I feel like this is a dream. There’s no way that he’s kissing me. I have to be asleep or daydreaming, yet I don’t want to wake up.
I close my eyes, needing to hold on longer.
His mouth moves to my neck and my fingers slide through his hair. He has really great hair. Hell, everything about him is great.
“Derek,” I whisper.
His head lifts, eyes filled with yearning, and both of us are struggling for breath. “Tell me something real,” he says.
I can taste him on my lips and his cologne is all around us. “I really don’t want to wake up from this dream.”
“You’re not dreaming.”
My hand touches his face. “Tell me something real then.”
Derek’s lips touch mine in the sweetest of kisses. It’s almost as though he’s woken up from the dream himself. “I really want you, Teagan. But not like this. Not here, not yet, but I want all of you, and that’s the most real thing in the world. Now, let’s have our lunch date.”
“And you say I switch topics easily,” I joke.
He releases a heavy sigh. “If we keep talking about all the things I want to happen between us, the word slow isn’t going to apply to our relationship. So, let’s eat and follow your rules”—his smile grows and mischief dances in his eyes—“for now.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Teagan
Present
“Are you still dating Dr. Hartz?” Chastity asks as we sit at my parents’ table.
I’ve done a pretty good job the last week keeping things under wraps. We had our date, spent pretty much each night on the phone talking about all the things we’ve missed, and met once on the beach just because.
“Dr. Hartz?” My mother says while her fork drops, clanging against the plate. “You’re dating Derek?”
“I’ve been on one date.” I leave out the other things because, technically, it’s one date.
“Right, but I heard you guys on the phone again, and Everly said she heard her father telling his parents that it’s going well.”
I used to love my daughter. I really did.
“Can we talk about this later?”
My mother’s head turns to me. “Why can’t you talk now?”
Because I don’t want you to hear this, duh. “It’s between Chastity and me.”
“And you don’t want me to hear this.”
That was freaky. I wonder if she can hear all my thoughts. Maybe that’s why she hates me so much. She knows I’ve killed her a hundred ways…with my mind.
“No, Mom, that’s not it—completely. I think my daughter”—I say with a pointed stare—“and I need to have this conversation in private.”
“Would you like your father and me to step out?”
“Huh?” my father asks, oblivious to the conversation.
I have always envied that about him. He can tune my mother and me out like no one else. We’d have full-blown arguments and he wouldn’t move a muscle. He’d sit in his chair, ignoring us both.
“Just eat, Dad.”
“Okay.”
Chastity giggles once and then looks back to me. “All I wanted to know was if you guys were dating still.”
“What does it matter?”
“You’re my mother…I’m curious.”
She’s baiting us both and I know that as soon as my mother is on the hook, I’ll be reeled right in. Damn kid knows all my weaknesses.
“You know, I’m not sure what it is right now since we’re just enjoying being friends again.” And making out a lot. “So, once I have something to report, you will all be the first to know.”
Chastity gives me a sarcastic smile. “Great.”
Then something she said before hits me. “Wait. You and Everly talk?”
“Well, it would be hard to do the social media project if we didn’t.”
Yes, but they’re talking about more than the project. “I didn’t know that Dr. Hartz and I were part of your presentation.”
She crosses her arms and leans back. “It’s kind of hard not to talk about the fact that our parents are dating.”
I raise my brow and then take a bite of my cake.
“Well,” Mom draws the attention back to her. “I’ll say that if you are dating, which it sounds like you are, it’s encouraging that you’re not going to die alone in that store. Besides, he’s a doctor and was always a good man.”
“I’m glad you approve, Mom.”
“I wouldn’t go that far…”
Yes, why would we ever want to actually go that far? Approval is aberrant to her. “My point is, we’re going slow and taking our time.”
Chastity snorts. “That’s not what Everly said.”
“What does that mean?”
As much as I’d like to avoid this discussion right now, it’s clear Chastity is intent on keeping it going.
She slams her hand down on the table. “It means that I went from being made fun of for the way I looked, dressed, that my father didn’t want me and my mother was supposedly a whore, to now being the girl whose mom is going after a man who just lost his wife!” The anger in her eyes roots me to my chair. “I hate this town! I’ve always hated it, but you always made it better. Now, you’re making it worse!”
I sit here, unsure of what just happened.
“What are they saying?”
“Oh, nothing other than my slut mother has to go after a man whose wife died not even six months ago. That you couldn’t help yourself because no one in this town who knows you would want to date you so you went after a guy who hasn’t seen you in years.”
“Now that’s just absurd!” My mother huffs. “These girls are being ridiculous. No one says that.”
“No, Mom, that’s what many people in this town say.” I turn to Chastity. “I’m sorry that you feel this way, but I’m not going to live my life based on what other people say.”
“Not even if you’re ruining my life?”
I fight back the urge to roll my eyes because she’s thirteen and everything is the end of the world at that age. “I’m living my life, Chas, not ruining yours.”
“Yes you are!” Chastity gets
