Page 88 of If We Meet Again

“Yes, I had tobe certain.”

“That itwould work?”

“Exactly. I’ve always loved her as my best friend, but I wasn’t sure if I could love her on a romantic level,” Ashley answered.

“How do you differentiate the two?”

Ashley continued to stare at her. Megan sensed her want to tell the truth, but she was hesitant—uncomfortable. That surprised Megan. The blissful state of love’s young dream often radiated from the people involved. Ashley was trying to hold back, to downplay her feelings to protect Megan, at least, that’s how it seemed to her.

“Well, I have two best friends, one of them I want to kiss, the other I don’t. It’s that simple, really.” Ashley shrugged. She could elaborate, but chose not to.

“In all fairness, if I had to choose one of the two for you, it would definitely be Madison. I can see why that would work.” Megan smiled. “As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”

“I am.”

Megan hesitated. “Can I ask youa question?”

She nodded. “Always.”

“If I were single last year, at the baby shower, do you think we would have gotten together?”

Ashley thought long and hard about her answer. “Honestly,” she sighed, “I think absolutely nothing could have stopped me, but that would have beena mistake.”

“Oh.” Megan dropped her gaze, breaking the spell she was under. Disappointment formedon her brow.

“Don’t take that thewrong way.”

“It’s fine. It was a dumb question.”

“Letme explain—”

“You don’t need to,” Megan interrupted. She reached for her glass; another one down. The bartender had already eyed their empty glasses as she signalled for another refill.

“But—” Ashley tried to respond, but Megan cut her shortonce again.

“Seriously, don’t worry.”

“Will you just be quiet for a minute and let me speak?”

Megan nodded, “Sorry.”

“Thank you, now, as I was saying, at the baby shower I couldn’t take my eyes off you the whole night, I don’t know if you noticed,” Ashley flushed, “I remember thinking to myself, out of all the billions of people in the world, how did I have the pleasure of meeting that girl. If only she were single. I was devastated, it took me at least a day to get over the fact you had agirlfriend.”

Megan laughed. “Justa day, huh?”

“Yeah, like a full twenty-four hours, maybe even twenty-five. It cut me deep.” Ashley’s dimples appeared. Her grin created the small dints in her cheeks that Megan found so attractive. “In all seriousness, I thought the timing sucked. Then the next day, I realised it was for the best. If something had happened between us that night, it would have been irrelevant. You still had to go back to England and me to New York.”

“That’s true.”

“The idea of that night and what could have been is better left as a fantasy. I think the reality would have been more complicated than either of us could handle. That’s what I meant by it would have beena mistake.”

“I think some mistakes should be made though.”

“Me too.” Ashley laughed. “I say this now with a clear head. On the day I would’ve ignored all reasonand doubt.”

“It was hard, saying no to you,” Megan admitted.

“I can relate to that.”