AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Can you act surprised when you open it again?” Agatha laughed. She couldn’t say no to her.
“Of course I can.” She knew the girl couldn’t; she was the worst secret-keeper in the family.
“You must be the Cramers,” came a voice from the bottom of the stairs. “I’m Chris Lowell. I just bought the Jenkins house.”
Peeking out from behind Violet, Agatha suddenly couldn’t breathe. Chris Lowell? She hadn’t seen him in almost two years. She assumed he was still a big football star, so why was he buying a house in her neighborhood? In her safe, little Chris-free neighborhood.
Looking him over, Agatha noticed that his curls were back and that he wasn’t as broad as he was before. He still had some amazing muscles in his arms, but not like that night two years ago.
Even then, she knew sleeping with Chris was a mistake, and doing it the night before an important career-changing meeting was her worst mistake. She missed her meeting and everything that it could have brought into her life. All because she spent the night with him when she knew she shouldn’t.
His eyes were looking her over from head to toe. She wondered if he would recognize her this time. He had last time, but she had changed since then—changed a lot. Two years before, she had been stick-skinny with crazy hair. Since then, she had gained forty pounds. The mohawk had grown into a black bob that was now just above her shoulders, though still stick-straight because Agatha had never had curls. She looked a lot like a mom and less like a homeless druggie, even if she didn’t have kids of her own.
“No, the Cramers live there.” Violet pointed at the house next door. “I am Violet, and this is Agatha. We live here. Sorry, I mean I live down there, and she lives here now.”
Agatha couldn’t stand another moment near him. After all, nothing had changed in two years or even since high school. “Violet, I’m sure he’s not interested.” Her body wanted him to remember her even though her heart begged him not to. Agatha needed walls between them. She couldn’t do this today; today was Violet’s birthday. She needed to focus on her.
“Agatha? I pictured someone a lot older.” Chris’s brown eyes were still as captivating as they had been at thirteen when he called her Chrissy all year, and as panty-melting as they had been in that hotel room at twenty-five.
“Sorry, just me with an old lady name.” She shrugged and took Violet’s hand. “We have to have a snack. See you around the neighborhood.”
No way was she sticking around in case he actually realized who she was. If that ever happened, he seemed to have the ability to forget her. She wished she had that ability.
“See you around,” he called.
Agatha took her sister into her house to feed her and let her open the present..
