“This isn’t just a lark for me. I need you to know that.”
It felt as if the air shifted around us, almost shimmering with sparks and energy. Unsettled, I looked back down at my napkin and finished folding it into a perfect square. When I gathered the courage to look up, his eyes were still waiting. I felt a peculiar ache in my heart when I saw the warmth and understanding there. How in the world did he know me so well after all this time?
“Okay. I’ll have dinner with you. Let’s get pizza.”
The smile that broke across his face stole my breath and set my heartbeat to thundering again. I couldn’t not smile back. It was purely impossible. I left a few minutes later, feeling like a foolish girl.
Caden
When I parked in front of Brynn’s house, it felt weird. She’d warned me via text that her mother was here and wanted to say hello. I felt catapulted back in time. As if I was a sixteen-year-old guy coming to pick up my girlfriend.
I would’ve been in my dad’s borrowed car after a lecture from him about keeping it clean. He also made sure I had condoms—not because he was encouraging me to get it on, but because he said he wasn’t stupid, and he knew what it was like to be a teenage guy. He’d told me he didn’t want me to be even more stupid unless I wanted to be a father.
I laughed to myself, giving my head a little shake. Moments later, I was standing in the living room, which looked pretty much like it did when I was last here. A colorful throw rug in the center of the hardwood floor, a big stone fireplace on one wall and a comfortable sectional facing it. Brynn’s mother—Mrs. Sparks, as I thought of her—had just squeezed me tightly in a hug. Her eyes were bright as she looked at me now after stepping back.
“You have turned out to be such a handsome young man. I can’t believe you’re a rock star. Please don’t tell me it’s ruined you,” she said.
“I hope not, Mrs. Sparks,” I replied.
“Oh, for crying out loud, just call me Martha. You’re an adult now,” she insisted. “Now, where are you two going?”
Brynn’s cheeks flushed, and I was discovering I liked to see her a little flustered. She let out a little laugh. “Mom, it sounds like you’re about to remind us of my curfew.”
Martha rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not. I would ask you to text me if you’re not planning to come home tonight.”
Brynn’s cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink. “Oh, my God! I’m coming home, Mom.”
“You don’t have to,” Martha replied with a saucy grin in my direction.
I decided my best option was to remain silent for this little exchange and simply smiled between them.
“We’re going to that new pizza place. What’s it called again?” Brynn asked, ignoring her mother’s teasing.
“Alpenglow Pizza. It’s delicious,” her mother offered.
“So, I hear,” I replied. “I promise I won’t keep Brynn out too late.”
Brynn cast a glare at me. “Come to think of it, maybe I should follow you into town. That way, you won’t need to worry about bringing me home,” she said sweetly.
Brynn’s mother chimed in, “Actually, I’m having dinner with Beck’s mom. Unfortunately, you can’t take my car tonight because I need it.”
Brynn handled that in stride. When she turned to reach for her jacket that was laid over the back of the couch, her mother winked at me, and I was pretty sure she was trying to play wing-woman for me. While I didn’t doubt she would make good on her improvised plans for the evening, I didn’t think they were plans until right this moment.
I could tell Brynn was nervous when she got into the SUV because she smoothed her hands over the jeans on her thighs several times before catching a lock of her hair with a finger and spinning it in tight little circles.
Both of those were old nervous habits of hers. It was incredible to see her after all these years and realize I still knew so many details about her. It was like finding the Easter eggs of a person.
“Sorry about my mom,” she said once I started driving toward downtown Willow Brook.
“No need to apologize. Parents are nosy. It’s good to see her. I’m sorry about your dad.”
I glanced sideways to catch a quick and grateful smile from her. “Thanks. It’s been a few years since he passed away, so I have adjusted. I suppose she has too.” She paused before adding, “I hope you got to see your dad some after you moved away.”
“I did. Plenty actually. Mind you, it wasn’t fun to move in the middle of high school. But once the court sorted out the visit schedule, there was no more fighting and that was a relief.”
“Do you ever wish they hadn’t broken up?”
I shrugged. “That’s a pretty impossible question to answer. I wish they’d stayed happy together. Since they weren’t happy together, it was better that they broke up. I also wish they hadn’t fought over me, but you can’t change what’s in the past. They were happier apart. It’s crazy how two otherwise decent people can be so nasty in a divorce.”
“Right. It’s weird.”
I abruptly realized Brynn might have more to say about that than me. I’d never even been married. “Sore spot?”
I felt her shrug. “Not really. We didn’t have kids, and we weren’t married for very long. I don’t think I turned into a nightmare during the divorce. I didn’t have it in me to keep going to court.”
“What happened?” I asked, very curious. I needed to know who hurt Brynn.
“A typical story. I don’t think we were ever really in love. I did actually like him, but I was only twenty-five. He and I were both working in the same business. I ran a floral shop, and he was a competitor. We just kind of fell into something comfortable. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Since we merged our businesses after we got married—like an idiot, I didn’t get a prenup around my business beforehand—I set the stage for losing it.”
“Who filed for divorce?”
“Me. We were arguing a lot because his approach to business was very different than mine. I found out he was interested in someone else, and I found out he’d taken out some loans behind my back. By that point, I didn’t trust him. He turned ugly when I filed for divorce. I didn’t come away with nothing, but I was cash poor enough that I needed to leave the business behind. I didn’t want to start all over. Seattle is a great city, but it’s not easy to start anything there. I kind of lucked out with my first go by keeping expenses low and starting my business out of a small truck.”
I brushed off my anger at her ex. It would serve no purpose for Brynn to hear me tell her what an asshole he was again. I didn’t want to dwell on that. Not now. “What are you planning to do here?”
Her responding laugh was bitter. The sound felt like a knife dragged across my heart because Brynn wasn’t supposed to be bitter.
“I have no idea. I guess I came home figuring I could get my bearings and make a plan. I certainly didn’t expect to see you.”
A short while later when I stepped into Alpenglow Pizza, I glanced around. Apparently, this was the hot new restaurant in my hometown. When I mentioned to Janet as I was leaving Firehouse Café earlier that we were having dinner here, she talked it up.