The cold December air makes me shiver as I walk along the beach shore. I button up my peacoat a little more, sighing.
My fiance, Matt, just left me. And our wedding was supposed to be next month. Matt left me because he “wanted a life”, and he didn't want a wife who writes romance books for a living and wants six kids. What that really translates to in Matt-speak is “I want someone just barely out of their teens who I can fuck with no strings attatched.”
I go to change the song to “Remembering Sunday” on my iPod when I notice it. The glimmering ring on my finger. The breakup was so recent that I haven't even had time to take it off.
So I do what any sane woman would do.
I chuck the ring into the ocean.
“You've got a nice arm there.” I hear a male voice behind me, and I jump about a foot in the air in shock.
“Uh, hello?” I say cautiously. I turn around to see a random guy with dark, almost black hair and chocolatey brown eyes. He's tall and looks vaguely familiar.
“Sorry. Did I interrupt some sort of ritual or something?” The guy asks half-sarcastically, one eyebrow raised at me. A smile tugs at his lips.
“Nope. I'm just throwing my engagement ring into the ocean.” I say, trying to keep my emotions under control the best I can. But I can't help a little bit of sadness in my voice.
“And why are you doing that? You kind of need that if you're getting married, you know.” The guy says evenly, looking me straight in the eye. Something unnerves me about this guy, I decide.
“I'm not getting married.” I turn away from the guy and turn up my music, trying to block him out. I can faintly hear him saying something behind me, but I ignore him.
About a second later, the guy comes up next to me and tugs out my earphone.
I turn on him, angry. “What the hell do you think you're doing? I'm just this random person on the beach, and you're grilling me with questions. I don't even know you. What do you want from me?” I rant to him.
“I know who you are.” The guy says.
Ok, now officially creeped out. This is like one of those scenes in CSI: Miami, right before the person gets killed.
“Then who am I? What's my name?” I say, backing away slightly.
“You're Holly Marie McNeill. Your sister's name is Hannah Elizabeth McNeill, and she's married to a guy named Thomas De'armont.”
What the hell? Is this guy some random creeper?
“Ok, seriously, get away from me. I don't know you. Just stay away.” I say, a bit of fear creeping into my voice. I back away a little more.
“Holly, stop freaking out. It's me, Sidney Crosby.” The guy says.
OH. Crap. So that's why he looked so familiar.
Sidney used to date my fraternal twin sister, Hannah, until he found out that she cheated on him with her now-husband, Thomas, and she was pregnant with Thomas's baby. He disappeared after that.
I laugh uncomfortably, my cheeks reddening. “Err ... hi.” I say awkwardly, offering a weak smile to Sidney.
“You know, I don't blame you for freaking out. You haven't seen me since you were seventeen. But I've always remembered you as the prettier sister.” Sidney says sheepishly, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.
I snort. “Right. That's why you dated my sister.”
“I liked you before her.” Sidney confesses, and I nearly topple over.
“Why are we even talking about this? It's freezing out here. Why don't we go get a coffee or something, catch up, you know?” I offer, trying to get away from the personal subject.
“Sure.” Sidney says, grinning.
About twenty minutes later, we're sitting in Starbucks, shrugging off our outerwear and sitting awkwardly across the table from one another.
“So what do you do now?” I ask, looking down at my shoes.
“I play hockey. For the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's Christmas break, though, so I decided to come home and vist Mom and Dad and Taylor.” Sid says.
“You always did love hockey. I do remember that about you.” I smile.“I remember that smile. You know, I remember more about you than I do about your sister, you know that?” Sidney looks thoughtful.
My smile stretches a little more without warning. “Well, Hannah's forgettable.” I joke.
“Hey, but she's nice.” Sidney sticks up for her. “I talked to her a few days ago.”
The smile falls right off my face.
“Why did you call my sister?” I ask warily.
“I needed to ask her about something. She's good at advice. And there's no hard feelings.” Sid says. “Her kid even talked to me. Cute guy.”
“Gavin talked to you?” I'm in a bit of a state of shock. My sister actually talked to her ex-boyfriend, and let her son babble into the phone to him. Normally, Hannah would have cursed for like an hour, and hung up in his ear. He must have wanted something from her bad.
“Yep. And Hannah's still sweet as ever. I thought she'd hang up on me or something.” Sidney confesses.
“Wow. I'm surprised that she didn't.” I grin.
“So Holly, what do you do?” Sidney asks me.
“I write books. Romances. I love doing it, too. I got to stay home a lot, and I used to be able to hang out with my fiance a lot.” A fresh wave of emotions flows over me, and I lower my head so that Sidney can't see my expression.
“If you don't mind me asking, what happened with you two? Hannah told me that you were engaged and really happy.” Sid asks me.
“He gave me a huge speech on what he wanted in life, and apparently I wasn't it. So he went off looking for blond bimbos that're prettier and younger than me.”
“Too bad. He's missing out on something good.” Sidney says. Then he looks embarrassed and clears his throat, looking down.
My heart starts beating a little too fast for normal, a small grin spreading across my face. Oh, crap. I haven't felt like this since ... well, since I first met Matt. But I can't be feeling this way about my sister's ex-boyfriend, though. NO, HOLLY. Bad Holly.
I look up from the table and see Sidney looking at me with this funny expression on his face.
“Out of curiosity, what did you ask my sister when you called her?” I ask Sidney. “You said that she gave you advice.”
Sid looks uncomfortable. “Err ... I asked her if it would be okay if I could date ... you know ... ahh ... you. And she told me how to ... err ... get you to ... um ... like me.”
I burst out laughing. Sid looks alarmed.
“That's cute.” I say, laughing.
Sid smiles openly, and for the first time today, I actually let myself feel emotions towards him.
“So, do you wanna go out sometime?” Sidney asks me, totally disarmed.
“I'd love to.” I smile. I scooch my chair over next to his and plant a kiss on his cheek on a random whim.
“Um, thanks.” Sidney says, laughing a little. But then he grabs the sides of my face and presses his lips to mine.
WOW. My lips curve into a smile underneath his, and I wrap my arms around his warm body. I'm pretty sure if I could talk, I would scream, “THANK YOU MATT! THANK YOU HANNAH!” I wouldn't have been here with Sid the adorable the hand-me-down if it wasn't for them.
Sidney pulls away for a moment, studying my face. “Are you okay with this?” He asks, concerned.
“More than okay.” I say, grinning.
“Right then. I'm sure our date is secured then?”
“Yep.”
Sidney smiles, a totally gorgeous smile, and kisses me again.
