AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll be there in a second,” I tell her.
“They’re leavingnow.” She shoots an icy glare at Gavin, then heads inside the building.
“I have to go,” I say to him. “It was nice running into you.”
Gavin captures my hand as I move to step past him. I feel his touch like a fiery pinball ricocheting throughout my body.
“Can I see you again?” he asks.
The intensity in his gaze steals my breath. Part of me knows I should close the door on that mortifying chapter of my past. I haven’t seen Gavin in years. In that time, I’ve kissed other people, dated them, even slept with a few. I didn’t fall for any of them, not like I fell for Gavin. That obsessive, all-consuming kind of love, like wildfire sweeping through your nervous system.
One could argue it wasn’t real love because it was one-sided. But my feelings for Gavin were real enough for me.
The man I once wanted more than anything in this world is looking at me like I’m the only woman in the room. I was too young for him then, but I’m old enough to do a lot more than drink now. He sees it, too, and if his thumb caressing my knuckles is any indication, he likes what he sees.
“You can walk me home,” I say.
His mouth slants. “I’d be happy to.”
My pulse flutters like dragonfly wings. I don’t want to risk sending Gavin downstairs toward my parents. With any luck, my dad still doesn’t know he’s here. “I’ll meet you by the bar in five minutes.”
My sister confronts me as soon as I re-enter the building.
“You shouldn’t be talking to him,” Erica hisses. “If Dad saw you together, he’d lose his shit.”
“I was just saying hi.”
“After what he did, you shouldn’t even be saying that much.” She scowls. “Unless you want to pile even more stress onto Dad’s already weak heart.”
I trap my tongue behind my teeth. Erica and my mom believe the stress of Dad’s falling out with Gavin is what led to his first heart attack. I’m less convinced. Obviously stress played a role in Dad’s heart condition, but he’s a workaholic. He welcomes stress, nurtures it, feeds on it. Or, he did, before he retired.
“I doubt I’ll see him again,” I tell my sister. I don’t like lying, but with certain members of my family, sometimes the only way to end an argument is to tell them what they want to hear.
“Unfortunately, Providence isn’t that big a city.” She rubs her temple and sighs. “Just remember what that man did to our father. I don’t think Dad could survive another heart attack.”
Chapter Three
Gavin
Alexis’s dress clings to her curves like a glove I’d love to slide my hand into.
I haven’t seen the youngest Kelley sister in years, but I recognized her smile right away. Cute, funny Alexis. The sweet, awkward, too-smart-for-her-own-good daughter of my former adviser.
It's painfully obvious that she’s not a kid anymore, so much so that I have to reach into my pocket to adjust myself. The street we’re walking down is a familiar one. I used to live in this neighborhood, back when I was a grad student.
My current apartment is barely a ten-minute walk from here, just two blocks from Brookstone’s main campus. I wonder if Alexis’s parents still own the Federal-style house on Power Street. The notion that I could simply come out and ask her is almost comical.
I’d refrained from applying for teaching positions at my alma mater for years because I didn’t need another lesson in futility. Frank Kelley might not have held a leadership position, but he’s a legend at Brookstone. There was no way they’d hire me as long as he remained on the faculty. When I heard he retired, I saw my chance, and to my utter bewilderment, I was offered tenure-track—practically unheard of in this day and age.
I had planned to skip tonight’s event, knowing Frank would be there, but I ditched that idea at the last second. As the history department’s most recent hire, I had to at least make an appearance.
My intention was to avoid the entire Kelley clan for as long as I was able. From the stone-cold glares Erica sent my way all through dinner, I gathered I was still enemy number one. That should bode well for the rest of the semester, since the anthropology and history departments are housed in the same building.
“I see Erica’s got a bun in the oven,” I say. “How far along is she?”
“About seven months,” Alexis says. “The whole family’s really excited, especially my mom. I think Erica’s equal parts happy and petrified, but doesn’t want to show it. You know how she is, or was.”
From the way Erica spoke to her half-sister at the party, I suspect her disposition hasn’t changed much. She was always picking at Alexis, pointing out her faults. I always figured it stemmed from sibling rivalry, or resentment over her father’s second marriage to Rachael. But Alexis was a good kid. She didn’t deserve her sister’s barbs, and she sure as hell didn’t deserve the hurtful things I said to her before I left.
