This Valentine’s Day, former high school buddies Stephanie Rice Summey and Brian Fish celebrated a totally random and unexpected, yet fun and special re-acquaintance Valentine’s Day – 20 years in the making.

Their story started way back when these two neighborhood kids attended what was then Beaverdam Elementary School together when Summey grew up in Beaverdam while Fish grew up across the way in the North Hominy community.

To him, she was the all-American girl next door.

“I thought Stephanie was always a sweetheart and I had been to school with her since kindergarten,” recalled Fish.

When Beaverdam Elementary closed, they both attended North Canton Elementary School, and then Canton Junior High (currently Canton Middle School) and Pisgah High School.

In high school, he sat right behind ...