Second Chance Summer - Olivia Miles Page 0,3

it could wait. It would have to wait. The timer was going off. They were short staffed. Usually when the dinner hour was this busy, she stayed in the kitchen, only venturing into the dining room if one of her employees was in the kitchen.

She grabbed an oven mitt and yanked open the door, sighing in relief when she saw she had made it just in time. She plated the flatbread, handed it to Maddie who was coming through the door, and watched her go right back out again, giving her a wink on her way.

Right. She needed a drink. Or better yet—dinner. For as much time as she spent in this kitchen, she was often too busy cooking for everyone else to give herself a decent meal.

She studied the pan of brownies that Maddie had made for tonight’s dessert special and, double checking the clock on the wall and estimating that they wouldn’t sell out, cut herself a large square.

It was chewy and rich and she knew it would go great with a cold glass of milk. She opened the fridge, wondering if heavy cream would do instead, when the sound of a pot falling made her jump.

“Maddie? You okay?”

When there wasn’t an answer, Amelia closed her eyes. Counted to three. Now, coming around the counter was one thing, but if Candy thought she could barge into this kitchen—

Amelia crammed the rest of the brownie into her mouth, grabbed the milk with one hand and the creamer with the other, and stepped back from the fridge, letting the door swing shut on its own.

And there he was. The unexpected guest in her kitchen. But not an unwanted guest.

Matt Bradford. Looking every bit as good as he did the last time she’d seen him, more than twelve years ago. Still the blue-eyed boy with the tousled dirty blonde hair. Still the boy who had captured her heart at the tender age of fifteen, and then broke it, three years later.

He’d left town with his parents, moved away and moved on. And now he was back.

In her kitchen.

And she had a palm-sized brownie crammed into her mouth, making her cheeks fat as a squirrel harvesting nuts for winter. She tried to chew, but the stickiness made it difficult, and the more she tried, the longer it seemed to take, and even though she was holding two cold bottles of dairy products and had just taken her head out of the fridge, she could feel the heat build inside her, flaring in her face and spreading down her neck.

There was a glimmer of amusement—or maybe confusion—in his eyes as he watched her, grinning.

Finally, she swallowed. It was really too big of a chunk to swallow, and she resisted the urge to cough.

“Matt!” she said, for lack of anything better to say. Really, what do you say to a guy you haven’t seen in a dozen years, even if you had thought about him for the better half of that time?

His gaze narrowed ever so slightly and she had the sinking feeling that one of her teeth was blacked out with fudge.

“Sorry to startle you.” His grin flashed as he righted the pan on the counter beside him.

She swallowed again, set the milk down and took a steadying breath. “This is…a surprise!” A big one, and one she’d stopped wishing for many years ago.

They stood awkwardly for a moment, as if unsure if they should hug, each leaning in and then leaning back, and oh…the burn! Her cheeks were positively on fire.

Finally, Matt crammed his hands into his pockets, putting that weird little dance to an end. “Hope you don’t mind me coming back here into the kitchen like this, but I was chatting with Robbie, and Britt said you were in the kitchen and, well. I wanted to say hello.”

He wanted to say hello. Calm yourself, Amelia. It wasn’t like he wanted to propose marriage. He just wanted to say hello.

“Hello,” she said, giving a small smile.

“Hello.” His eyes gleamed, and the word hung there between them, the silence far too obvious. She’d assumed she’d never see Matt again. He was a thing of her past. But now he was standing in her kitchen. Saying hello.

She pulled in a breath and blinked quickly. She tried to think of something conversational, when what she wanted to ask was why now? Why hadn’t he returned sooner?

“Are you in town for the weekend?”

“A bit longer, actually,” he said. “I’m staying with Jackson.”

Of course. Matt had