Page 19 of Lakesides and Longing

She wasn’t sure what possessed him to suddenly want to spend time with her. So far, he’d spent breakfast with her, along with Phil and Ida, and that was it. Most of the time he was out walking on her property and messing with her landscaping. She didn’t mind. She didn’t like working with her landscaping, just her herbs and most of those were inside.

Which was honestly for the best. Because otherwise she was afraid she might throw herself at him. Her feelings got all mixed up when she was around him.

But a picnic would be okay and she loved the lake. “I guess so.” She didn’t see how she could get out of it.

He gave her one of his grins. “Oh come on, you can be more excited than that.”

“It’s kinda boring and I’ve been there loads of times.” It wasn’t boring at all, but she couldn’t very well tell him her trepidation was spending all day with him.

“But never with me. I’ll be able to tell you all about the plant life in the water.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh boy, can’t wait.”

He ignored her insolence. “I’m going to shower. Do you mind packing the picnic?”

“Sure.”

She would pack up the picnic and try to think what on earth they’d talk about all day.

* * *

“So,I still don’t know why you are here,” Paige said now that she had him trapped in the car for a while. She wanted to know more about his past. No normal thirty-something would hide away for the summer. There was a story there and Paige was determined to find it. She kept her hands gripped on the seat. Talking would be a good distraction.

“I told you, Lukas said you needed some company this summer, so here I am.”

“No. Why were you even available to stay with me? Surely you could be out there inventing evil new drugs.”

He squirmed in his seat a little. “It’s a long story.”

“It’s a long drive. And if we’re going to live in the same house together, we should probably get to know each other a little.”

Blake sighed. “I suppose. It’s because of Debbie.”

“Who’s Debbie?”

“The love of my life.”

“Yep, there’s a good story there and I want to hear the whole thing.” This was way better than arguing about medicine.

For a second, she thought he was going to tell her to mind her own business, but he didn’t.

“It’s a bit sordid. Our romance isn’t normal by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Normal is boring,” she said and Blake smiled.

“Debbie’s older than me by about fifteen years. I don’t care. She looks like she’s about twenty and is smoking hot. That’s not why I love her, but I needed to clarify that. I suppose it’s a little like Ida and Phil, but not quite as extreme. When we met, she was my organic chem professor. Of course, lots of us were smitten with her. I booked every possible office hour with her I could. She was quiet, withdrawn, and a little sad. All I wanted to do was make her laugh. I never succeeded. Not then, anyway. The attraction between us was undeniable though. She freely admitted that. Night before the final exam we slept together. I got an A, and I didn’t see her again for another three years.”

Paige laughed. “You mean you slept with her for a grade? That’s unbelievable.” She wasn’t judging him. It just didn’t seem like something he would do. Though she supposed she didn’t know him all that well.

Blake sighed. “No. That wasn’t it. I wanted to keep seeing her, but as soon as the term ended, I went home, and when I got back in the fall, I went to her office, but she’d left. No one would tell me where she went.”

“So I highly doubt you’ve just been mooning after her since then. You must’ve hooked up again.”

“We did. Three years later she was my professor once again. This time it was grad school. She had a different last name, so I didn’t know it was her until I stepped into her classroom. I’d walked in late, and she’d already started lecturing. She stumbled when she saw me. I was tempted to walk up to the front of the room and kiss her, but I figured that would be reckless. Instead, I took a seat in the very front row. The only one sitting there, actually. Drove her crazy. Course we slept together that night and every other night until I finished my Ph.D. We had to keep our relationship quiet, so it was mostly just sex. I took a job in South America when I finished, and we both agreed it would be best to just end it.”

Paige clutched at her seat. “Was she married?” Maybe all men were like Emery.

“Divorced, I think. She never talked about it. I did ask her if she was married, and she said no. In love or not, I wasn’t going there.”

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