Second Chances

Noah

This was stupid. So freaking stupid. He was just a customer.

Noah and I used to be a couple, but that was years ago. In high school for god's sake. I hadn't seen him in over five years. Yes, I'd thought he was the love of my life at the time, but I'd worked through it. I had picked myself back up from the floor, dusted myself off, and carefully mended the pieces of my broken heart back together. They weren't all back in place yet, I was aware of that, but I was dealing. I had dated since him and even had a short three months relationship with a fellow nursing student a while back. Granted I hadn't been on a date in over six months and I couldn't even remember how long it had been since I last had sex. A year? Or maybe two?

Was that why Noah's presence in my coffee shop rattled me to the core?

Maybe it was just sexual frustration.

I pushed my blond hair out of my forehead and handed the coffee cup over to Ava. She accepted it with a puzzled expression on her face. I pretended I didn't notice and looked down at the next order, a pumpkin spice latte, and moved over to the syrups.

"Em?" Noah's voice came then. "Is that you?"

Ah shit. Really? I had tried my hardest to avoid him and I really thought I was in the clear but obviously not. Couldn't he just have taken his stupid cup of coffee and left like a normal person?

"Hi, Noah," I said and glanced up at him over my shoulder despite knowing better.

The second my eyes met his deep brown ones I felt the world begin to shift. It was like the earth fell off its axis and started to turn faster than normal. I knew from prior experience that it would most likely end with me on the floor so I took a good grip on the edge of the countertop in order to keep myself upright. Noah was even more gorgeous than I remembered. He had been strikingly handsome in high school but with a boyish look. Now, he was all man. His strong features were even more defined than I remembered, but his hair was a bit more tamed. Instead of the casual jeans and varsity jacket he used to wear everywhere, he was dressed in a pair of dark slacks with a white button-up shirt underneath a dark green sweater. A lighter green-colored tie and dark brown trench coat finished off the look and the effect was striking. He still was one of the most good-looking men I'd ever seen.

"Wow." Noah's expression showed that he was surprised to see me. Maybe even a bit excited about it. "It's good to see you, Em," he said. "How have you been?"

Ava's eyes were burning a hole in the side of my head but I continued to ignore her and tried to focus on the latte I was supposed to be making. Anything to keep my head on straight.

"Good," I responded not all truthfully.

"That's good. You look good" he said, his voice softer.

I glanced up at him again and felt my chest tighten the way it used to when he was around. I tried to shrug it off. "How are you doing?" I asked and tried to sound cheerful, but it fell a little flat.

"I'm doing really well. Graduated last year and now I'm in working in marketing."

"Oh, that's great. You always wanted to do that." Despite not wanting to have any interaction with him, I was happy that he had succeeded. I felt a small genuine smile creep up on my face. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Em." He had the coffee cup in his hand and shifted his weight from one foot to the other but made no attempt to move away from the counter. We weren't super busy so he wasn't really blocking anyone but the customers online sent curious looks our way. "Did you end up going to veterinary school?" he asked.

"No, nursing."

"Oh."

His eyebrows drew together into a surprised expression and he probably should be. I'd wanted to be a veterinarian for as long as I could remember. I loved animals. Growing up we had both cats and dogs. My brother had a lizard and my grandparents had chickens, goats, and sheep. I'd loved helping out at their small farm and I'd had all intentions of applying to veterinary school after college, but then my father got sick shortly after we moved here my junior year of high school for his new job. I couldn't leave him on his own to go away to college after that. So I changed my career choice to nursing, which still felt like a sensible decision for me. I'd still be taking care of patients. It was just that these were the talking kind. Humans instead of animals. It wasn't what I'd planned, but I'd come to terms with it.