The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach by Jenoff Pam

Author:Jenoff, Pam [Jenoff, Pam]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2015-08-06T07:00:00+00:00

Charlie?

I blinked twice. Surely it was my imagination, like that afternoon by the buses on Trafalgar Square, or the dream that I had so many times. But he was still standing before me in that crisp olive green that seemed to have painted all of London. He was real. The uniform fit as though made for him, smooth across his broad shoulders. Over the months we had been apart, I’d seen his face in my mind a thousand times, his luminous brown eyes making me swoon just thinking about them. I’d wondered sometimes if it was my memory that had made him seem more beautiful than he was, but now I knew without question: he was the best-looking soldier—and man—in the room.

But what was he doing here, thousands of miles from where I had left him? Looking for someone, came the answer as I watched his head swivel, gaze predatory and intent. He scanned the room, assessing it, and for a minute he was back on the football field, in command and planning the next play. He had not seen me yet. I could duck into the crowd and slip out the side door, run away—again.

My feet remained planted, though, legs concrete. A moment later, Charlie’s head turned in my direction and his face lifted with recognition. It was Washington all over again. He did not look surprised, though, as he had then—this time he was looking for me, and his finding me here was planned and deliberate. Our eyes met. Several emotions seemed to cross his face at once: joy and relief (and yes, even a bit of anger) collided with one another, then exploded like fireworks in the air between us as he started toward me.

He crossed the room in three steps, seeming to slice through the crowd. “Addie.” His voice was guttural and hoarse with relief. He removed his hat and folded it, fiddling with the gold insignia pin. His hair had been shorn even shorter than in Washington, leaving a fuzz that reminded me of a baby chick. I wanted to reach out and run my hand over its softness. Once it had reminded me of the ocean on a breezy day, dipping and rising once more. But most of it, including the curly bits that had once brushed against his collar, was gone.

As he leaned in to kiss my cheek, a familiar whiff of aftershave tickled my nose. I fought the urge to turn my lips to meet his. He straightened and I stared at him. “You’re in London.” I still could not believe that he was actually here, standing before me. I reached out and touched his sleeve to be sure. “Are you following me?”

He laughed, a loud chuckle that unsettled me. “Hardly. You and I just have a way of always winding up in the same place.” Was that true? “I am sure as heck glad to see you, though.”

“It’s just so odd how we both keep turning up. First Washington, now here.”

“A kind of kismet,” he replied, taking it a step further.

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