He leaned closer and brushed my mouth with his. “If it were up to me, the rest of your life would be with a man who worships you.”
“Cole,” I whispered as I rested my forehead against his shoulder, too shy to look at him.
“Yeah?”
“You melt me.”
He lifted me off my feet and placed me on the island. The skirt of my dress hiked up around my thighs. My breath caught when he kissed me again. He pulled me against him. Instinctively my legs wrapped around him. We kissed as if we wanted to make up for all the years apart. Finally, he pulled away. Grimacing, he ran both hands through his hair and backed away. “Carlie, I’m sorry. That was way out of line.”
I laughed, throaty and breathless. “I disagree.”
“You do?”
“Yes, we’re adults,” I said, teasing. “Why shouldn’t we kiss?”
“I’m trying not to scare you off.”
“Keep kissing me like that and I may never leave.”
Before he could respond, the pot on the stove boiled over. He ran over to turn down the burner. “You’re so distracting I may burn our dinner,” he said.
I jumped from the counter and wandered over to the patio doors. They were open, letting in a breeze. I caught a whiff of jasmine.
“Is that jasmine I smell?” I turned back to look at him.
He was at the sink transferring vegetables into a bowl. Steam rose up from the pot and swirled around his face. “Yes, I had to baby them all winter with a humidifier. They don’t like the cold, so I had to make it seem like the tropics.”
I almost swooned. Imagining him here with Duke and Moonshine making risotto and babying his plants was too much for my middle-aged heart.
He wrapped tinfoil around a loaf of French bread. “This will take a few minutes to warm and then we’re ready.” With a quick movement, he had the loaf inside the oven. “I set the outside table, but if you prefer to eat inside, that’s fine too. Your wish is my command.”
“Outside sounds perfect.” I picked up my glass of wine to take with us.
He grabbed the decanter and his glass before ushering me out to the patio. A table had been set for two, including a vase with pink and white roses. I walked to the edge of the pavers and looked out to the pasture where two chestnut horses grazed on grass. The sun hovered just above the mountain, shedding an orange hue of twilight. “When we were young, I took for granted how pretty it was here.”
He came to stand beside me. “I missed this every single day I spent in LA.”
“You made all your dreams come true. This place is just how you described it to me.”
“Not all. There’s been something missing.” He put his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head.
I leaned into him and sighed. How could this feel so right?
“I didn’t think I could ever live here again after Beth,” I said.
“And now?”
“I’m not sure. Everything feels different with you here.”
“Come sit with me for a few minutes. We can enjoy the last of the light while the bread warms.” He gestured toward four chairs placed around a gas firepit.
I took the seat he offered and set my glass on the wide arm of the chair. “I read more of the journal this afternoon.”
“Anything telling?” He settled back into the chair next to mine. His eyes shone in the last of the sunlight.
I told him about how she seemed to feel pressure about being part of the “it” couple. “Whoever Z was, he wasn’t the type to bring home to Mother. I’m wondering if he was one of the wild boys. A bad boy, so to speak.” A hummingbird arrived at the feeder that hung from an awning of the pergola. “He had a girlfriend of his own. Someone he was unwilling to break up with. I spent all afternoon trying to remember other couples from her class.”
He crossed his ankles as he looked up toward the sky. “I wish I could remember more high school. Mostly I remember only you and how crazy I was about you. Maybe I should see if Luke remembers any other couples.”
“I’d hate to drag him into all this again.”
“Good point.” From inside, the timer for the bread sounded. “Have a seat at the table. I’ll bring out our dinners.”
I did as he asked, watching the sun disappear behind Logan Mountain. A few minutes later, he came out with two plates with risotto, steamed vegetables, and buttery bread.
He put mine in front of me, then sat in his own place. “Dig in.”
“Wait, we should toast.” I raised my glass. “To us. Finding each other again.”
“To us.”
We ate in silence for a few minutes, other than my murmurings of delight over the complex flavors of the risotto and freshness of the vegetables.
When I’d eaten enough, I set aside my fork and concentrated on him. “How come you never told me much about what was really going on at your house?”
He set his fork down and picked up his wine. “I was ashamed.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“Didn’t always feel that way. Luke and I were always trying to figure out ways to stay on his good side. Drew, on the other hand, went head-to-head with him.”
“I wish I’d done something to help you guys,” I said. “I loved you all so much, but I didn’t really understand. My dad would’ve helped you guys get out of there.”
“There’s nothing anyone could have done. As hard as it was to leave here, in hindsight it was the best thing for my mom. Once her mother figured out what was really happening…and saw the bruises, she gave us enough money to move out and for Mom to go back to school. Everything changed once we were away from him.”
“I’m comforted knowing that.”
“When he died, none of us went to his funeral. Isn’t that sad?” He picked up his fork
