“You heard me.” She couldn’t keep the pain out of her voice.

He continued to frown, as if he still didn’t understand the question.

“Don’t give me that injured look,” she said, clenching her jaw. “Too many years have passed for me to be taken in by that.”

“You were the one who stood me up.”

“Yeah, right,” she said with a mocking laugh. “After I made an idiot of myself in front of my parents, too. That must’ve given you a real kick.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Thom, I waited in that park for two miserable hours and you didn’t show.”

Not an inch separated them now as his icy glare cut into her. Dancing couples swirled around them, but Noelle was barely conscious of anyone else. For all she knew or cared, they were alone on the dance floor.

“I waited hours for you, too.”

His lying to her now was almost more than she could stand. “I beg to differ,” she said stiffly.

“Noelle, listen to me! I was there.”

“You most certainly were not.” Then, to prove that she wasn’t going to accept a lie, no matter how convenient, she added, “You think I just waited around? I was sure something had gone wrong, sure there was some misunderstanding, so I phoned your home.”

“I wasn’t there because I was waiting for you!”

He persisted with the lie and that irritated her even more.

“You were gone, all right,” she said, spitting out the words. “You were with your buddies bowling.”

His eyes narrowed and he began to speak.

But the music stopped just then, which was all the excuse Noelle needed to get away from him. He reached for her hand and pulled her back. “We need to talk.”

“No. It happened years ago. Some things are better left alone.”

“Not this time,” he insisted, unwilling to budge.

“What do you hope to accomplish by going through all of this now? It’s too late.” They’d gain nothing more than the pain of opening old wounds. Any discussion was futile. It’d been a mistake to let herself get drawn into this silly drama—just one very big mistake.

“I’m not hoping to accomplish one damn thing,” he told her coldly.

“I didn’t think so.”

Thom released her hand. “Just a minute,” he said as she turned from him.

Noelle hesitated.

“I was there. I stood there for two hours and waited. You were the one who never showed.”

“That’s not true!”

They stood glowering at each other, both refusing to give in. Noelle wasn’t going to let him lie his way out of this, though—not after what his deception had cost her.

“Hey, you two, this is Christmas,” someone called out.

The voice ended Noelle’s resolve. Whatever had happened in the past didn’t matter anymore. Certainly not after all these years.