Читать книгу McKenna Homecoming - Shirley Jump - Страница 5

Chapter Two

She hadn’t changed a bit. Alec’s gaze zeroed in on Leah the second he walked into the room. He could have picked her out of a crowd of thousands, even after all these years. She still had the same long blond hair that cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, teasing along the zipper of her red satin dress. The same green eyes, wide and luminous. The kind of eyes that stayed in a man’s mind. The same tall hourglass shape, made even taller by the strappy black heels she wore, which showed off killer legs and a bright red pedicure.

When he’d let her walk away all those years ago, he’d told himself it was the right decision. The last thing Alec had wanted as he threw off the shackles of high school was a committed relationship where he had to be dependable, grown up. He’d wanted nothing more that day than to get out of Boston, get to college and start living his life. That had been their plan—head for New York, spend their days going to classes and strolling Central Park. An easy, bohemian life with no ties to anything or anyone for at least four years.

Alec’s father had lectured him over and over again about being responsible, about settling down—then lived in complete opposition to his words. After the death of his wife, George McKenna had spent the family money on one woman after another, one vacation after another, one house after another. That life of no responsibility caught up to him with the car accident. Yet even from the hospital George had been calling his girlfriends, making plans for another trip, another major purchase.

And up until that moment, Alec had been his father’s son to a T. Spending money, dating women, doing nothing of substance with his life. Then that day, when he’d sat by his father in the hospital, Alec had looked at his father, really looked at him, and finally seen a man who filled the empty spots in his existence with more emptiness.

That had been the turning point for Alec, the moment when the nights out at bars no longer held the same appeal. Maybe it was just the early hours and the long days Alec now spent working in an office. Or maybe it was…

Him growing up. And with that came the desire to make amends to the people he’d hurt with his selfishness…people like Leah.

“Hey, Alec, how are you?”

Alec turned at the sound of Jim’s voice. His partner in crime in high school, and a good friend for years. “Good. You?”

“Same as always.” Jim grinned and gave Alec a light jab. “I’m about to head to the bar and get this party started right. You want to come?”

Alec started to say yes, the answer coming like a Pavlovian response, then changed his mind. “Nah. I’m good. I thought I’d circle the room. See who else is here.”

“Okay. You know where I’ll be.” Jim grinned, then walked over to the bar.

Alec bypassed the table of mementos, filled with old yearbooks, photos and trophies from their high-school glory days, detoured past the buffet table laid with steaming platters of appetizers, pausing only to say hello to old friends. He stopped in front of the punch bowl, telling himself it was just because he wanted a nonalcoholic drink, not because Leah was standing there, sipping from a plastic cup.

He opened his mouth to say hello. To start with the reason he was here—to offer an apology for being a jerk to her ten years ago. Instead he said, “You look beautiful.”

Surprise flushed Leah’s face. “Thank you, Alec. You look very nice, too.”

“It’s been a long time,” he said, reaching for a cup of punch he didn’t want.

“Ten years. Sometimes it seems like yesterday.”

“And sometimes it seems like a century ago.” He sipped at the punch—a tropical blend that slid smoothly down his throat. He hated the awkward bumpiness of small talk. But he couldn’t seem to find a way to bring the conversation around to the past. “Are you living in California still?”