Page 29 of If You Come Back To Me (If You Come Back To Me 1)

“Mari.”

She opened her eyes and spotted his shadowed form standing at the bottom of the stairs to the porch. The longing she’d experienced earlier that day swelled in her chest, making breathing difficult. For some reason, the fine hair on her arms and the back of her neck rose.

“Couldn’t sleep, huh?” she asked quietly.

“Who could, on a night like this?”

Neither of them spoke as he came up the steps and sat several inches away from her on the swing.

“Hell of a storm brewing,” he murmured as lightning lit up the street clear as day for a brief moment.

“Yeah,” Mari replied shakily, wondering if he, too, thought of the similarity between this storm and that one so long ago. Thunder rumbled in the distance. “I’m glad about it. The air conditioner just went out. Hopefully the storm will break this humidity.” She swallowed when he didn’t reply. Was this what they’d stooped to? Talking about the weather? “How was Brendan’s party?”

“He had a great time. He said to thank you for the tarts, by the way. He’d only share them with his best friend, Brian, much to Jenny’s dismay.”

She heard the smile in his voice and laughed. “I should have gotten a bag for her.”

“I think she’ll manage to survive on a week’s worth of cake and ice cream,” Marc said. “Are you interested in Eric Reyes?”

Mari started. She’d been lulled by his low, light tone. The switch in topic took her by surprise.

“Interested?”

“Yeah. Are you seeing him?”

“No…he’s just a friend. A good friend.”

She could only make out his shadow, but she saw him slowly nod his head.

“Ryan introduced me to him, years back. We’ve kept in contact, mostly by email over the years,” Mari explained.

“Ryan must have met him during the lawsuit hearings.”

“Yeah

.” A gust of wind caused the porch swing to shudder, despite Marc’s firmly planted feet. She inhaled for courage. “I saw your mother downtown today.”

“You did?”

“She didn’t mention it?”

“No, she didn’t. How did it go?”

“Not well,” Mari replied with a mirthless chuckle. “When she realized it was me who’d bumped into her, she gave me the cold shoulder. Walked away without a word.”

Marc cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” she said.

He didn’t speak for a moment. Mari almost felt him examining her in the darkness.

“Is this your way of saying I told you so?” he finally asked with grim amusement.

She sighed and wiped the perspiration off her brow. “Maybe,” she conceded. She fervently hoped to avoid another confrontation with him on the subject, but she wasn’t going to apologize for what she’d said last night, either.

“Do you want me to take a look at the air conditioning?”

“Do you think you could actually fix it?” she asked, sitting up straighter.

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