Teaser Thursday!

I shared this excerpt from my WIP, Timeless/This Life or the Next (can't decide on the title yet!) on my social media last week, but forgot to share here!

Just some backstory- High School sweethearts Kara and John reconnect at their 25th reunion after John left Kara devastated in their early twenties. Kara gets the courage to say all of the things she never got the chance to 20 years ago, but she's completely unprepared for John's response...This is a SUPER rough draft, but enjoy! Love you guys!!

I walk into the open foyer and it’s abuzz with people mingling. There’s a large table set up with name tags and each person’s senior photo. I nervously scan the table hoping I see his name, and hoping I don’t. I’m squaring up how I feel about not seeing it on the table, as I grab a tall thin glass from the tray on the piano lid. Making my way into the crowd, I’m hoping to spot a familiar face quickly. I’m more than halfway through the pockets of people when I hear a laugh that used to make my heart melt. The butterflies are choking on the acid in my stomach as I turn toward the sound, and I’m immediately that insecure seventeen-year-old again. Though its been twenty years plus, I could still pick him out of a crowd instantly. My forty-two-year-old feet navigate to one of the small high-top tables near the group of faces I mostly recognize. I’m trying to act as nonchalant as possible, leaning against the table hoping he’ll notice me, and trying to remember how to breathe. One of the servers squeezes past him through the crowd that is starting to form near the bar, and he looks up in her direction, stepping aside and ushering her through the small space. His ever expressive eyes catch mine over her shoulder, and he begins to look away before doing a double-take. The same slightly embarrassed smile that used to greet me from across Mr. Brown’s classroom spreads across his more mature face, and he excuses himself from his conversation, starting in my direction. Though the butterflies now feel like they’re electrified and made of lead, I am somehow able to croak out the words. "John… It's been a long time..." I breathe up at him as he reaches the table.