AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t know if we should talk about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m hoping we might have sex again, and I’m pretty sure that if we keep talking about my ex, that won’t happen.”
Laney laughed, and let it go. His plan was better. So much better. She moved the tray off the bed and slithered up Kyle’s body until all the necessary bits fit together.
Chapter 8
Two hours later, Laney stepped out of the shower at the farmhouse. Kyle had suggested they shower together at his place, but she knew she needed to get home before her family returned or Evie would figure out how she had spent the morning. And a decent chunk of the afternoon as well. She grinned. Definitely not what her mother intended when she sent him across the road, but she finally felt like their breakup made sense. What they’d had was too big for either of them to handle, the combination of puppy love and intense chemistry overwhelming for young adults trying to find their individual paths. She once believed that love and chemistry were one and the same, and she blocked both out of her life, but today blew that idea out of the water. Laney wiped the condensation off the mirror and stared at herself. Her eyes were clear, her heart was calm. She didn’t love Kyle. But boy oh boy, has he raised the bar on awesome sex. She peered at her reflection like it might be lying to her, but she knew it wasn’t. She was content about her history for the first time in a long time. Slightly miffed that she’d let sex get so mechanical and routine, but otherwise at peace with the path from past to present. If Kyle hadn’t broken up with her, she wouldn’t have travelled across the country, might have stuck with her original plan of a family medicine practice in Wardham, wouldn’t have discovered the magic of reconstructive surgery. He freed her, even if it was in a shitty and emotionally stunted way. And it seemed like he suffered for that just as much as she did. They’d both wasted enough time on regret.
From downstairs, her mother’s voice carried up the stairs. “Laney? We’re home.”
“I’m just getting out of the shower! Be right down.” She reached for a towel, wondering how soon she could pop over to the school house again.
The rest of that day and the next were dominated by Connor and Max. Part of Laney was disappointed that she didn’t have any time to see Kyle again, but she convinced herself it was a small part, driven primarily by the delicious ache between her legs, and resolved to not care. Her nephews filled her time and attention with dragon-slaying and fort-building, and before she knew it, she was reading them a bedtime story for the second night in a row.
Downstairs, she found her sister taking a large castle out of its box.
“What are you doing?”
“Toy manufacturers hate parents. Did you know that? They think we don’t suffer enough, so they package toys with unnecessary twist-ties, zip-ties and the occasional screw, all in the name of ruining Christmas morning.”
“Uh…okay, I’m sorry I asked.”
Evie blew a lock of hair out of her eyes and laughed. “Max is going to be desperate to play with this when he opens it, so I’m trying to eliminate the painful bouncing-yelling-whining that would happen if I need to release this thing from the clutches of packaging while he waits. Last year I had the same idea, but I did it on Christmas Eve. This year, I want everything done so tomorrow night can just be about carols and cocoa and an early bedtime.”
“Living large in Wardham, eh?”
“Shut up, you like an early bedtime even more than me.”
Laney curled up on the couch. “That’s true. So…remember what we were talking about the other day?”
“Mom’s meddling or how crazy my kids are? I’m familiar with both concepts.”
“The first one. And that maybe I needed to talk to Kyle.”
“Mm-hmm.” Evie’s head disappeared behind the back of the castle.
“Well, I did. I went over there yesterday and we talked. It was good.” And then we didn’t, and that was even better.
“Oh Laney…” Evie shoved the castle aside and pinned her under a heavy gaze. “It was good? Really? You’re fine?”
“Really. I know, I asked myself the same thing. But yeah, I feel totally fine now. A bit silly for wasting so much time on bitterness, but knowing that he wasn’t left unscathed…I don’t know, we just…” licked each other’s wounds all better “…came to an understanding.”
“Well, that’s good. I’m glad you’ve finally put him behind you.”
Laney blushed, thinking that Kyle was the one who had put himself behind her the second time.
“You have, right? You need to move forward, not backward. The last thing I’d want is for Kyle to break your heart again.”
She considered telling Evie what had really happened, but doubted that her sister would think it was quite as hot as she did. “Guaranteed, Ev, my heart is untouchable. If I hadn’t learned that from Kyle, I did from you and Mom.”
Claire wandered in just in time to catch the tail end of Laney’s pronouncement. “Oh no, Laney, don’t say that!”
“Why not? It’s true. Love has done quite the number on both of you.”
Evie tucked the castle into the box and grabbed a roll of wrapping paper. “Normally I’d agree with Mom, but in this case, whatever keeps you from falling in love with Kyle again is fine by me.”
