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“I know that too.” Alice laughed and raised her hand, her warm palm covering his. Her fingers were shaking, or maybe his were. It was hard to tell.
“What are you doing here?” he asked finally. He hoped it didn’t sound harsh, hoped she wouldn’t think she was unwelcome. Though a small part of him was still mad at her for how she’d treated him the last time they’d been together, a much bigger part didn’t care because she was right here.
“It’s a bit of a long story…” Alice looked down, letting her hand drop, but he caught it, holding it in his own like he might be able to keep her tethered to him. The longer she stood there, the more willing he was to believe she was real and not a dream. She lifted her face, her eyes half-hidden under her lashes.
“Alice, look at me.”
She did, and her blue eyes shone with a thin film of tears. “I’m so sorry, Alex. I made a mistake.”
“I punched your ex,” he blurted, countering her confession with one of his own.
Again, she laughed, though it hitched in her throat, coming up a little short. “I saw that.”
“Oh.”
She wrapped her other hand around his and kissed his knuckles. “I know it wasn’t you. I should have listened to you in the first place, and I’m so sorry I doubted you. I was angry about my job and I was stupid. I’m so sor—”
He kissed her.
Pulling her tight against him with his free hand, he held her captive against his body as his mouth met hers and he kissed her like it was the first time and the last time all at once. He kissed her like it was his only purpose on earth, and when she melted against him and kissed him back, squeezing his hand where it was pressed between them, he knew it wouldn’t be the last time.
No one kissed goodbye like that.
“Gross,” Liv muttered.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Three months later
Liv chased Kevin down the beach, squealing with delight even as her knit hat fell off and landed in the wet sand. Her uncle dodged out of her grasp but was intentionally running slower than he was capable of.
Alice hugged her sweater around her and got to her feet to collect the fallen hat, otherwise Liv was bound to forget it, and there would be tears later when they realized it was long gone to the Atlantic surf.
She watched Kevin and Liv race down the beach, little chunks of sand kicked up in their wake. Kevin plucked up Liv and pretended like he was going to throw her in the ocean, and the girl screamed bloody murder, her shrieks mixed with full-on belly giggles as she slapped at his arms.
Returning to her place in the sand, Alice threw the hat to Alex, who caught it one-handed and placed it on top of their bags.
They were coming to the end of their three weeks on the Florida coast, staying at a cute cabin Alex had rented following the end of the World Series. He hadn’t talked much about it since game seven had wrapped, and honestly they’d had better things to discuss in the meantime.
Three weeks with all the people who mattered most to her in the world was as close to heaven on earth as Alice was likely to find, even if it was November and the ocean far too cold to swim in. She didn’t want to ruin the perfect glow of the vacation by reminding Alex how the series had gone.
He’d been there. He was perfectly aware about the loss.
It had come down to the Felons and the Braves when the dust of the postseason had settled, and all the blogs and sports stations were saying the Felons were heavily favored to win. They’d had a more solid year, and both their pitching staff and offensive players had been more consistent throughout the season.
They’d won the first three games, and the stats on that sort of thing made them almost a sure bet to win the fourth and take the series in a sweep.
But the funny thing about stats was they weren’t always right.
The Braves won game four. And the next two as well, leaving the series tied up at three games apiece.
It came down to game seven.
Alice had been at the game, driving up to Atlanta to meet Alex’s sisters and his parents. It hadn’t been her dream way to meet the rest of his family, especially not given their rocky relationship and the fact they’d only been reunited a couple of mont
hs. But there was no way in hell she was missing game seven of the World Series.
Liv had been beside herself she couldn’t come.
