AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But I don’t think he means it the way they’re taking it. And when his eyes meet mine and—there’s no other word for it—they smolder, I start to question everything myself.
Ishe pretending?
Or is the fantasy I’ve been dreaming about for so long coming true—do I have a chance with him again?
“After we met at dinner, Hilary filled me in a little bit about the two of you and your history together,” Abby says. “I just love it when people are reunited. There’s something so solid about knowing that your love has stood the test of time.”
Oh God. Help.
I’ll be shocked if Theo doesn’t find a reason to leave in about two seconds.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Aunt Hilary says, squeezing Abby’s hand. “But I love that too.” She giggles and takes a long slurp of her milkshake.
I take a huge bite of burger and groan. “Oh wow, it’s been so long since I’ve had a Sunny Side burger. I can’t believe I didn’t get one the minute I drove into town. I think I blocked out how much I loved these.”
Theo grins down at his burger and then looks at me, his eyes shy. “It used to always make you feel better.”
My emotions have been all over the place since I came back to Landmark, seeing ghosts everywhere I turn and reliving memory after memory, but Theo saying sweet things and looking at me the way he is now is going to finish me off.
“I remember the last time I came to visit before you left,” Aunt Hilary starts, and we both turn to look at her.
I’m nervous about what’s going to come out of her mouth, but Theo seems relaxed, so I try to do the same.
“You’d had a rough week. Remember, you got hurt at school?” She turns to Abby and makes a face. “It was awful. I couldn’t figure out why she could barely move without flinching, and come to find out, she’d fallen in gym and was in horrible pain and hadn’t told a soul.”
Theo’s eyes meet mine and his jaw is clenched. He grasps my hand so tight, the tips of his fingers are red.
“I finally insisted you tell me what was going on and you told us what had happened. Theo was there too, and he left right after that, and I remember thinkingwhat a jerk!He up and left. But it was maybe half an hour at most, and he was back.” She smiles at Theo. “Do you remember this?”
He swallows hard and nods.
Aunt Hilary smiles at him and then turns to Abby. “He came in loaded down and made sure Sofie was set up in that comfy chair right there.” She points at the chair that I think of as my mom’s. “He had ice packs, a heating pad that he plugged in right away, and I think there were half a dozen big bags of candy, a couple of books that he thought looked like the ones you read, and a bouquet of wildflowers.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and she shakes her head. I’m struggling to not weep myself.
“I’d never seen a man treat a woman like that, and certainly not a teenage boy.” A tear drips down her cheek and she laughs. “I guess I’ll always be a romantic, but that was the sweetest thing I’d ever seen.”
I squeeze Theo’s hand and he stares at me, his expression suddenly unreadable.
“I knew he was a keeper back then, and from what I can tell, you’ve only gotten better with time,” Aunt Hilary says, lifting her eyebrow.
I’m relieved when she takes a bite of her burger. I’ll be a puddle of tears and nerves if she keeps going down memory lane.
We manage to get the subject off of Theo and me for a while, and we talk about the horses, Fiona’s progress, the Fourth of July parade…time passes all too quickly and it’s been such a fun night.
I’ve loved getting to spend time with Aunt Hilary and Abby. Besides tonight and the things they said about Theo, they haven’t pushed me to open up during their visits. They’ve assumed I’m still grieving, and I’ve let them think that, but I’ve been glad that they’ve let me ease into this new relationship with them. And having Theo here tonight has made all of it feel lighter.
“Well, it’s late. Fred and I better get home,” Theo says a few hours later.
We laugh when Fred’s head pops up, on alert.
“Don’t let us interfere with any plans you had, you two,” Abby says.
“We’re good. There’s plenty of time for us to see each other,” I say, standing up to see Theo to the door.
“Really,” Aunt Hilary says emphatically. “Go, hang out…do whatever you’d do if we weren’t here…” She can’t help but give me an excited grin.
My face heats for the dozenth time.
