Champagne Kisses A Timeless Love Story - Krista Lakes Page 0,4

I held firm. This wasn't something she could change. It was how it was.

"Thank you. I know you mean well, but just leave it alone, please." I gave her a serious look. She sighed and nodded.

"I won't press it again. I'll let you get back to work. I'll see you at dinner, though, right?" Emma gave me a hopeful smile. I nodded. Everything was back to normal.

Emma wandered out of the kitchen, and I could hear the stairs creak as she made her way up to the guest room she used as an office when she stayed out here. I turned back to the computer screen, the blank page still mocking me. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then tried to dive into my work and forget the way Dean's eyes crinkled when he smiled.

Chapter 2

June 5th, 1990

An old man walked by wearing a Speedo swimsuit that left nothing to the imagination. You've got guts, dude, I thought, and then snickered in my head. Yup. You’ve got guts- and that's the problem! The man continued to strut up the beach, but my eyes didn't follow him. I was pretending to read a book, laying on my stomach facing the ocean, but really I was just people watching. I had read the same paragraph four times and hadn't turned the page yet. The tourists were just too interesting.

Granted, I was a tourist too, but that wasn't going to stop me from people watching. My roommate, Jenny, nudged my beach chair with her foot, tipping her head toward the man who had just walked by. I peeked over the top of my Ray Ban sunglasses just in time to see him scratch himself.

"Thanks, Jenny," I said, sticking my tongue out at her. She gave me a innocent smile and made sure the long brown hair in her side ponytail was still tight against her head.

"No problem, Rachel. I thought you would appreciate that," she said with a laugh as I rolled my eyes at her. "Even with a view like that, I am having a great vacation. This was a great idea, Kimberly."

Kimberly leaned forward on the opposite side of me and adjusted her big floppy hat with a satisfied grin. This trip had been all her doing. Her aunt owned a little vacation condo a few miles from the beach and was renting it to us three girls for practically nothing. Pooling our money together for gas, we had taken a road trip in Jenny's beat-up station wagon and were now enjoying a week of fun in the sun. It was the perfect way to celebrate our graduation.

"Hey, would one of you put some more lotion on my back?" I asked. "I think I can feel it starting to burn." I pulled myself into a sitting position and dug under the chair for the bottle of sunscreen. Kimberly opened her hands like a football player so I could toss the bottle in her direction. I pulled my long dark hair out of the way as she squirted the white goop onto her hands and began working it into my skin.

"Are you painting on her back?" Jenny asked, watching Kimberly draw designs into my skin with her fingertips. I didn't mind; it felt nice, and I knew she would rub it all in eventually. If she left it and gave me weird tan lines, she knew I would get her back.

"Just seeing a pattern in her freckles," Kimberly said as she traced a circle on my skin. I looked at Jenny and the two of us began to giggle. Kim was renowned in the art department for her abstract art pieces. She had a tendency to see things very differently. All three of us had just graduated from college with our Bachelors of Fine Arts degrees. I sported a new Fashion and Design specialty, Jenny was Marketing, and Kimberly had Drawing and Painting.

"You get me burned with one of your abstract designs, and I will put cockroaches under your pillow," I warned her. Kimberly laughed, but she hastily rubbed her design out and focused on making sure I didn't burn. Jenny snickered and settled back into her beach chair with her book. It looked like she was getting as much reading done as I was.

"There, all done." Kimberly patted my back gently, and I turned and gave her a smile. She was small and petite with light blonde hair and green eyes. She fixed the floppy hat on her