"I liked the idea of digging for treasure. And that's on you."
"How so?"
"You gave me that book to read—The Lost City of Valmoor. The hero was an archaeologist, and he stumbled onto an underground city that been buried after a tsunami."
A smile spread across her face. "I loved that story."
"Yes. You talked about it nonstop, and you made me read the book. It was actually the first piece of fiction I had read since I was about eight years old that wasn't assigned by a teacher. And then I had to read the second book by that author, and the third and the fourth."
"You kept reading after we stopped talking about books?" She was a little surprised by that. She'd thought Jake was just humoring her by agreeing to read some of her favorites.
"Yes. I found I enjoyed the escape. What I didn't enjoy were the actual classes in archaeology that one had to take in order to have those adventures."
"Real life is not always like the books."
"Definitely not. I switched to business my junior year, but those archaeology classes left me with a desire to see more of the world. I studied abroad the summer between junior and senior year, and after I graduated, I hit the road. I stayed in hostels, in campgrounds, and on couches. I met a lot of incredible people."
She felt a wistful sense of yearning that she hadn't been a part of those adventures. "It sounds amazing, Jake. You were lucky to have that freedom."
"It wasn't just luck, Hannah. I worked a lot of jobs during college to save enough money to travel. While my parents were generous and paid for my education, I knew that anything beyond that was on me. Whatever I was going to do, I had to do my way."
"You had your own vision," she murmured, thinking Jake had always been an independent thinker and someone who wanted to do more than anyone else, be better than average. He hadn't cared about school, about grades, the way she had; his dreams had always been bigger than that.
"You had a clear vision, too. You always wanted to be in medicine. Is nursing what you thought it would be? Do you ever wish you'd become a doctor like you originally planned?"
"Not anymore. Medical school was going to be too big of an ask for me. I didn't have the money. Plus, I had Tyler and my mom to worry about. Nursing was going to be faster and get me working more quickly. In the beginning, I felt some resentment, mostly toward my mom, but what else is new? I also didn't like it when the doctors ordered me around. But toward the end of my first year of nursing, I found a mentor, and she really showed me that I was focusing on the wrong things. She helped me see that what I was doing was really important. I'm with the patient far more than the doctor is. I'm holding their hand. I'm talking to them and to their families. I am a big part of their healing journey, and I'm the bridge between them and everything else in the healthcare system. Because I'm in the room, I can see small changes that might be missed. I can make a difference in whether someone recovers, or they don't. And it changed my whole way of thinking."
He gave her a smile. "I can hear the passion in your voice."
"I love what I do. And I have to admit that I love doing it in Whisper Lake. I wasn't sure I would when I came back, but it was a good decision. Because it's a small town, I get to be more involved in the diagnostics than I was before."
"No regrets then?"
She shook her head. "Nope. What about you? Are you sure Whisper Lake won't be too quiet for such a world traveler?"
"I'll still travel but I don't need to wander the way I used to."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't feel the need to run anymore."
"That's a curious statement. Why did you feel the need to run?"
His gaze met hers. "A lot of reasons."
"That answer is way too vague, Jake."
He shrugged. "I'm not the best at self-analysis."
"Give it a shot."
He thought for a moment. "I hated what I did to you. It haunted me. And it was easier not to think about it when I was far away. I also liked having space from my father. Roaming the world, I could pretend he didn't exist."
"That's kind of sad."
"It wasn't sad; it was the right thing to do. I had to find myself, and I needed to do that completely on my own."
There was an honesty in his answer that resonated deep within her. She felt like this was the Jake she'd fallen in love with, the one she could talk to for hours on end about anything. They'd had an emotional bond that had been just as powerful as the physical attraction. And it was all coming back to her now. That probably wasn't a good thing, but it felt good—at least for the moment.
"It sounds like you did that," she said. "You figured out who you were and what you wanted."
"Yes, but I'm still a work in progress."
"Aren't we all?"
As they shared a smile, she felt butterflies in her stomach, and a deep desire to reconnect with this man who had taken her heart so many years ago. She'd never really gotten it back, not all of it anyway. But as the air between them charged with tension, with expectation, she also felt uncertainty.
"I can't remember who has the ball," she whispered.
His gaze darkened. "Whoever wants it. Do you want it, Hannah?"
That was a trick question. "I don't want to want it," she confessed. "I'd rather not feel anything. I'd rather there be icicles between us."
"Too much heat for that. You've always gone after what you want."
"So have
