Page 14 of Twenty Years Later

"Really? Is that what I have to look forward to?"

I nodded with empathy. "Yep, probably. But it's made me creative in how I approach life. She's stretched me to the limits of my humanity and made me become a better person. And even though it's been incredibly tough at times, and I have literally pulled out my own hair, I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world. The love I have for that kid... well, there are just no words."

His eyes held an emotion I couldn't name, and he didn't say anything for a long moment. In the silence, I took another sip of my wine, wondering why Alex was so strangely quiet. Maybe I'd been hogging the conversation and needed to change the subject.

"Sorry, I've been chatting away all about me, me, me. What about you? What about your life now?"

That seemed to snap him out of whatever had consumed his thoughts. "Oh, my life's not very exciting. I work while my parents take care of Gabby. And when I'm not working, just trying to be a good dad."

Something about the way he said that made me all mushy inside. "Do you have your own practice or how does that work?"

"I'm in a sports medicine clinic with other doctors. So it's a group of us. And then if surgery's needed, I work with several of the local hospitals and go wherever the insurance takes the patient."

"Ah, I see. I bet that's interesting. Do you work a lot?"

"Actually, not as much anymore because of Gabby. A few days a week. It just doesn't seem as important now."

"I totally get that."

He swirled the wine in his glass, and I realized he hadn't actually consumed very much of it. "Hey, can I tell you something?" Alex suddenly asked me.

The butterflies in my belly swished around at his serious tone. "Sure. Of course."

I took a sip of my wine as I watched him clasp his hands together on the table. "So in high school, I don't know if you remember, but I was kind of..."

"Kind of Mr. Hot and Popular?" I blurted out.

Oh, no.Had I really just said that?

He cracked up. "That's definitely not what I was going to say."

"Yeah. Sorry. Just a joke."Not really. I needed to stop writing these teen romances and move on to the adult genre.

"I was going to say I was a complete idiot."

This was an interesting turn of conversation. "No way," I disagreed. "You were totally cool. Everyone loved you. Girlsandboys."

"I don't know about that. But..." He seemed to struggle for the right words. "Well, basically, I was just a horny teenage asshole."

I nearly choked at that. "Excuse me? What did you say?"

His eyes were bright with amusement. "Yeah. A horny teenage boy who just wanted to date a certain kind of girl, you know?"

What on earth was he trying to say? "Okay."

"You're looking at me like I'm crazy."

"No. I'm, uh, just trying to figure out where this is going."

"Well," he began, rubbing his hands together in thought. "I have a confession."

My heart started beating in double time. "You do?"

His eyes boring into mine, he cleared his throat. "I always had a major crush on you."

What in the world? Did I seriously hear that right? Or was the wine doing things to my hearing?

"Jayda? You okay?" he asked, concern lacing his voice as he studied my face.

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