Page 21 of Begin Again

Yeah, she had to be.

“I won’t fit in the bed at my parents’ house in my old room. I’ll find another place easily enough. Or so I hope. If not, I can get into one of our apartments that the family owns.”

They didn’t just have Paradise Place but another development in Guilderland they were working on, not to mention a lot of rental buildings and townhouses.

Mostly they were filled, but he never felt like he’d be out of a place. He’d just stay where he was until he found something else.

“It’s nice to have those options,” she said quietly.

She moved toward the stairs and back up them. He wondered if he put his foot in his mouth.

He tried not to talk much about his family. He never wanted to come off as bragging. He didn’t think anyone did, but more so he didn’t want to turn Liz off.

“Sorry,” he said.

“For what?” she asked.

“I know I’ve got a good life.”

“So do I,” she said. “There are people out there with more than you that think their life sucks.”

“You’re right,” he said.

He forgot that about her. That she tried to always think of the positive at times in life.

He knew girls had been rough on her in school.

That people talked about her mother not being around, but he’d never heard much about the reason. It wasn’t his place to ask.

When they were dating, they didn’t talk about too many personal things like that. He only knew that her mother left her father and Trevor was raising two girls on his own.

What he knew of Trevor Sherman was the man loved his daughters and worked his ass off to make sure they got what he could give them in life.

So yeah, Liz was right—she had a good life too, regardless of the fact her marriage ended.

Lots of people’s marriages ended for a number of reasons and they didn’t all have to be bad.

Though something told him there was more to this than she was going to say.

And the second date—because they were dates in his book—wasn’t the time to talk about it.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I don’t have what you’ve got and never will. I’ve got a good job I love even though it kicks my butt more often than not. My father and sister are there for me and I know that. I’ve got a roof over my head that is solid even if the inside is ugly.”

He laughed and pulled her close to him. She didn’t seem to hesitate and went into his arms. “I forgot about this side of you. Everyone should have this kind of outlook on life.”

“I forgot about it myself until I moved home,” she said quietly.

There was so much he wanted to ask but didn’t. He couldn’t.

Not when her brown eyes were staring into his almost daring him to kiss her.

He was going to do it because there wasn’t one thing on the face of this earth that he wanted more than to get his mouth on hers again.

He leaned his head down; she lifted up to meet him.

Her hands went into his hair and held his head there, his lips nudging hers open, his tongue swooping in.

The two of them were making out in his living room just like they had eighteen years ago. Back then their first kiss was behind the benches at a football game on a Friday night though.

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