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“What’s happening here, Holly?”
“I don’t know.”
And the truth is I don’t. A few weeks ago I was ready to give myself to another man for the rest of my life. I’d thought that life was over when he’d left me at the altar and embarrassed me in front of everyone. Now here I am, reconnecting with my high school boyfriend, feeling butterflies I haven’t felt in years.
Life is a funny cycle.
Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it throws another curve ball. “I don’t know, but I’m open to it if you are.”
He doesn’t answer, but given the heat that crosses his face, I think he’s as receptive to the idea as I am.
Lucas
Sitting around the fireplace,eating pizza is a throwback to another time. One where things were simple and there wasn't so much heartache in my world. "Do you remember that night we snuck beers out to the campsite?" I grin, as I recall how she'd gotten so much drunker than I did. We'd both had to lie to our parents and camp out so we could sober up, but that'd also been the first night we'd had sex without inhibitions.
Her gaze heats as she glances over at me. “I do. I didn’t know who either of us were in your sleeping bag that night.”
We’d been young, but with each other for years at that point. Both of us had been holding back from one another because the feelings between us had been so strong. Looking back, I’m sure neither of us knew what we had going. If we had, we would’ve fought harder for it.
“It’s done,” she pulls the cast iron bowl out of the fire. “Be careful because it’s hot.”
My eyes follow as she puts servings on plates and has a seat in front of the couch, using the coffee table for the meal.
This simple meal and snowed-in night are the balm to my heart I didn't realize I needed.
CHAPTERELEVEN
HOLLY
How couldhe take my breath away when I’d been ready to give myself to another? Being here with him is like being in a time machine, taking me back to a place where things were easy, when I hadn’t known how good I had it.
His tongue works against mine, running up along the roof of my mouth. When he pulls back, his whiskey eyes look deep into mine. “What would you have said if I told you I was going to go with you, back then?”
Shock registers through my body. “What?”
He rubs his lips together, nodding slightly. “I was ready to tell you that I’d follow wherever it was you were going. That although you say those dreams as yours, they were mine too. Whatever you wanted, was what I wanted.”
Emotion clogs my throat. “What happened, Luke? Why didn’t you tell me?”
He sighs. “Dad got sick.”
“What do you mean? I thought he got sick six months ago and it all happened very fast.”
His calloused fingers brush my hair away from my face. “That’s what we told everyone. The truth is, he was diagnosed right before high school graduation. We didn’t want anyone to know because of the business. I was running it.”
“As a freaking eighteen-year-old?” I’m thinking of all the things I’d said to him, how I’d told him he’d never get out of this town because he wanted to keep everything the same. How the lack of change was going to stunt his growth as an adult. “Oh my God, Luke,” I let the tears fall. “I am so sorry.”
“Shhhh,” he kisses me softly. “You didn’t know. Hardly anyone did. Dad didn’t want people’s charity, and I didn’t want anyone looking us with pity in their eyes. Asking you to stay would’ve been wrong. Especially when you had dreams that didn’t include a boyfriend with a sick parent, who would be taking up all the slack. It was too much to ask a teenager to do.”
“Yet you did it,” I remind him.
“I did,” he nods. “But fuck I resented it. I tried not to, I tried to tell myself over and over again that this is what he would’ve done for anyone else.”
“I’m sorry,” I say again, leaning in to connect our lips again.
This kiss. It feels right, like everything I’ve ever wanted.
Lucas
