Page 15 of In His Arms

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Two days after the funeral, Alex and Frank scheduled a fishing trip on Paradise Lake. They had spent hours talking and laughing—getting to know one another again. It would take some time, but Alex understood Marcy didn’t mean that much harm. He still didn’t like her, but he could tolerate her more. Like it or not, she and his father were happy together.

Later that day, he sat on the floor next to Jess while they sorted through the photo albums looking for pictures. “I can’t find it. Mom said it was in here but I can’t find the picture I’m looking for.”

He grabbed an album and flipped through the pages. Birthday parties, school concerts—anything that involved their daughter had a million and one pictures taken of it.

“Well, what do we have here?” Alex smiled reading the subtitle. “Jessie playing at bath time.”

Jessica glared over her shoulder at him. “Stop looking at my naked baby pictures and help me.”

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” He slammed the album shut, tapping his finger against the tip of her nose. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for.”

“It was a family picnic. Mrs. Winters wants this particular picture of my dad and me for his tombstone, but I can’t find it.”

He grabbed another album, only when he opened it, it turned out it was their high school yearbook. He smiled and flipped through the pages, stopping when he spotted a heart around his teenage self.

“Whoa.” He laughed and held up the book. “You weren’t lying about crushing on me. You drew a heart around my picture and everything.”

Jessica’s eyes widened. “Where did you find that?”

“In your albums.” He flipped through the pages, smiling at all the memories. “I don’t even know where mine is. I’m going to have to dig through storage to see if I kept it.”

“Did you write anything to me in it?” Jessica sat beside him, intrigued by what he’d found.

He turned to the back and searched through the notes her friends had left her. He pointed to one name. “He had the hots for you.”

“Did not.” She scoffed and laid her head on his shoulder. “He was just a nice guy.”

“Who wanted to get in your pants.” He went to the next page. “Ah, there I am.”

Jessica lifted her head and read what he’d written. “You’re one of a kind, Jessie. Have a great summer killing it in NYC. I hope you get all that you want in life. Alex.”

Jessica shifted the photo albums from her lap. “Don’t think for one second I didn’t read what you wrote to other people. That is possibly the most impersonal message you could have given me.”

He fingered his teenage handwriting. “I didn’t want you to go. It wasn’t exactly like I could say forget New York and stay with me.”

“Like you really thought that back then.”

“I didn’t want you to go.” He glanced over at her. “I don’t know about the whole staying with me thing, but you were my best friend. I selfishly didn’t want to give that up.”

Alex didn’t know what the future held for them, but everything happened for a reason. He liked that she found her way back to Paradise while he just happened to get a job there as well. If felt like they’d been given a second chance and he didn’t want to pass it up.

“Are we having that conversation right now?” She chewed on her lower lip. “Because I’m going to be honest and say I’m not moving to LA with you. Not right now. My father just died and I know you’ve got to go back. Your life is there. Your work. There is no way I can leave.” Her eyes filled with tears. “The pressure of everything is just too much for me right now.”

“I love you, Jess.” He pulled her onto his lap, giving her a hard and demanding kiss. He smoothed his fingers along the wet tracks of her tears. “I’ve got you, sweetheart. There’s no pressure. You can come to LA to visit with me any time you want. But I have no problems booking flights for me to come home.” He leaned in to kiss her. “I don’t want to lose you again. We’ll make it work. I can promise you that.”

She looped her arms around him, and held him tight. “It’s not going to be easy.”

“You’re worth it.” He smoothed his hand along her back.

After holding her for a few minutes, he finally let her go when she pulled away. She cried every night when she thought he was asleep. He teetered between offering her comfort or letting her grieve alone. He didn’t look forward to sleeping without her beside him. Once they finally crossed the line and became intimate, he didn’t want to go back. He didn’t want to know to remember what it was like without her.

“I’m not crying anymore.” She wiped her tears as she kept her back to him. “Once we find this photo we’re going to do something fun.”

“Yeah?” He reached for another photo album. “Like what?”

He opened the book and found her handwriting.

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