AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Would I have been happy though?
Sure, she would have been happy if her parents and sister were still around, but would a life with Chase have satisfied her? She’d thought so.
Then.
When he’d asked her to marry him.
Now she wasn’t so sure. How could she have loved Chase so muchandbe having the feelings she was having for Dakota? Because there was no doubt she had feelings for the man. No doubt at all. He stirred something in her no one else had ever touched. He knew how to bring the real Leah to the surface. He also appeared to like that Leah.
Probably foolish to be reading too much into this right now. So far she and Dakota had enjoyed a few successful dates, had made love several times, and cuddled until the sun came up. She’d stick with this and see where it went.
“… a collection of cow statues?”
She looked up to see Carter staring at her.Oops.She’d missed what he’d said as she reviewed her emotional status in regards to Dakota. “I’m sorry, Carter. What about cows and statues?”
Carter took a sip of his wine then shook his head at her. “Someone’s head is in the clouds, isn’t it?”
“Not in the clouds.”
“Still in Dakota’s bed perhaps?”
She flicked her gaze up to his, surprised he’d make a comment like that. “Maybe I’m thinking about a lesson plan.”Silly.She’d been at work all day, but even there, her mind was barely on her lesson plans. She’d half hoped Dakota would come crashing through her classroom door at some point during the day. She’d send the students out for extra recess, not caring if they were unsupervised, and let Dakota have her on her desk. Totally unprofessional daydreaming, but enough to get her through the day. She planned to call Dakota later to see how his day was.
Or maybe just to hear his voice.
Pathetic.
“Hmm, lesson plans,” Carter said. “I highly doubt it.”
“I believe I asked you aboutyournight when we started this conversation.” She bit off a chunk of her bread and kept herself busy chewing.
“Are we having a conversation?” Carter loaded his fork with ravioli. “Because I just told you about my night with Dena, but you didn’t listen.”
Leah puffed out a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m just… I don’t know…”
“Out of your comfort zone?” Carter nodded. “Yeah, join the club, sweetheart. I haven’t dated in a while. Not with any real intent anyway. I’ve gone for drinks here and there, but like you, I’ve never told anyone about Chase and what happened. Telling Dena had seemed like a good thing. At first. Then it made the whole night more serious than it should have been. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah.” At least with her and Dakota, they’d had a few encounters before getting serious last night. “Do you like her though?”
“Sure. She’s great. Smart. Funny with the right amount of snark. Gorgeous. Knowledgeable about sawmills which is an unexpectedly hot trait. Collects cow statues, which is what I was telling you. We had fun hanging out at her house, but both of us decided kissing was enough.” Carter took another sip of his wine. “We are going out again on Saturday. Some birthday bash or something.”
“Nana’s birthday bash.”
“And Nana is?”
“Dakota has a friend, Noah, who he grew up with. It’s Noah’s grandmother who is having the birthday on Saturday. She’s going to be eighty.”
“Eighty, wow.” Carter whistled. “Think we’ll make it to eighty?”
After her family and Chase died, she’d stopped thinking about herself growing old. She’d always had the sense that tomorrow could be the day something horrible happened to her too. Since moving to Maplehaven though, maybe living—safely—to a ripe old age wasn’t an impossible goal.
“I think maybe we could,” she said. “This mountain air is good for the body.” The mind and heart too.
“Yeah, about that…” Carter wiped his mouth with his napkin and set his fork down in his sauce. “I think you were on to something with moving out of New York City.” He fiddled with the stem of his wine glass, twisting the glass one way then the other, watching the red liquid sway. “Would it be totally unacceptable to you if I scouted around for a place in Maplehaven?”
She stopped mid-chew then swallowed. “Like to live here?”
He nodded, not saying anything.
