Page 64 of Before We Were Us

When I feel like I’ve finally got my bearings I begin to move, but give long deep strokes. Brynn’s moans echo around me, her beautiful body taking me over and over.

This was more than chasing our release; this was us, finally giving in to what we feel. This is us letting go of our pasts and choosing to move forward together.

forty

. . .

Brynnlee

“Hello,” I holler through the partially opened front door, as I knock once more.

The smell of fresh paint fills the space, as I carefully step inside. The small entryway opens up into a large living room with a fireplace and beautiful hardwood floors.

Closing the door behind me I holler out once more, just as Jensen steps through the arched door into the living room. “Hey,” he offers me and smiles.

“I brought you lunch.” Lifting the bag I hold in one hand and then the two drinks in the other. “Figured you might be hungry.”

“Um.” He walks in my direction and I’m just about to ask if everything is okay when a familiar blonde walks out from the same direction he’d come from.

His wife, or ex-wife, hell I’m not sure what exactly to call her.

“I’m not even completely moved out yet and you’re already moving in as a replacement.” She sneers and I notice the glare Jensen tosses her.

“Chrissy,” he warns and suddenly I feel stupid for showing up. He’d not invited me though he did give me the address and tell me where he’d be.

“I’m not moving in,” I announce. “Just brought him something to eat.”

“How nice of you.” Her voice oozes sarcasm.

“I should’ve called.”

Chrissy says yes you should have and at the same time Jensen says no need to call. I’m suddenly stuck in a very awkward position.

“I’m gonna go.” I set the food and the drinks down on the bucket and turn toward the door but don’t make it far. One arm hooks my waist and I’m dragged off to the kitchen where Jensen pins me in a corner, using his body to block mine.

“You’re not leaving.” There is no question in his tone. “She is.”

“It’s no bi—” He kisses me, halting my words and I lean into him.

“You’re staying,” he replies, looking directly into my eyes. “She came to pick up her last few boxes. She checks into rehab on Monday. I didn’t know she was coming, but I did hope you would.”

The sound of the front door slamming echoes throughout the house and Jensen chooses to not comment on his soon to be ex-wife's fit. Instead he offers one last kiss and then threads his fingers through mine, pulling me along with him.

“Let me show you around.” As he guides me through the doorway of the kitchen and back out into the living room, he grabs the bag and drinks I left behind. As he walks through the house I look around, listening to him talk about all the things he’d love that had made him buy it to begin with.

“Two bedrooms, but this could be used as a third.” He steps into a large room. It has a built-in shelving unit along one wall. “I’ve used it as my office, because of all the shelving.”

“This place is beautiful.” And it is with all its details and open space.

“Here.” Jensen pulls back a large canvas, exposing a gorgeous mahogany desk. “It was my father’s,” he states, sitting on the bucket and pulling around a chair for me. “I don’t know if I ever told you but he was a surgeon.”

“No.” I join him realizing that besides what he’d already known about my family, there’s been very little the two of us have shared.

“Cardiologist,” he adds, pulling the contents from the bag. “He was older than my mother, getting himself through all his schooling and things before settling down. They met when my mom came in with her own mother for a consultation.”

I smile playing out the story in my mind.

“He used to tell us kids that from the moment she entered the room it was like he’d been hit so hard he’d been knocked off his feet. She smiled at him once and it was over for him. He knew she was the one.”

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