Page 10 of Falling for Autumn Again

"Oop!" I yelp. With that stupendous pep talk, how could I not be ready? So, I walk over to the man I hope to hire—mostly because I never ever want to have to do this again.

Dessie never gave me his name, only said thatthe architectwould be here Wednesday and I should make decisions.

I can do this. I can make decisions.

I have done much harder things than this.

Burying my father, for one.

Saying goodbye to Ezra, for another.

Neither are happy thoughts and yet they give me a little strength. Nothing could be harder than what I did five years ago.Nothing.

Meg’s long legs only need two strides to catch up to mine.

She pauses before heading left to the parking lot. She’s waiting to see if I need another bikini speech.

I don’t.

But I’m going to have to prove it to her.

“Ah, hello,” I say to the man’s back and Meg gives me an encouraging, not-so-subtle thumbs up.

He turns at my voice. And with his attention, I’m pretty sure someone hits me with a stun gun. I stare, but I do not compute. Which is maybe why that tiny, not-so-pretty, four-letter word falls from my mouth.

Chapter Five

Ezra

“Whoa!”The tall blonde shoves herself in front of the little brunette.

The woman that strangely resembles Autumn Green—myAutumn Green.

“Jokes! Such a kidder.” The blonde waves a hand my way. She’s so tall I can’t see the person behind her at all. She’s making me second-guess what it is I’ve seen. Because the little brunette behind her cannot be my ex.

The girl who couldn’t wait to get out of Love and dropped my heart into the garbage disposal would not still be living in this town. I block out Phil’s voice ringing in my head—telling me that she’s the reason I came, to see if just maybe she’s moved back home.

The woman peeks her head around the blonde, eyes crazed, like she can’t believe what she’s seeing either.

Oh yeah, that’s Autumn.

I swallow down every ounce of trepidation I have. My therapist always said I needed to talk to her again. I needed closure. I ignored her of course, but the woman I paid a tremendousamount of money to did advise me to see her again. Well, I’m looking at her, Dr. Lorna Appleby. Now what?

I find my voice and keep it steady because I am a champ at acting okay when actually I am far from it. I’ve been practicing that skill my whole life. “Hello, Autumn.”

The blonde blinks, her brows furrowed. “Wait. You know—” She peers back at Autumn and steps to the side, giving me a full view of the girl who sent me away all those years ago.

“Ezra,” Autumn says, her voice so much smaller than it should be.

“Whoa. Wait. Ezra. As inEzraEzra?” The blonde looks from me to Autumn and back again.

I cross my arms over my chest, feeling the slightest high that this girl knows who I am. She’s heard of me. That’s got to be a point for me, right? I need the point with Autumn standing there in her cute flannel shirt, tight jeans, and tennis shoes.

This whole time I’ve imagined her as that eighteen-year-old girl who stole my heart and then broke it into pieces. That girl who told me her plans had changed without any kind of explanation or warning. One day we were graduatingtogether, packing for a lifetogether, getting ready for the biggest adventure of our lives—together. The next, Autumn was breaking up with me. Telling me it was foolish of us to think our high school romance would make it through college. She said her plans had changed—plans that we’d finalized just hours earlier. Her plans no longer involved New York or me. And that, suddenly, her father no longer approved of me.

But she’s not that girl anymore. She’s all grown up and dang it, adulthood looks good on Green.

“What are you doing here?” she says, crossing her arms, her tone strong. The initial shock is over and she’s recovered with nonchalance.

---