Page 18 of Second Chance with Seth

“You clearly enjoy working there.”

“I do. Aiden and I got along really well, right from the moment we met. He offered me the job on the spot, even though I hadn’t actually graduated yet.”

“So, it wasn’t just luck, then?”

I smiled at her, feeling embarrassed. “Maybe not.”

“Your mom must be very proud of you.”

I stopped walking, a shiver running down my spine. “She was,” I said, and although Everly didn’t notice the change in tense, I carried on, “I can remember when I told her about the job. She was trying to decide what to wear for my graduation ceremony, and I went into her room and told her I’d buy her something new, and that she’d never have to worry about money, ever again. I told her I’d take care of her, just like she’d always taken care of me. She… she burst into tears when I said that.”

“I’m not surprised.”

I shook my head, because I knew she didn’t understand. She couldn’t. “It was the first time I’d ever seen her cry. Despite everything my father had put her through, she’d never shown any emotion to me before, but no matter what I said or did, she couldn’t seem to stop her tears from falling. Like you, I thought she was just emotional because I’d finally made it through college, and things were looking up at last… but that wasn’t it at all.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No. Eventually, I got her to calm down, and we sat on her bed… and she told me she had cancer.”

I heard Everly’s gasp, and instinctively moved closer, wanting to protect her from what I knew was coming.

“How long had she known?” she asked, her voice a barely audible whisper.

“About a month. She’d wanted to keep it from me until after I graduated, because there was nothing they could do. It had spread too far. She… She died at the end of that summer.”

Even in the moonlight, I could see the tears in Everly’s eyes. Her response was overwhelming, and I longed to hold her… to make it better for her, if I could. I didn’t, because we barely knew each other. Except even then, I felt as though I knew her better than anyone. Which was probably why I’d felt I could talk to her in the first place.

We continued on our walk for a while until Everly shivered, and I realized she was cold. I shrugged off my jacket and put it around her shoulders, and she looked up at me, tempting me to kiss her… even if she didn’t mean to. I glanced at my watch as I lowered my hand from her shoulder and noticed it was a few minutes after two in the morning. Neither of us had any idea it was so late – or so early – and we started back toward the coffee shop.

When we got there, I apologized for keeping her out so late, although she didn’t seem to mind, and when I asked for her phone number, she recited it to me without even a second’s hesitation.

I remember how hard it was to work the next day. Not because I was tired, but because my mind was full of thoughts of Everly. She filled my head, and the moment I got home, I called her. Hearing her voice made me smile, and we talked for ages.

I called her again the next day, and the day after, and on the Friday, I returned to Hart’s Creek, desperate to see her again.

I hadn’t told her I was coming, but she smiled when she saw me, and I think I knew then that everything would be okay between us. It may have only been a smile, but it lit up my world… and it captured my heart, too.

I’d booked myself into the hotel, having decided to spend the weekend with Everly – or as much of it as her responsibilities at the coffee shop would allow – and that evening, while we were on our way to dinner, I kissed her.

At twenty-seven, it wasn’t my first kiss, and I didn’t like to ask if it was hers… but as our lips met, I knew I’d never want to kiss anyone else as long as I lived.

It was the most perfect of kisses, starting slow, but then building and growing, until we were both breathless, and Everly was clutching on to me, like she couldn’t support herself any longer. I liked that, and I held her close, just to be sure she didn’t fall.

I knew I’d have to take it slow with her, though. She wasn’t the kind of girl you could rush things with. So, no matter how much I wanted her, I waited…

It might have been a difficult wait, because kissing her only made me want her more, but it wasn’t an interminable wait. Thank God.

I’d been wondering how to ask Everly if she wanted to take things further, or if I should just try something… touch her, maybe, and see how she responded. I wasn’t sure about that, but if I was going to try, it had to be somewhere private, so I contemplated asking her to come back to my hotel room with me one evening. Obviously, I didn’t want to scare her off, and my biggest fear was that she’d run a mile, so I was still at the thinking stage when Aunt Clare gifted us the perfect opportunity.

She had to leave town for the weekend to visit a sick cousin and, rather than expecting Everly to run the coffee shop all by herself, they closed the place down.

I was unaware of this until I arrived that Friday, but by the time I did, Aunt Clare had already left, and Everly was closing up for the day.

“Do you want to have dinner with me upstairs?” she said once she’d explained her aunt’s absence and their plans for the weekend.

“I’d love to.”

I hadn’t booked into the hotel yet, but had gone straight to the coffee shop, desperate to see Everly, after a week apart.

---