The Reunion
Grace Sullivan hadn't expected to see him at her high school reunion. Twenty years had passed since graduation, twenty years since she'd walked away from the only boy who'd ever made her heart race. But there he was, standing by the punch bowl in the same gymnasium where they'd shared their first dance, looking impossibly handsome in a way that made her seventeen-year-old heart flutter all over again.
Michael Torres had always been beautiful—dark hair that curled just enough to make girls want to run their fingers through it, eyes the color of warm chocolate, and a smile that could light up the darkest room. But now, at thirty-eight, he'd grown into his features. The boy she'd loved had become a man she couldn't stop staring at.
"Grace?" His voice was deeper now, seasoned by years and experience, but it still made her name sound like music. "Grace Martinez? I mean... Sullivan now?"
"Divorced," she said quickly, then blushed at how eager she sounded. "I mean, yes, it's Sullivan again. And you're... you're..."
"Old?" He laughed, and the sound transported her back to lazy summer afternoons when they'd been inseparable.
"Distinguished," she corrected, and meant it.
The Appeal of "What If"
They found themselves on the school's back steps, the same place they'd sat countless times as teenagers, sharing dreams and secrets under the stars. The music from the reunion drifted out through the open doors, but Grace barely heard it. All her attention was focused on the man beside her, the one who'd haunted her "what if" thoughts for two decades.
"I looked for you," Michael said quietly. "After college. I came back to town and asked around, but you'd already moved to California."
Grace's heart clenched. "I looked for you too. Your mom said you'd joined the Peace Corps, gone to Guatemala. I wrote you letters but never sent them."
"What did they say?"
She smile... for more on this, see our post on forbidden love stories.