16 Lighthouse Road - Debbie Macomber [111]
She felt humiliated arriving without a date, but why should this night be different from any other high-school function? Justine had been an outsider all through those years. She was the class brain, the valedictorian and the girl voted most likely to succeed. With several scholarships offered, she’d dutifully chosen a prestigious East Coast school and followed the course set out for her, but she was never truly happy.
She hated life on campus, hated being away from Cedar Cove. After her graduation, she’d taken a job at First National. In the years since, she’d been promoted steadily. Now she was the youngest branch manager in Cedar Cove history, and one of the bank’s youngest senior employees. Justine loved the challenge of her job and enjoyed playing an active role in financing the growth of her community. But she considered her personal life a dismal failure.
Warren would have attended the reunion with her if she’d pressed him. She hadn’t, afraid her former classmates would assume he was her father or, even worse, an old teacher they couldn’t quite place.
The high-school gymnasium looked great, if she did say so herself. The decoration committee, of which she was a part, had worked hard and done a fabulous job. Fresh flowers were everywhere, on the tables and in huge rented vases along the walls.
The band was already playing, and almost involuntarily Justine tapped her foot to the music as she waited in line to collect her badge and sign in. Everyone around her was talking; she was surrounded by squeals of recognition and “do you remember when’s.” Just as she had in high school, she remained the outsider, listening in, smiling and pretending she felt at ease when she didn’t.
Attending this reunion was a bad idea. Her instincts had told her that months earlier, and she should’ve heeded them.
“Justine!” Lana Rothchild hurried around the sign-in table and hugged her as though it’d been years since they’d seen each other. Actually they’d worked on the decorations together that very morning. “I love your dress.”
“Thanks.” The metallic-blue dress had short sleeves and a deep V in front. Knee-length, it clung to her trim figure. She’d bought the dress on impulse and had decided not to think too hard about it.
“Do you need any help?” Justine asked, looking for a way to appear busy and needed and part of the group.
“Everything’s under control. You just enjoy yourself.”
Justine wondered if that was possible.
“I can’t thank you enough for all the help you gave us,” Lana said as she handed Justine a badge.
With no further excuse to linger, she walked into the main part of the gymnasium. A few couples were dancing, a clump of women had gathered on one side, a group of men on the other—not all that different from the high-school dances she’d attended. Thinking a glass of wine would relax her, she found the bar and ordered a zinfandel, then stood by herself on the outskirts of the dance floor. It had been the same ten years earlier.
“Hello, Justine.”
Seth Gunderson stood directly in front of her, deeply tanned, his hair so blond it was almost white. His eyes had never looked bluer.
“What are you doing here?”
He grinned. “I graduated the same year as you, remember?”
“I mean…” She found it difficult to think. “Aren’t you…I thought…well, of course we graduated the same—”
“I flew home for the reunion,” he said, answering the question she couldn’t seem to get past her teeth.
“I realize that…what about…” Rather than continue making an idiot of herself, she simply stopped talking.
“You’re surprised to see me. Actually, I surprised myself by deciding to fly down at the last minute.”
Surprised was an understatement, as far as Justine was concerned.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked.
She couldn’t stop staring at him. No man on earth had a right to look this good. Refusing him would have required more effort than she could possibly muster.