My heart is beating out of my chest as Livia's tires crunch over the narrow dirt road. She, however, has been looking more apprehensive by the minute. But I'm beyond caring about any of that when I see Tom's car in the driveway of a house up ahead. He's here!

Liv pulls up to the house, pulling in so tightly against it that I have to climb over the driver's side in order to get out of the jeep. She refused to budge about putting the top back on for the ride down, so I have to do a quick hair fix in the side mirror.

She asks me, "So, what? You want to just knock on the door?"

Hmm. That might be a little tough. This is the part I hadn't really thought through. Tom might think I really am stalking him.

"Wait! I got it. We'll just tell him we came down here for the wristbands, but that you felt rude coming all the way down without saying 'hi'."

Livia gives me a yeah, right look, but says, "Fine. Your soap opera, your script."

Just as we start to walk up the front steps, we hear noise coming from the rear of the house. We walk around back to see a group of five guys sitting around in a circle of lawn chairs on the sand. Tom's not among them.

Livia gives a, "Hey, guys!" and walks right up to say hello to her friends Paul and Frank, who look pleasantly surprised to see her. I've met these two, but I don't know them very well, so I just give a quick wave while scanning the surrounding area for Tommy. He's who I came here to see after all.

Paul gets up and grabs us a couple of beers from the cooler, and then lets out with a yell. "Hey, Rivers! Get your ass out here. We've got company."

Tommy comes out of the house and smiles when he sees Livia. "Hey, baby!" he says. As he leans in to kiss her, that's when he spots me, standing at the edge of the yard, trying to look casual with my can of beer. His face drops a little before he gives Liv a skeptical look. She's not helping matters any, standing over there biting her lip like the guilty co-conspirator that she is.

I am counting on Tom's distaste for drama, and it turns out I gambled right, because he heads over to me and offers an agreeable hello.

"Hi, Tom."

"Shay. Nice to see you."

God, I've missed hearing him call me Shay.

"You, too."

Lucky for me, I picked a good day to run into him. He seems like he's in such a great mood, even the unexpected arrival of his ex-girlfriend can't dampen it. He looks back over at Livia and asks, "Will you two be spending the day with us?"

"Is that an invitation?" I ask, before Livia can open her mouth.

Stuck without any other response, he fumbles, "Uh, of course. I guess it wouldn't be a party without a coupla girls on the guest list, right?" And then he actually smiles at me!

I take this as a good sign and decide to just go for it. I look him right in the eye and say, "Actually, I was hoping there was somewhere we could go to talk?"

He looks suspicious, but he entertains my suggestion and escorts me inside. I can feel Liv's eyes burning a hole through my back, but I don't want to give Tom a chance to have second thoughts by taking the time to try and explain things to her first. She'll understand.

Guys' beach houses are usually pretty gross and this one is just barely an exception. The kitchen counters are covered with assorted defrosting meat products and the sink is piled high with dirty dishes. But even with the small, random messes I can see throughout the rest of the greatroom, I have to admit that there is a vast difference between houses rented by guys in their thirties compared to ones rented by guys in their twenties. At least this place doesn't smell.

Tom directs me toward his bedroom and closes the door behind us. The movement causes his arm to brush against mine, and my heart skips a beat.

But when he doesn't follow me to sit down on the bed, I start thinking that maybe he's not as keyed up as I am.

He's leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest, silently smirking at me, this alien specimen who has shown up out of the blue and is now sitting in his bedroom.

I can't help but laugh. "What?"

He doesn't break his pose. "What are you doing here?"

"We were in the neighborhood."

He's not buying it. "Uh huh."

"We were! I came down with Liv and Jack to spend the past two days at Monty and Walter's."

"For the Fourth of July."

"Yes."

"Today."

"Yes."

He shakes his head and puts his hands on his hips. "So, I'll ask you again. Why are you here?"

I thought about trying out the lame ruse I'd concocted in the driveway. But I figured the jig was up and I may as well be honest. I take a deep breath and just spit it out. "I wanted to see you."

This brings another smirk to his mouth. "Well, now you've seen me. I take it you'll be heading back up to Spring Lake now?"

He starts to show me the door, but I jump up and grab his arm. "Tommy, wait! Okay, fine. The truth is..."

What the hell is the truth here? That I couldn't stand not talking to him anymore? How I've been pissed all week that he hadn't called me after that night at the bar? How I can't believe we even broke up in the first place and that I'm the only one it seems to bother?

"The truth is that I just want to know where I stand with you. When we broke up so abruptly, it was unexpected, but I thought I had moved on. Then I saw you that night at The Westlake..."

When he doesn't respond, I keep babbling. "I just thought, I don't know. I thought talking to you today would give me some closure."

Yeah, right. Like I came here looking for closure. I know I'm grasping at straws here, because he and I both know I'm here to reopen this can of worms, not close it.

"Closure."

"Mm hmm."

He loosens up a little, enough to motion me over to make room for him to sit on the bed. I can't get a read on his tone, but it's almost like he's finding this entire scenario... amusing, somehow. "And just exactly what's it going to take for you to achieve this elusive closure, Shay?"

Oh my God. What do I do here? He's sitting right next to me on the bed, looking me in the eyes... and all I'd have to do is shift my body just a little bit toward his... and we could be... kissing...

I start to lean in toward Tom, but the knock on the door breaks the moment. "Shana? Are you in there?"

Livia.

"Yeah! What's up?"

She sounds impatient. "Um, well, you just disappeared on me and I was wondering where you went. How long do you think you're gonna be?"

What is wrong with that girl?

"I don't know. Give me a few more minutes, okay?"

There's a heated pause before she answers. "Okay. Well, I'm going to take a run up to Jenk's for those wristbands, but I'll be back in like twenty minutes. And then we'll go. Okay?"

"Okay," I singsong while rolling my eyes at Tommy.

And then, the next thing I know, his lips are on mine.