“Thank you very much, sir.” She swiveled into the passenger seat.
“You’re welcome, my lady.” He waited until she had gathered her dress before he closed the door, then walked around to the driver’s side.
“You ready?” he asked, as he started the car.
She shrugged. “I don’t know where I’m going, but I trust you won’t take me too far. So, I guess I’m ready.”
Chris pulled off. He wanted to take Corra to the first place he’d realized he had feelings for her all those years ago. He thought they had an unspoken past that neither of them could have acted on at the time, but he needed confirmation that it wasn’t all in his head.
“How are things at the bed-and-breakfast?” he asked.
“Busy,” she replied.
“The code to download your new software should arrive this week. Of course, I’ll come over to walk you through the setup. I think you’ll be very happy with it.”
“I hope so.”
When Chris drove up to their old high school Corra looked over at him. “We’re going to school?”
“We’re going to practice.” He eased the vehicle to the edge of the parking lot across from the football field and parked. “Come on, let’s watch them practice.”
After exiting the car, he took hold of Corra’s hand as they walked across the grass to the bleachers. Then he helped her climb the steps before taking a seat. Just watching the team brought back memories of being on the field himself and seeing Corra and her friends in the stands watching them.
“When’s the last time you played football?” Corra asked.
Chris leaned back on his elbows. “Whew, it’s been a while. Maybe five years or more. I used to volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club in Philly so I played around with them a bit. But that’s about it. All I do now is watch football.”
“I bet you could still play!”
“Oh, I can run the ball, as long as I don’t get tackled. One good hit and I’m out of commission.”
“Well, I can tell you still work out.”
Was that a compliment? Maybe she was coming around. “Almost every day. That’s part of my effort to stay in shape. Football or not, I have a business to run.”
A play on the field caught their attention and Chris stood and applauded. “Nice move.”
“I remember watching you make moves like that. You were good. I had such a crush on you in high school.” Corra pressed a palm to her forehead and laughed.
“I’m flattered.” Chris was happy the feeling was mutual. “And I remember looking up in the stands at you and your friends.”
“But you were watching Josleen. You had a thing for her.”
Chris sat up. “I wasn’t looking at Josleen, I was looking at you. A couple of times I wanted to take you to a movie or something after the game.”
Corra grew silent again and looked around before responding. “Then why didn’t you ask?”
“Come on. You know Rollin would have broken my legs.” Chris leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. “I wanted to ask you to my senior prom too, but I valued my life too much for that.”
“Rollin wouldn’t have hurt you.”
“Huh, on the football field Rollin’s a different man. One night after a game a bunch of us went to a party and maybe had a little too much to drink. I mentioned something about going out to his house looking for you. He jacked me up against a wall and told me if I ever so much as looked at you wrong he’d make me regret it.”
Corra smiled. “He said that?”
“Yeah. He was looking out for you. At that time I was sowing my wild oats, as they call it. So full of myself that I had to have everyone who wanted a piece of me. Rollin didn’t want you to get caught up in that.”
Corra kept smiling.
“But, then you hooked up with Eric.”
“Oh, we’re back to him. Whatever happened between you two?”
His dislike for Eric Hayden was not something he wanted to discuss with his ex-wife. “He started dating you.”
Practice died down so Chris stood up and held his hand out to Corra. “Come on, I have somewhere else I want to take you.”
Never in a million years would she have imagined that he had a crush on her as well. She was a simple country girl. What had he seen in her then? Now she was a single mother of two, yet he still seemed interested in her.
They walked back to Chris’s car and he continued to reminisce while he drove around to some of their once popular stomping grounds. Corra continued to laugh and have a good time as he cruised through a park, and by an old ice cream parlor where everybody used to hang out.