Page 45 of Falling for You Again

“All right, smart-ass.” I retrieve the glossy picture with the paper frame from my nightstand. Our eyes make contact when he takes thephoto. I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing I thought when he showed me our Marriage-Material List. I kept it close because I looked at it a lot.

“I have the video.” He returns the photo. “Calvin sent it to me.”

“Our wedding video?” I can barely contain my surprise as we sit on the edge of the bed. I never expected to see it. Aaron brings up the video on his phone, and there we are, sitting in Calvin’s back seat, looking utterly petrified but determined to go through with our dare.

“Look how young and scared we were,” Aaron says.

He’s right. But I also see something else. With our knees pressed together, our bodies leaning toward each other, our gazes don’t waver from the other, not once. I don’t recall Paul ever looking at me the way Aaron is in the video, as if I’m the one he was searching for. I never believed something like that could happen any more than I believed in love at first sight. Until now. Except for when he tenderly touches my cheek, his hands don’t stray from mine. Anyone else watching would believe we were in love.

Then we kiss ... and what a kiss. I remember how it felt. Hesitant, but exciting. A glittering heat that sparked like a jolt of electricity. A collision fueled by adrenaline and the salty tang of the unknown. But to watch it? Emotions rush through me. Nostalgia, regret, the sheer intensity of the situation. It makes me lightheaded. The attraction I feel for this man resurfaces as a physical warmth spreading through my body. My heart beats faster. Aaron inhales deeply beside me, and I wonder what’s going through his head. Is he feeling any of what I do? Then Calvin shouts, “Congratulations!” And the video ends.

Outside my window a horn blares. Blueberry joins us on the bed and cleans his face. Aaron and I don’t speak. I can’t bring myself to look at him, afraid I’ll be unable to stop myself from touching him should I see the same intensity in his expression that I feel inside me.

I watch him put his phone away. We don’t get up and we don’t move apart. He smells so nice and it feels so right just being here with him. I could easily lean into him, lift my chin and close my eyes and ...

I shoot to my feet. “I’m packed. We can leave.”

“Yes, right ...” Aaron rubs his hands over his thighs.

I scoop up Blueberry and put him in his carrier, then run around the apartment, gathering his supplies.

Aaron orders us a ride and picks up the laundry basket. “Ready?”

I look around my apartment one last time. I’m sure I’ll return soon for more clothes, but I can’t help feeling like my home for the past ten years is no longer home. It’s wherever Aaron is.

“Ready.”

We take the elevator down with Blueberry complaining the entire ride. He doesn’t leave the apartment except for trips to the vet, so he isn’t happy. I’m talking to him, trying to calm him while we wait at the curb for our driver, when I see my parents walking toward us.

Aaron notices my panic. “What is it?”

“My parents.” To tell him I have a weird relationship with them is not the same as him witnessing how awkward we are with each other. I tense as they draw near.

“What do you want to tell them about us?” he asks, as if my parents were actually curious about my social life.

“Nothing. They aren’t going to stop and ask.”

And they don’t, because outside of the shop, they don’t seem to care about me or what I do. They’re both wearing jeans and sneakers. Dad has on a nice shirt and Mom wears a blouse. I wonder if they went out to dinner. Dad notices me first and waves. Mom says, “Hello.” And that is it. They don’t ask how I’m doing or who I’m with, where I’m going. They just head into the building, making me feel like I’m a nobody. Just another friendly face they might pass on an evening walk.

I should be grateful. I don’t have to lie to them about who Aaron is and where I’m going. But I’m already lying to myself when I say their indifference doesn’t sting. Feeling invisible to them is one thing, but in front of Aaron?

Deflated, I turn back to the road with a dull ache in my chest. It takes everything in me not to cry, especially when Aaron gently cradles my neck and kisses my head, showing without saying how much he understands what I’m feeling. Insignificant.

Chapter 16

Bottom Line Blindside

I spend Monday morning at the shop, and for once, I’m grateful my parents don’t have any interest getting into my business. Mom and Dad didn’t bring up last night when they saw me outside our apartment building with Aaron, their new son-in-law. It saves me from lying about who he is and what we did over the weekend. Or telling the truth.Guess what, Mom and Dad, I got married!Besides, I don’t want them to have a head start. If they know I married Aaron Borland, they’ll tell Uncle Bear, who will contact the Savant House for damage control. Aaron and I agreed he’ll announce our marriage to his team and let the news move up their internal channels. Then we’ll deal with the fallout. Fingers crossed it’s in our favor. Aaron is confident it will be.

Uncle Bear keeps to himself most of the morning, working quietly at his station staining a headboard. The brief conversation we had earlier updating each other on our current projects was strained. The Savant House’s acquisition offer is a squatter in the building. I’m still angry and Uncle Bear refuses to budge on his decision. Our words were clipped and rude, so we have an unspoken agreement to leave each other alone. We aren’t talking.

Around lunchtime, I’m reviewing my designs for a pair of bedside tables I’m about to start for a new client, and I wonder if this will be thelast thing I build for Artisant Designs. If Uncle Bear sells the shop, the buyer will own the copyright. But if I tweak the leg just so—

“We’re off to lunch,” Uncle Bear announces, bursting into my thoughts.

“We might be a few hours. Lock up if you leave.” Mom collects her purse and a short stack of manila folders.

“You aren’t going with them?” I ask Dad after they leave. Kidder is already on his lunch break.

---