Polly abruptly took several steps back, frantically running her hand through her hair to try and tame it while also tugging at the oversized tee shirt she had found in Parker’s old closet, suddenly regretting her decision to go with comfort over style.
Of all the people to catch her years after high school, looking like she’d just wandered into a fashion emergency in the middle of the wilderness, it would have to be Chase Colton.
Why not? Her luck had been so spectacular this week, why not add Chase into the mix?
“Uh, ma’am? Are you okay?” Chase asked, his eyes searching her face with concern – probably because of the flush burning her cheeks to a fire engine red. “Wait, do… do we know each other? You seem really familiar…”
Oh yeah, Polly thought wryly, we know each other.
“You don’t… you don’t remember me?” Polly asked, slightly hurt by the implication. “At all?”
Chase looked at her for a long moment, his eyes searching her face, and when she brushed a strand of hair from her cheek self-consciously and tucked it behind her ear, his face brightened. “Little Polly Royston? Is that you? Gosh, you look… you look different, but that voice is the same,” Chase said, a smile lighting up his face. “Is it you?”
Polly nodded mutely, her cheeks still flaming. Well, she thought numbly, at least he remembered her – probably just remembered her as Parker’s twin, but still….
Chase Colton, she thought with a sigh.
Chase Colton had been a year older than Parker and Polly, and he and Parker had always been best friends – running around the woods together, going hunting, taking the kayaks out on the lake…
Polly didn’t have much to do with them in those days, partly because she was getting her geek on in school, and partly because she had such a massive crush on Chase Colton that it threatened to make her pass out from oxygen deprivation every time he was around her for more than a minute and a half.
He was ‘that guy’ in school – the one that was popular without trying, genuinely funny and friendly with everyone, and so effortlessly good looking that every girl wanted him. He’d always been a good student, sure, and he and Parker were good influences on each other, but then…
Polly remembered the day Parker had come home and told Polly that Chase’s dad had been killed in a mining accident near Menominee, the summer before Chase would have been a senior, and Polly and Parker were juniors. The news was devastating for all who knew Chase’s father – a jovial, friendly man – but most of all for Chase.
Chase was suddenly the man of the family, and without any sort of male influence other than his friends, having only his mother and a much younger sister at home. His father’s death had shaken him to his core, and that senior year, Chase had become the reckless kind of bad boy every girl secretly wanted but would never admit.
And if Polly had had a crush on him before, she nearly asphyxiated from it during his senior year – the bad boy factor combined with his good looks, flippant humor and ‘fuck you’ attitude combined for a deadly cocktail of hot boy that she was too embarrassed to admit even to herself that she liked.
He rode his motorcycle too fast, slept around too much, drank too many beers on most nights, and generally acted like every day was his last.
And if his mother hadn’t intervened, one of them probably would have been.
Chase graduated, had no plans, and his mother laid down the law – either join up, move out on your own, or get a job to help keep this family running.
Chase had chosen the Navy and never looked back. In fact, he got so into the corps that he went through SEAL training, and last she’d heard, had been active until just a year or so ago. Parker had said something about a discharge, but she didn’t have more details than that.
In fact, Chase was the reason Parker had joined the Navy and become a SEAL, just like his best friend. They were in different units, but had that same corps attitude, right down to the spot and shine of their combat boots.
So, needless to say, her family and Chase had always been entwined – it was nice to know he at least remembered her name.
Polly nodded slowly. “Yup, it’s me. Polly Royston. Hi.”
“Hi,” Chase said with a warm, wide smile. “It’s been years! How are you?” He asked, still looking at her face as though memorizing her. He took a step forward as though to give her a hug, but wasn’t sure if that was good etiquette or creepy considering he’d just wandered uninvited onto her porch, so he cautiously stepped back, thrusting his hands in his pockets and rocking on his heels instead.
Chase felt rocked to his core, staring at the woman standing in front of him, still in a slightly defensive stance. Oh, he remembered Polly Royston, all right.
He and Parker had always been such great friends, and Polly had always been on the periphery – you couldn’t be friends with a twin without knowing their other half. Polly had always been the quieter, less adventuresome of the two, always so studious and good and sweet, whereas Parker could be a scoundrel when he tried.
But my God, she had changed, he thought appreciatively. That fiery red hair was the same but with a new, bouncier style, and those haunting blue eyes that he swore always knew what he was thinking, but she’d grown tall and willowy, which he didn’t remember, the braces had obviously come off to leave a dazzling smile, and her body had curves in all the right places, despite the baggy clothes she was wearing.
Plus, despite the lamp defensive, she had an air about her that she knew who she was, and what she was worth. Chase had always had the feeling in school that Polly felt inferior to Parker and his easy charm and outdoor spirit, but not anymore.
But Polly had been the smart, sassy one, throwing out one-liners that she didn’t think anyone else heard, but he always did.
Little Polly Royston, all grown up. He wished he could remember more of his senior year – when he’d gone off the rails – so he could remember what her ambitions were, where she ended up. God knows she hadn’t stuck around the Keweenaw…
“Hi,” Chase replied simply, and they both laughed nervously.
“So you do remember me,” Polly said with a softer smile now.
6752/50000
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