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“Never,” he said. He didn’t know why she’d say that.
“Christian. This relationship is new.”
“No,” he said. “It’s not. It’s a continuation of our other one.”
She laughed at him. “We were sixteen.”
“And now we are thirty-four. We are stronger and more independent, but we are still the same two people who were drawn to each other before. This isn’t just a second chance at your life for you, but one for us. That is how I’m looking at it.”
“Then that is how I will too,” she said. “Dinner is done. I took the night off and I was hoping you’d stay.”
“Why did you take it off?” he asked.
“Because I hoped that we could work this out. I didn’t know how I’d feel after. There were a lot of things going through my mind and I thought it might be wise to have a clear head at work and there was a chance that might not be the case.”
He put her face in his hands. “Yes, I’ll stay the night. I just need to get some clothes. Did you think we wouldn’t work it out and you’d be upset?”
He was staring into her eyes. He wanted to see if he could find any signs of her feelings toward him and what they had.
That he wasn’t feeling this alone.
That maybe she was falling in love with him as he was with her and she’d be upset if they walked away from each other.
“I hoped we would work it out,” she said. “And yes, I’d be upset if we didn’t, but it’s not the first time in my life I’ve been upset about things.”
It wasn’t the answer he wanted, but it was more than he had before.
“Then let’s eat dinner and I’ll get some clothes for tomorrow. I’m sure you’re not going to be too tired for a while if you slept today.”
“I only slept until noon,” she said. “As I said, I knew I had the day off. I wanted to be rested up so we could have some makeup sex.”
He laughed. “I like the way you think.”
21
Tight-Knit Family
“Your first Paradise Place picnic,” Christian said to her two weeks later.
“It is,” she said. “Are you sure just making cookies is fine?”
She’d seen pictures of this picnic on the development’s website. It looked like a good time, but if she wasn’t dating Christian, she was positive she wouldn’t have attended.
Liz wasn’t someone to get to know her neighbors and hang out with them. She barely said hi to the few she had now.
The house across the street was going to get a new kitchen and some other work done on it. Christian had told her that was what he was doing there when he’d witnessed her mailbox being hit. Guess they were just getting around to starting in a week or so. She was glad the work would be inside and not be too noisy and keep her up during the day when she had to sleep.
“Yes,” he said. “There are so many people there. There are multiple repeats of salads and desserts. My family takes care of the grilling. They normally do hamburgers and hot dogs. It’s easy enough to fit a lot on the grills they bring in.”
Christian had stayed at her house last night and gotten up early to go help set up. Guess the whole family did it. She’d offered to help and he’d told her she didn’t need to.
She wanted to argue but then realized she’d just be in the way when he said none of the wives were there. They were home with the kids, but she didn’t have any kids.
It wasn’t worth arguing about, so she decided to bake her cookies this morning rather than last night. She’d made a double batch of lemon bars. She felt that was a nice summer dessert and she wouldn’t have to worry about them melting in the heat.
“I think it’s great that they’ve done this for years,” she said.
“It is. Be ready to have a lot of people come talk to you.”
