Page 29 of The Calendar of New Beginnings
His sister sought his gaze once more before nodding and darting off in the direction of his family.
“You need a Jameson after that?” Lucy asked him point-blank. “I guess your sister didn’t realize how upset we both were. Me because of the situation with my eye, and you because of my mistake with your son.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” he told her, trying to be nice. “And I don’t use liquor to handle my stress.”
She tapped her finger on the table. “Well,Isometimes have a drink when I’ve had a moment. I’m sorry I caused Danny to ask those questions. I would never do anything?—”
“I know,” he said, interrupting her. “He’s smart, and he’s curious. It’s not the first time he’s asked something like that after hearing what should have been a simple story. Kids who lose parents young often have a fascination with death.”
Whereas all he wanted to do was run as far as he could in the opposite direction. He wanted to believe Kim was in a place called heaven, but when it came down to it, he just didn’t know.
“I walked right into it with all that talk about mummies and the afterlife,” she said, picking up a cold French fry and throwing it across her plate. “So, if you won’t have a drink with me, what can I do to make up for it? Let’s see. How about we dart over to the ice cream parlor and grab a cone? We can snarf it down before we return so no one will know.”
Leave it to Lucy to suggest ice cream. A cone share had always been her go-to comforting suggestion when they were at school together.
“Mocha almond fudge and butter pecan, here we come,” he said.
“Let’s blow this joint,” she said.
She rubbed his back, giving him a full-wattage Lucy smile. He shrugged his shoulders to relieve the tension as her fingers worked some magic. Her hands were strong, something he’d never realized. But they were also gentle as they traced the knotted line of muscles running across his shoulders.
He was about to comment on her strength and skills—and tease her about picking up the latter in a Turkish bath internship overseas.
And then he noticed her eyes.
Suddenly he couldn’t speak.
The color was greener than he remembered. He stared into them, noticing the gold rings around her pupils. She continued to smile at him, kneading his trapezius. There was a light in her eyes, he realized. Even though her right eye had been injured, it hadn’t beendimmed.
How had he forgotten how beautiful they were? They contrasted with her fair skin and the spattering of freckles she’d always hated on her nose.Good God.
Lucy’s beautiful.
He hadn’t felt this intense punch of attraction since high school. Sure, he’d felt a spark for her at her homecoming party, but this was different. This ka-pow was the kind that made everything around him seem to slow down. The fingers massaging his shoulders felt hot all of the sudden.Oh, no. Not again.
He stumbled back, feeling light-headed.
She grabbed his arm and eyed him with concern. “Are you okay?”
His nod was crisp. “Yep.” Not freaking out here. Not at all.
Of course, Lucy O’Brien had always been bright and beautiful. It was a constant—like the oxygen levels in his blood.
But she hadn’t been beautiful to him for nearly twenty years, and he didn’t want to be reminded of all that. Not when he’d already decided that their friendship needed to stay that way.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, tilting her head from side to side, looking into his face. “Why don’t you sit down for a sec?”
“No,” he said, shaking it off. “Let’s grab that ice cream. Then you can tell me what our mothers are plotting.”
He waited for Lucy to precede him to the door. People were watching them again. They had been all night. While he wasn’t surprised, he was annoyed. Isn’t that why he’d brought Danny with him even though he had multiple willing babysitters? He was single again, and Lucy wasback. The town gossips would wag their mouths anyway, but he didn’t plan to fuel their fire.
Except a very old flint and steel had sparked a fireinsidehim. For her.
His freak-out was in danger of reaching epic proportions if he didn’t rein it in. Outside, the night was warm, and he took some deep breaths to clear his head. After they ordered their ice cream cones, he started to ask for the check, but she cut him off and paid for both of them. Suddenly he felt awkward and unsure of himself. If he had paid, it might have meant something. Like they were going out.
He tried to tell himself he was overthinking things. This was only an ice cream with Lucy, his childhood best friend. He’d only left his son with his family so she could tell him about their mothers’ latest crazy stunt.
But as she led the way to one of the corner tables away from the rest of the crowd, he couldn’t suppress the growing awareness inside him. She really was beautiful. This was a hell of a time to realize it again, but he’d managed to push aside those thoughts in high school for the betterment of their friendship. He could do it again.
