Affiliate Marketing Secrets

The last person Kyle Winters expected to see in middle of a grungy Colombian shopping strip was Jessica Mills. Yet there she was, picking up knick knacks off a table that sat on the edge of the sidewalk with two other women on each of her sides. He watched her from a distance as he and a fellow marine, Mike Harris, sat at a small, slightly rusting table drinking their third round of beer. Kyle had never been much of a drinker but there wasn’t much else to do during his down time in this place.
He took another swig from the bottle and set it back on the table, never taking his eyes off the familiar woman across the crowded street. He watched as her smile radiated warmth to everyone within a ten foot radius of her just as it had back in high school. You didn’t even have to know her to be affected by it. She was, for lack of a better word, lively.
To his extreme dismay, the light ache in his heart returned the exact moment he spotted her shopping. The feeling had always been present whenever she was and that, he realized, had still not changed. When he left their small North Carolina town nearly five years ago that ache was replaced with something else.
Emptiness. He missed that empty feeling now that the raw pain found its way back inside him. He silently hoped if he saw her in another five years, the feeling would finally be dead.
“You about ready to head back?” Mike asked after he finished his beer and tossed the bottle in the trash can from where he sat.
“One more beer.”
He needed one now. Hell, he needed more than one.
When he refocused his attention to the booth the women were standing at, they were gone. He sat up straighter in his seat anxiously looking through the strange faces. As if his legs had a mind of their own he pushed his chair back and bolted down the street, weaving through people who lingered in his way.
Relieved to see loose blond curls bouncing gently with each step away from him she took, he slowed his pace slightly but continued in her direction. She was walking in the middle of the two women she had been shopping with, arms linked together. How many fair complexioned blond women with a slight spring to her step could there be in this small market center?
It had to be her.
“Jessie!”
There was only one person who had ever called her Jessie.
She knew that voice, although it had grown deeper since she last heard it. It reminded her of home. Of childhood. Of so many things.
Still, she was silently praying she wouldn’t see him when she turned around.
She slipped away from Danielle and Amy’s arms and turned slowly, anticipating the gut wrenching feeling she knew was on its way.
“Kyle.” She said in cordial acknowledgement. She quickly formed a smile to camouflage the tightly twisted coil in her tummy that made her feel like she could be sick any second. Danielle and Amy exchanged confused glances to each other followed by sly grins. It had never been a secret that Kyle was a cute boy and it was no surprise he had grown into an even more handsome man.
“Are you going to introduce me to your friends?” He asked.
“Oh. This is Danielle. And this is Amy.” She told him, motioning from girl to girl. She seemed flustered for the slightest moment. She recovered so fast that no one seemed to notice. No one except Kyle.
“Nice to meet you.” He said, looking from one girl to the other before looking back to Jessica.
“I kind of left my friend…” He said, looking over his shoulder half expecting to see Mike coming after him for bailing on their bill.
“Right. Well…It was good seeing you again.” She said flatly.
“Wait.”
He reached for her arm as she turned to leave. When her blue eyes locked with his, his mind went blank. He scrambled to find a way to keep her around him for a little while longer.
“Do you want to come have a drink with us?” He searched her face, trying his damndest to keep the desperation and hope he felt out of his expression and voice.
Blank. Careless. Neutral. Just the way he needed to be around Jessie.
She looked at each of her friends for approval. “Sure.”
He was just torturing himself with old memories and suppressed feelings. He knew that but part of him was okay with the sick torture as long as it meant she was there. Putting up with pain just to be near her; just to be a part of her life. Here he was, a twenty three year old man who just couldn’t get past the same damn problem he had all through high school. He wouldn’t do that to himself for the long term again.
He just wanted to see how she had been the last few years, how her brothers were doing, what she has been up to. That’s all. Innocently catching up with the woman who used to be his best friend.