Prologue
Strawberry cheesecake ice cream, please be here.
After today- I need you.
I stood in front of the freezer full of all different Ben & Jerry’s ice cream pints, and scanned my eyes over all of them- until I saw the section that had the “Strawberry Cheesecake” tag was…empty.
“Dammit.” I mumbled.
Guess it’ll have to be my second choice, Karamel Sutra.
I grabbed the ice cream, and made my way over to the only other aisle I needed to go down- wine and spirits.
As I looked over the bottles of cheap, sweet wine- a woman next to me who looked around my age with shoulder length chocolate brown hair and a pretty floral dress said to me, “I recommend this Prosecco. It’s really good.”
I turned to look at her and said, “Is it sweet? I prefer my wine to taste like juice so I can get drunk off.”
She laughed and smiled, showing pearly white teeth, “It’s sweet, yes.” She then looked down at the ice cream in my left hand, and me grabbing the bottle of wine with my right hand.
“That kind of day, huh?” she said to me.
“Wine and ice cream? Most definitely.” I said.
“Well, I hope you like my recommendation.” she said, grabbing a bottle of Prosecco as well, “Have a good night.”
I turned and watched as she walked away- to a man who also looked to be my age who was standing at the end of the aisle.
I then looked at the man for an extra second- and damn near dropped the bottle of wine.
Matteo.
Nothing could have prepared me for this moment- a moment that I never thought was going to happen, let alone in a grocery store.
As the brunette woman got closer and closer to him- he caught my eye.
And I saw his green eyes widen slightly- like he couldn’t believe it was me down the aisle from him- but he also had to keep his cool.
The woman eventually reached him, and he looked down at her. He was quite a bit taller than her- as he was with me.
She held up the bottle of wine, and I saw him give her a smile.
As he smiled down at her, a wave of emotions came over me.
That could have been me.
The woman started walking, and he followed behind- not without giving me another glance- and then he followed behind her.
I didn’t realize how fast my heart was pounding until I closed my eyes for a moment.
I wasn’t sure if I would ever see Matteo Edmonds again.
Chill, Cassidy. It was probably a one time thing, where you ran into him.
However, deep down, I knew- this was going to be the start of a whole new chapter with him.
If he was back in town- there was no way we were avoiding each other.
