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“Oh, yeah? That good, you say?” he says with mock excitement.
“Better. Take it.” He looks at me and the box dubiously. He does not know the greatness that is in this box. “Joy and happiness is in here. All you have to do is open it.” I purse my lips, nodding, until he nods along with me.
“In this little pastry box, you say?”
“Yes, but that’s not all,” I say in my best game show host voice. I reach into my bag on the floor and whip out a serving spoon with jazz hands. “Tada! This comes with it.”
He presses his lips together, and his shoulders shake. “You make it a habit to carry abnormally large utensils?”
“Only for extreme cases of near-miss crises. Which in your case, unfortunately, wasn’t. Now be quiet and take the box and open it.”
“Okay bossy pants.” He doesn’t take it from me. Instead, he opens it, and his brows furrow. “You’re giving me pie?”
“It’s not much, but I wanted to cheer you up, and you know, when in doubt...”
“Bring pie,” he finishes with a lopsided grin.
I love that he remembered that. “It’s one of my specialty pies. Sam puts them on the menu from time to time. This one is Jacob Peekaboo Surprise.”
“I love it already. Can’t be bad, with that name. Gimme my big-ass spoon,” he says, all serious, like he’s about to judge my pie for a blue ribbon. He digs in, scooping out a hunk and bringing it to his lips. His mouth closes over it, pulling out with a smooth tug and a toe-curling moan of appreciation.
All sensible thoughts have evaporated from my brain. I’m thinking damn that’s a good pie and I made it. Hell, I wish I was the morsel of pie being licked in to his mouth, scoop by scoop. There was a time I would be able to taste that pie on his lips, and feel exactly what he’s feeling, with his moan shaking through me. Oh, damn, too much alone time with Landon isn’t good. I’m lusting after a man whose marriage is ending, and I’m supposed to be supporting him in this terrible moment. Bad, Lacey, bad.
“This is amazing. What's in this pie?”
“If I tell you I'd have to kill you. It's a secret, but maybe one day I'll tell it to you.”
“You have to taste this.” He holds the spoon out.
I laugh . “I have, and I will again, because I’m that much of a pie head.” I take the offered spoon and dig it into the pie, searching for a bigger piece. I stuff the bite in my mouth and try to chew with my mouth half-closed.
“Yep, you’re a pie head. Why a spoon?”
“Do you think I could fit all this into my mouth with a fork?” I mumble through my mouthful of food.
“Good point.” He takes the spoon back, scooping out another monster bite. Within two minutes we finish the pie, taking turns with the spoon.
He turns on the music, and I don’t know if the pie was that good, but we smile all the way to my house. He tells me funny stories about his job and Trigg’s antics. We reach the corner of my house, and I’m disappointed we’re here already. The bunny project will soon be finished. This may be the only time I have an excuse to be alone with him. I missed this easy talking and laughing, feeling good for no other reason than the person next to you. It’s been a long time—since I was with him, if I’m being honest.
In the middle of the turn to the front of my house, he stops and reverses the car, putting it in park. I look at him, brows raised, and wait. Maybe he has more to say about Bree and Jackson. Whatever it is, I’m here to listen. Our time may have come and gone, but if nothing else, I want to be friends with him. I like the way it feels when he’s around. I know that’s hard to come by. I want to keep it around as long as I can.
He looks at me and holds my hand. I squeeze, waiting patiently. His words jolt my eyes wide setting my heart beating. “I’ve missed you so damn much, Lacey. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about you. That’s a lot of fucking thinking about one person for six years.”
I’m struck dumb. “You got married; you have Jackson. Why would you?”
“Come on, Lacey. Did you think I would stop thinking about you because you weren’t near me? The feelings I had for you wouldn’t allow that. It killed me, walking away from you. I would have done anything for you, didn’t you know that?”
Damn. Damn. Damn. My eyes. I don’t want to cry. When the guy you’ve never gotten over says things like that...I’m afraid to say anything, so I stay silent, and my shoulder goes up in the safest way of explaining without words. His eyes are steady, almost piercing, as a tide of feeling I’ve learned to manage rolls back over me. I know what he did for me. He never told me—instead, he walked away.
“You walked away.”
“Lacey baby, I know what I did. I’m sorry I hurt you. You were everything to me. I wanted to save you, but I couldn’t. You don’t know what it did to me, watching you suffer. Can you tell me you’ve never thought about me? If you do, I’ll say you’re lying. This proves it.” He gently shakes my hand then holds it to his chest. “When we’re together, do you feel like you’ve melted back into time? Your feelings are there, waiting for you, as if no time has passed? You’re Lacey, and I’m Landon—you’re the greatest love of my life.”
Those words. When he looks at me and touches me, how can I deny it? I take the deepest breath imaginable and release six years of feelings in three words. “I feel it.”
He sighs, squeezing my hand, and places his other hand on my face. “Thank God. I thought I was insane, not being able to let this go. Not that I would want to.”
I rest my hand on his forearm, my eyes misting. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this. Let the past stay in the past. We’ve both moved on. You’re married and about to go through a divorce. Let’s not make things messier.”
