Page 61 of Hogging the Hunk

About to tear my hair out with indecision about staying in Fox Central park, hoping Milo would walk past, and going to stalk him at his clinic, there was a gap in garlic customers where I spotted him. I would know that strong jaw, warm eyes, and sinewy forearms anywhere. At the moment, he was at the front of the line, gladly accepting a box of garlic bulbs from a woman with a blue handkerchief wrapped around her silvery hair.

Jumping up and down, I waved my arms and called for Milo. No such luck. Since he wasn’t coming to me, I decided to go to him. It was possible word hadn’t gotten to him I was back.

It took a great deal of mental energy to ignore the sinking in my stomach at the thought that maybe he knew and didn’t want to see me. My stride shortened as I considered the safety of chickening out. No. I’d been a coward for far too long, not telling people what I truly felt. Straightening my shoulders, I walked with a confidence I did not feel.

I kept my eyes trained on Milo, occasionally sidestepping people who were oblivious to my single-minded march to destiny. One man purposely stepped into my path. I moved right, and he moved right. I veered left, and he followed. Annoyance twisted my face, and I looked up at him, ready to snap at him. He was killing my moment.

I blinked. “Greg?”

“You’re a hard woman to track down.” Greg hooked a thumb in his pocket and swooped his golden hair out of his eyes. “I hoped I might catch you here.”

“What are you…? How did you…?” This is all wrong. He’s not supposed to intercept me. I’m supposed to run to Milo and jump in his arms, while he spins me around. It’s supposed to be my moment!

“Greg. Um, this isn’t a great time. I’m—”

“Beckett.” He put his hands on my arms and ducked his head down to meet my eyes. A funny thought crossed my mind—I loved it when Milo did the same thing. He was trying to meet me on my level, and see eye to eye. With Greg? It was a condescending move, like he needed to stoop down to acknowledge my presence. How had I lasted so long with Greg? “I have been trying to get a hold of you for weeks.”

“I’ve been out of town.”

“So I’ve heard. The Solomon Islands?”

“Yeah.” I crossed my arms so he’d have to let go of me. “I went on a philanthropic trip with a small group of medical professionals. We were there for three months running a vaccination and health clinic for the locals. You know, doing the stuff I thought we were going to do together?”

“That’s amazing!” Greg said, though his elation was paper thin. There was a hint of jealousy in his tone that I’d fulfilled a dream of mine without his help. “I just got back from Cambodia myself. It was grueling. Always had to be on guard for our safety.”

I grunted my acknowledgement. He couldn’t help but try to one-up me, and I refused to take the bait he dangled in front of me. I didn’t want to argue any more than I wanted to swap stories with him. He stood in my way of what I truly wanted—Milo.

Without asking, Greg twined his fingers between mine and squeezed my hand. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a long time and since you haven’t been answering my texts or phone calls, I thought I’d come look for you.”

“You came to look for me? Here?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Button Blossom isn’t all that big. I asked around, heard you’d been out-of-town and were now back. It seemed like only a matter of time before we bumped into each other if I hung around.”

This wasn’t how fairy tales happened. Greg showing up at what was supposed to be my triumphant climax was spoiling the excitement. He didn’t notice my agitation, looking over his shoulder when Milo was lost in the swarm of people again. Greg wouldn’t get out of my way until I forced him to get out of my way.

I wasn’t going to physically shove him aside—he was sturdy enough that he wouldn’t budge if he didn’t want to. No, this was going to require a firm explanation if I didn’t want it to keep happening again and again. Greg had faded out of my life, but that didn’t mean I intended on being cruel when I said goodbye as he’d done every time he’d tired of me.

“Now seems perfectly serendipitous.” Greg tried to persuade me with a fresh, dimpled smile. “What do you say?”

Can he please stop using ‘perfect’ to describe everything?

I tugged my hand out of his, pushing aside my damp hair as I ran calculations in my head. If I gave Greg a half hour so I could explain how wrong we were for each other, I could get him to understand that there was no more future for us. Poof! It was gone. Then, I’d still be able to catch Milo as he was locking up at his clinic. If he wasn’t there, I’d go to his house. Milo was going to know before the day was over that life was incomplete without him.

“I have a couple of minutes,” I conceded.

“Perfect!” Greg took my hand again, and I ground my teeth. He’d missed all the clues I’d dropped for him that this afternoon wouldn’t end the way he thought it would. “I’m parked over here. Let’s get away from all these people.”

He towed me along like I was a stubborn cow, even though I was trying to keep up with his hurried stride. Then it hit me—something about Button Blossom made him anxious. I wondered what about this quaint and quirky town, which felt more like home than any place on earth to me, didn’t resonate with him. Honestly? I didn’t care. I chalked it up to another reason Greg and I had never truly been compatible.

“Here we are.” He unlocked his waxed sedan, pausing as he opened his door to get in. “Try not to get any fingerprints on the glass. I just had it washed.”

Oh, Greg.

Before my seat belt even clicked, he tore out of the parking lot, heading away from Fox Central Park. “How about we go get some Thai food? Or Indian? There’s a new place in downtown Indy that’s supposed to have the best naan in the state. It doesn’t compare to authentic Indian food, but it’s good enough. You know, when I was in India, I…”

Greg’s words faded as I stared out the window, watching the familiarity of my hometown disappear into vast fields of budding corn and soybeans. My heart wrenched, fettered somewhere back in Button Blossom where Milo was. What was I doing? I didn’t owe Greg any more of my time. He couldn’t swagger back into town, expecting me to jump at his benevolent invitation to come back into his life. That’s how I’d behaved ever since I met him. His wants and needs were constantly prioritized over mine.

“You should slow down,” I said, interrupting a monologue about some trip he took, sure he saved the world because of it.