I ran into her just before I saw you. I told her it had been such a long time since I was on the water, and she suggested we go for a picnic tonight. I’m sure she won’t mind if you tag along.”
I’m sure she will.
If there was any doubt about my current relationship with Luce, it’s obvious now.
Not friends.
Foes.
As I picture Luce and Spencer out there on the water, alone, something inside me snaps.
This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be.
Sheldon is right.
Carson’s Cove didn’t end the way it should have.
Sloan and Spencer were denied their happily ever after, and I can’t let it happen again.
The beginnings of an idea start to form.
Something I’d never even think to attempt back home.
Except I’m not back home—I’m in Carson’s Cove, and what may have worked here before might just work again.
For most of season four Poppy was casually dating the captain of the football team, Chad Michaels, until she got bored and dumped him. Chad then asked Luce to be his date to the watermelon festival. Poppy was not thrilled about Chad no longer pining after her, so she invited Spencer—the only person on the Carson Cougars basketball team with a higher points-per-game average than Chad—to be her date. The two guys spent the entire episode trying to one up each other until Luce got so pissed off that she left, and Poppy got Chad back. Could that same logic work here?
To pull off the same setup, I’d need a date.
“I’d love to come,” I tell Spencer. “But is it cool if I bring someone?”