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Chapter 7
“Hey,” Pam said as she walked out on the front porch. She hadn’t expected to see Mark out there, even though in the summer, both of them often spent at least a few minutes every evening out on it, enjoying the small-town atmosphere and the warm weather.
It had been unseasonably warm for May, and it was still early in the season.
She just...thought better on the front porch, she supposed. Or maybe she needed a break from her thoughts. The idea of marrying Mark. It was crazy, it was exciting. It was the wildest idea she’d ever had, and at the same time, there was no doubt that she felt total and complete confidence that if they did it, it would work out.
“Hey. I guess this is our thinking spot,” he joked, sliding over a bit so she could sit down on the top of the steps with him.
She sat down the way she always did, but it was funny how she was suddenly aware of him beside her. Of the strength of his leg and the way his forearm rested on it. His breath. Things she never thought about at all were suddenly filling up her senses.
He smelled like soap and cleanliness, with a strength underlying it all that was very familiar to her, yet she’d never really examined.
“Looks like Luke and Kristin are going to come over and say hi to us.”
That was one of the reasons why she often went outside on the porch. Sometimes she walked across the road and said hi to her neighbors, and sometimes other folks out for an evening stroll stopped in. Sometimes tourists stopped to chat.
It felt like she was part of the small town when she was out on her porch.
“I think you’re right,” she said as she watched Luke and Kristin, their hands joined together, walk across the road and step up on the sidewalk.
“Good evening. It’s beautiful out for early May,” Luke said by way of greeting.
“I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised everyone else was out, but it does seem like it’s early in the year for us all to be acting like it’s summer,” Mark replied.
Pam greeted Kristin and invited them to sit down.
Luke sat on the step beside them, and Kristin sat on the step below his, settling between his legs and leaning against his chest. His arms came around her, and they looked so cozy and sweet it made Pam’s heart squeeze.
That’s what she would be giving up. She hadn’t really thought about it, hadn’t realized it until just now, but she always held out a little bit of hope in her heart that maybe someday she’d have a relationship like that. Where she cuddled easily with her husband. Where they held hands and touched and snuggled and shared secret special smiles.
She tried to shake those thoughts. After all, what she had with Mark was even better. They laughed together, they understood each other, and they supported each other. They knew each other’s bad habits and character flaws, and they enjoyed each other’s company anyway. She would even say that she loved Mark. As friends. Even though she knew he wasn’t a perfect man.
She felt something and looked down. Mark had touched her arm, and her eyes caught on his finger, long and capable, and somehow just looking at it made...some kind of feeling radiate out from her chest. She couldn’t define it, and its intensity surprised her.
She jerked her eyes up to his. He had his brows raised in question.
