Eight years wasted. It would have been more if Sean hadn’t jostled me out of my cocoon.
“I can see why you wouldn’t want to leave,” Sean continued.
“You’ve come a long way, haven’t you?”
“West Virginia isn’t too far away.”
“Not physically. In your heart. Your head.”
A muscle twitched in his cheek. “Yes.” He turned to rest his elbows upon the wooden railing of the pier. “It’s funny, isn’t it, how time and physical space have little to do with how far one actually travels as a person. I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about it, especially since meeting you.”
“Me?”
“You’ve forced me to take a hard look at people in my past and at my actions in the past.”
“How did I do that?”
“Just by being you, by getting through a really tough start, and not losing sight of the future.”
“You’re giving me far more credit than I deserve. I was barely clinging on by my fingernails when you came by and showed me how much more I could make of my life.”
“But my point is you did. You went out and got that first catering contract. It wasn’t me. It was you.”
“You suggested it.”
“Any idiot can suggest anything. Doing something…that’s what counts.”
“When you’ve hit bottom, when you’re barely keeping your head above water, having a cheerleader, having someone who believes in you, who pushes you, is what counts,” she said quietly. “Maybe it takes two. Someone willing to push. Someone willing to be pushed.”
His eyes met hers. “Maybe it does.”
He leaned toward her, and for a moment, his lips hovered close, not touching, giving her a chance to pull away.
There could very well have been a hundred reasons to pull away, but there was at least one reason to close the distance. She wanted to.
Their lips met, scarcely more than a flutter of breath, but it set off the butterflies in her stomach and a shiver down her spine. She closed her eyes and relaxed into his arms, sinking into the rich, deep taste of him. Like potent whiskey, it shot straight into her head and made sensations whirl in a dizzy pirouette.
She wanted it to go on forever.
Perhaps it did. When she finally pulled away, she could not have said how much time had passed. She stared into eyes that had become familiar to her—familiar and precious. His gaze was tender, yet questioning. The silence lingered between them, warm and easy, until Debra felt her lips tug into a smile. “It’s been so long. I’m sorry—”
“No.” He chuckled. “Don’t apologize for kissing like a virgin. It’s a huge turn-on.”
She laughed. She could hear the nervous edge in the sound. Did he hear it too?
When he slid an arm around her waist, tugging her close, she leaned into his, enjoying his warmth as they strolled along the pier. For so long, she had been alone, and too busy, too overwhelmed to think about it. When Sean had showed up, he had taken some of the load off her shoulders, and hung around to enjoy the slivers of free time creeping back into her day.
They arrived at Jack’s house within ten minutes, and by then, Aidan was an hour past his bedtime, and cranky from a day packed with too many emotional lows and highs. With reluctance, Aidan said goodbye to his new friends—Jack’s sons, all older than him—and alternated between kicking the toes of his sneakers and dragging his feet all the way home.
“I didn’t see Jewel today,” Aidan whined as their house came into view.
“Tomorrow, buddy,” Sean said. “I’ll bring her around tomorrow afternoon as usual, and we can work on ‘stay.’”
“I want to see her. I want to hug her good night.”
“I’ll give her a hug for you.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“No, but it’ll have to do for now.”
Aidan scowled as he walked into the house. “It’s not fair.”
Debra shot Sean a quick, apologetic glance as she propelled Aidan up the stairs. “Brush your teeth and get to bed. Things are going to look a great deal better after eight hours of sleep.”
The boy stomped up the stairs. “I’m not sleepy.”
Debra looked at Sean. “Sorry about that.”
“Sugar crash. Been there, done that. Hundreds of times, if you ask my mom.”
She pressed the palms of her hands against the side of her jeans. “Would you like to come in for some coffee?”
Her heartbeat skittered as she waited through several seconds and the slight furrowing of his brow before he responded. “Sure.”
She turned to the kitchen, but he caught her arm gently. “I can do that. I know my way around your kitchen.”
After two weeks of dinners together, he certainly did. If it didn’t strike her earlier how integrated Sean had become into her life, it certainly did then.
It made the next step forward seem much more natural and evolutionary.
“I’ll check on Aidan.” Debra went upstairs and found Aidan drowsing in his bed. She bent down and lifted his lip, sniffing hard. She caught a whiff of fresh mint; Aidan, at least, had made a show of brushing his teeth.
“Night, Mom.”
She stroked his sweaty head. The shower would have to wait until tomorrow. “Did you have a good day?”
Aidan grunted and snuggled into his bed. “I want Jewel.”
“You’ll see her tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” Aidan grunted again, but he did not sound nearly as grumpy that time. “Sean will bring her over.”
“Yes, he will,” Debra said softly, staying with Aidan until his breathing evened into sound sleep.
The scent of fresh coffee rose to meet her as she walked down the stairs. Sean turned to the sound of her footsteps. “Is he asleep?”
She nodded and accepted the cup he held out. “Thank you again, for everything.”
“Thank you for being a
