Page 57 of The Lake House

I know it’s true, but he’s definitely cutting himself short. “Yeah, I know, but still. You had the majority to do with her being who she is, and from what I’ve heard and seen for myself, she seems to be a wonderful little lady.”

Declan chuckles again, and the dimples in his cheeks come through. Wow. He’s so damn cute.

“Thanks,” he starts and then takes a sip of his wine.

“I still can’t believe you married Claire.”

He almost chokes on his wine at my words and then laughs.

I giggle, too. “I’m sorry, but I never imagined you would have ended up with her. How did that come about, anyway?”

Declan catches his breath. “Damn, I wasn’t expecting that.”

Have I crossed a line? I’m about to tell him he doesn’t need to go into it if he’s uncomfortable talking to me about it or if he just doesn’t want to, but instead, he responds.

“But since you asked, we can go there and get that out of the way.”

Maybe he’s just being polite. I decide to ask him, anyway. “I hope I haven’t made you feel uneasy or stepped over a line I shouldn’t have.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me? It’s totally fine. I was looking for the perfect moment to tell you all about her, but I didn’t want to bring her up and ruin a perfectly good evening.”

I nod, sipping on my wine. “It’s fine, and I’d really like to hear the story because I just can’t picture how the heck you and her got together in the first place.”

He chuckles, nodding. “I agree. We weren’t the likeliest of pairs, but somehow we wound up together… at least for a little while.”

I lean forward in my chair, ready to take in everything he’s going to tell me. I think back to when we were younger and how in the world he and Claire even managed to have anything in common.

“So it was actually just by chance on a rainy night that Claire and I even started talking. Of course we’d known each other from school and had seen one another around, but never had we spoken before that one night. Somehow, we wound up at the same party. My buddies were off getting drunk and dancing with some girls. I was the designated driver that night.”

I nod, listening intently.

He shakes his head at the memory. “Anyway, out of nowhere, I heard someone crying. I looked over to my right, and sure as day, there was Claire, mascara running down her face.”

That must have been a sight… yuck.

“I asked her if she was okay, and that’s when she looked up at me through tear-filled eyes. She told me her date had gotten wasted, and she didn’t know how she was going to get home and then—”

“Let me guess,” I say, cutting in. “You, being the nice guy that you are, offered to take her home, and the rest is history.”

Declan chuckles. “The rest is history,” he repeats. “I felt so bad seeing she was left alone like that. So I drove her home and the entire way there, we talked and realized we had a lot more in common than we ever thought.”

Damn, so how did it get so bad?

“I see,” I chime in.

He nods. “Yeah. I mean, it was all good until it wasn’t anymore, you know?”

I nod without saying a word.

“She was nice and great until, well, I already told you about the way she left, so I won’t bore you with that again.”

We’re silent for a few moments, just staring at one another. His eyes bore into mine and I pray to God something happens right now to break the spell, because if it doesn’t, I may just jump over this damn table and tongue him down.

“Oh, wow,” he says, breaking through my thoughts.

I tilt my head. “What?”

“This song,” he says, and then rises.

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