Page 63 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
“Do you still have the blankets in the truck?”
He nodded curtly, just as his uncle had.
“Great. Two stops. Pastry Palace and Dempsey’s Overpass.”
Dempsey’s Overpass was a dilapidated covered bridge they’d come across when they were teenagers looking for a private place to park and fool around. The bridge was located down an old country road that hadn’t been in use since the new overpass was built a few miles farther downstream. Below the bridge was a service road, also out of use and blocked with a concrete barrier. They used to drive around that barrier and park down by the water. It was the one place they gravitated toward whenever one of them was in a bad mood.
He pulled swiftly out of the lot, and Grace put her hand on his rock-hard thigh. If she’d been with any other man who was strung this tight, she might worry he’d snap and lash out at her, but not Reed. She didn’t say another word as he drove to Whisper Creek, and by the time they arrived, he was breathing a little easier. He put his hand over hers, locking them together. She leaned against him, glad to feel some of his tension falling away.
When they reached Pastry Palace, she said, “Just pull up out front and I’ll run in.”
He parked by the curb, but he didn’t release her hand, staring out the front window for a long, silent moment before finally lifting her hand and pressing a kiss to her palm. He placed her palm to his cheek and leaned into it, closing his eyes. Grace put her arms around him, and he returned the embrace, holding her so tight, she could feel how deeply he was hurting.
“Sorry, Gracie. I feel like a runaway train when I think of Frank, and I don’t know how to put on the brakes.”
“I know, and I understand. Wait until you see me when a production goes wrong. I’m like the Tasmanian devil, only louder. I get it.”
He kissed her neck, her cheek, and then his mouth found hers, tenderly at first, then frantic and rough, as if he could escape the pain of the unknown through their love. And oh, how she wished he could. She took as eagerly as she gave, wanting to erase his pain. She didn’t care that they were parked on the main drag or that anyone walking by could see them making out. All that mattered was that Reed was her world, and he needed her.
“Why are we here?” he asked heatedly, his fingers tangling in her hair.
She grinned and said, “There’s only one remedy for this type of angst.”
Confusion riddled his brow, and she kissed those worry lines. Then she crawled over him, squeezing in between the steering wheel and his broad chest.
“I like where this is headed.” He flashed a cocky grin.
She gave him a sweet kiss, opened his door, and climbed off his lap and out of the truck. “Try to hold on to those thoughts while I grab provisions.”
A few minutes later, Grace was back in the truck, her hand on his thigh, as he drove toward their destination. His body heat burned through the thick denim. She cuddled closer, feeling a lot like she had all those years ago, completely head over heels with a man who was as easy to read as he was to love. She pressed her lips to his shoulder, breathing him in. When he laced their fingers together, she squeezed his leg.
“Grace,” he said in warning.
He placed his hand on hers. Her heart hammered foolishly, like they were teenagers sneaking out to console each other. As kids Reed had been the salve to her worries, her secret treasure at the end of her days. Now he was her everything. She unhooked her seat belt and went up on her knees as he drove around the roadblock and headed down the old service road toward the river. She hadn’t been down this road for so many years, she didn’t expect recognition to hit her as they ambled along the steep hill. Adrenaline and desire sped through her as she kissed his neck, earning one greedy noise after another. His big hand still covered hers.
He parked by the riverbank and kissed her slow and deep. His masculine scent coalesced with the pungent smell of damp earth, and memories gathered around them like old friends.
“I’m crazy about you, baby,” he said in a gravelly voice. “I remember the first time we came here. We were both upset about having to hide our relationship.”
“We said we’d tell everyone the next day.”
“But the next day was homecoming, and we both thought we should wait.”
They were breathing hard from the emotional evening and the heat between them, and surely from the memories knocking on their door. Grace took in the old covered bridge standing sentinel against the gray night sky, its weathered wooden boards missing in places, hanging cockeyed in others. The long grass on the hill shifted in the May breeze, bringing a memory, clear as the love between them, of sometime before they’d broken up. A week, a month, she couldn’t be sure, but she remembered confiding in Reed her biggest secret. As much as she’d wanted to go to New York, she’d been terrified of leaving everything she knew and loved behind, despite the fact that Sophie would be going with her and attending the same school. He’d looked into her eyes with the most earnest expression, those dark blue eyes of his giving her courage before he’d even spoken a word. But then his words had given her even more fortitude:You’re the bravest, strongest girl I know. There’s nothing you can’t do, Gracie, and I’ll be cheering you on every step of the way.She’d clung to those words so often, she was sure they had been the shovels that had dug the holes for her roots to begin sprouting in the concrete jungle.
“It was always me and you,” she said as he climbed from the truck.
Reed put his arms around her, pulling her to the edge of the seat and wedging himself between her legs. He buried his face in her chest, holding her tight.
Seconds later he was studying her face. “Why is your heart beating so hard?”
“I just realized how selfish I was when we broke up.”
“Don’t youeverthink that, Grace. We both thought I would never leave here, and we both knew you had to.”
“But I was watching out forme,” she said with an apologetic gaze. “It was selfish.”
“All kids are selfish at that age. I wassupremelyselfish. I’m the one who said I’d never leave, remember? A better boyfriend would have said he’d follow you anywhere.”
