Page 9 of The One That Ran Away

“I don’t, actually. Just do a lot of work around here.” Jess clasped her hand on the back of her neck and turned away. “You? You live around here now?” Jess had been coming to Northwest for almost three years. Seeing Shannon twice in one week insinuated she was a recent transplant.

“I do.” Shannon said nothing more than that.

“Well…” Jesus! Could this get any more awkward? Jess hadn’t expected Shannon to treat her with such disdain.Given how we ended things…Well, maybe it wasn’t that farfetched. Except it was eight years ago! Shit! What kind of chip did this woman have on her shoulder now?We’ve both changed since college.Not physically, though. Because Shannon was still the most beautiful woman in the supermarket – and the mother shopping behind her looked like a former beauty queen.

“Sorry again. See you around, Shannon.” Jess gripped her cart and pushed forward. Shannon’s eyes burned a hole in the back of her head.

Jess told herself that she wouldn’t steal one last look before lining up to check out. Yet how she could avoid it, when Shannon checked out two lanes away? Luckily, her back was to Jess, giving the impromptu stalker a great view of someone’s ass in those tight jeans.

“Ma’am?” The cashier said to Jess. “Did you bring your own bag?”

Jess jerked herself back to the world of the living. She pulled her shopping bag out of her cart and handed it to the cashier. By the time she left, she was yards behind Shannon – and possessed with memories that refused to let her go.