5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I don’t know how it’s taken me this long to recognize Sunny, but I blame it on being in a sunbaked stupor.

My skin feels like a dress that’s three sizes too small, not to mention sand somehow embedded itself between my actual dress and this fresh sunburn.

My whole body stings and aches, and my overall temperature feels twenty degrees too high.

I’m not sure if that’s because of the sun or because right now I am a hot mess.

The false eyelash glue melted and I brush the little dark brown squiggles of artificial lashes off me like ants.

Yet, in a sort of slow-motion reunion, Sunny and I embrace. He’s larger, firmer, and stronger than I remember. Then he draws back slightly, taking a good look at me as if shocked. That makes both of us.

His sea glass blue eyes sparkle. His sun-lightened hair is slightly shorter than when we last saw each other and his sun-kissed skin is a deeper tan. But his smile is as effortless as ever.

“Is it really you, Dee Dee?”

“Yep. Just going incognito with this sunburn. Silly me forgot sunglasses and sunblock when I set out for the beach this morning.”

He narrows his eyes. Still wrapped loosely in his arms, I adjust our position so his back blocks me from the police who’re likely looking for the car thief and a missing member of the royal Concordian family. Likely, my absence has probably been reported by now. I owe Myra big for the stress she’s probably under.

“You don’t have bangs anymore,” Sunny says, gaze sweeping over me.

“After all these years and that’s what you say to me?” I ask, joking because the bangs are the least of my hair issues at the moment. I pull out a string of seaweed.

He says, “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

In a low voice, so no one overhears, I reply, “I’m royalty but not a princess.”

“Royalty. Is that an official title?” His eyebrow arches and the same side of his mouth lifts in a grin.

Still slightly out of sorts, I say, “Of course, it’s as official as they come. But if you must know, the proper way to address me is Your Grace , but that sounds far too fussy and formal.”

“Yet you’re here.” His gaze flits to the police officers in the parking lot.

“Took a holiday, fell asleep on the beach, and?—”

His eyes widen. “And you’re on the run from the police?”

If I were capable of going as white as a ghost, I would, but the sunburn has me looking like I’m in a permanent state of embarrassment.

When I don’t say anything, Sunny says, “I’m joking, but we’d better get you some water. Then I’ll go see if I can be of any help.” He tips his head toward the authorities.

“No!”

He releases me from his arms and goes still. I stagger back, realizing the unusual length of our embrace and the flutters inside. If butterflies could talk, they’d be repeating Sunny’s name in dreamy little voices.

“I mean, yes to the water and if you get involved with the, um, law officers, we might not have a chance to catch up.” I try to infuse my tone with lighthearted hope and not the dread that threatens to spin me out of control.

His eyebrows climb his forehead. “Are you leaving soon?”

“Yes, very soon.” First, I’ll have to steal another car, but I’ll figure that out later.

“In that case—” Sunny hastens toward the lifeguard station building.

I shuffle along behind him, keeping to the shadows so the police don’t spot me in this sparkly golden gown.

I wait outside in case there are more police officers in the building. Standing by a covered corkboard posted with the beach and lifeguard hours, contact information, and hazards to avoid, I inwardly chuckle. Turns out that would be me, running into Sunny.

Not that our reunion is a bad thing, but let’s be real, I do not look my best, my freedom is tenuous—either my family will track me down or the cops will throw me behind bars—and the last time we saw each other was painfully uncomfortable.

He pops out of the building and passes me a water bottle. He holds two others in his hand. “Start with small, slow sips.”

I chug the thing. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand in a very non-royal and undignified way, I say, “That’s better.”

He holds up another bottle.

I take it greedily. “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”

“Anything for you, Princess.”

Lifting the water bottle to my lips, I scoff. “Anything for me? I’ve heard that before, Big Kahuna.” I give him a pointed look and then surreptitiously glance over his shoulder to where one of the police officers is talking with another lifeguard. This would be a good time to back away slowly and sneak away quietly.

Sunny frowns. “If you’re talking about the last time we saw each other...I was young and dumb?—”

I hold up my hand for him to stop. “No need to say more. You made it clear where I stood. Anything meant nothing, which was very clarifying.”

“Dee Dee?—”

I stop him with what I intend to be a sharp glance, but I’m afraid looks deranged given my current complexion. But it’s mostly because no one except Sunny ever called me that. Then again, I never felt about him like I had anyone ever or since.

Apology stark on his features, he says, “I’d like to apologize and make it up to you.”

Thinking fast, there is something he could do. “Do you still have your old Jeep?”

“Of course.” He pulls out his keys and gestures toward the parking lot over his shoulder.

“Will you bring me to my grandmother’s house? I’ll come back for my, um, rental car later.”

He’s doing that guy thing where he flips his keys into his hand and fumbles. “Uh, yeah. I can bring you over there. Let me grab my gear.” He jogs toward the building.

Calling after him, I say, “Great and I accept your apology.”

Sunny stops short and marches back toward me. “Just like that?”

Biting my lip, the moment rushes through me. I’d rehearsed it many times, but as the years passed, I gave up on us ever reuniting. “The truth is, you confused me and hurt me. But you also showed me what true love isn’t?—”

He staggers backward. “That’s not?—?”

“If you’d really loved me as you said you did, then you would’ve told me that you were pulling away because you were afraid. As you said, you were young and dumb.” I emphasize that last word.

His lips quirk. “Thanks for the reminder, but,” he gazes at his hands and then takes a deep breath, “but I really did love you, Dee Dee.” Without waiting for me to respond, Sunny ducks into the lifeguard station building.

The corners of my eyes pinch and my stomach flutters because no one has said those three magic words to me since the last time I was at this beach with this man.

It was senior year, we fell for each other, faced some challenges from friends and territorial females, and then kept falling... falling in love. I believed that nothing could tear us apart.

I wasn’t counting on him being our undoing.

Sunny comes out a minute later with his backpack and some more water bottles, then he starts for the parking lot in the exact direction of the police.

“Actually, I haven’t been here in ages. Let’s take the scenic route.”

“Don’t you want to get to your grandmother’s?”

“Of course, but my life is one big schedule. I live according to a strict itinerary. Today was—how to put it?” I tap my chin. “Spontaneous.”

Thankfully, we don’t have to pass the police car to get to Sunny’s Jeep, but he does inform me that another lifeguard told him that they’re looking for the driver of the car. Supposedly, it was reported stolen but are unclear on the circumstances. Maybe the valet is keeping quiet for me. He’ll definitely be getting his own convertible.

Sunny and I hop in his old open-sided Jeep and we set off down the Pacific Coast Highway. The breeze feels like a miracle on my skin. The setting sun over the sparkling ocean reminds me that miracles do happen.

Maybe this moment with Sunny, riding in this Jeep, along this road as we did many times so long ago is a small miracle. A little reminder of what my life could’ve been. But the thing is, I didn’t give it up. No, he let me go.

Had he wanted to hold on and asked me to stay, I would’ve said yes. Probably. There was—is—the pesky issue of my mother and my duties to the Concordian crown.

Then reality knocks me in the gut as we pull up to the gates outside my grandmother’s Mediterranean-style villa.

The people in charge of my life would never have let me stay in SoCal. Though, Gran-mère might’ve fought for me. However, what I’m seeing right now, the once grand house in shambles, looks like it lost a battle, and that tells me everything I need to know about my own.

Sunny taps a code into the keypad and the gates part, revealing snarls of weeds in place of Gran-mère’s prize rosebushes and the beautiful bougainvillea.

“What happened here?” I whisper. Then my head jerks in his direction. “Wait. Why do you have the key code?”

“I live here,” Sunny says.