Page 22 of Before Forever

What she didn’t realize was that time had a way of adapting to a person and a place. In the busy, fast pace of the city, hours, days, and weeks could slip by just as quickly as people passed by on the sidewalks. Here one minute, vanished around the corner, the next one after another. But out here in the rolling hills of the country, time moves slowly…like tumbleweeds bouncing in the wind, getting caught up here and there to rest a while and enjoy the view.

After reading what she had underlined, I looked at the words she had written next to it.Remember to share this with Mel.

My heart lurched as tears came to my eyes. I closed the book and looked around the big empty house, which suddenly didn’t feel as warm and cozy as it did moments ago. It had fallen dark and gray as the flames in the fireplace started to die down and fade into ash.

I could imagine my mom sipping tea, just like I was, after such a lovely day, cuddled up in bed with this book. She was writing down notes for me, too, in her own way. She was wishing I would come to stay here with her, so I could experience firsthand everything she enjoyed about it, bike rides, making pottery, the ducks by the lake, and how slowly time moved with it all. After so many failed attempts at getting me to come, she stopped coming herself. Maybe she had given up on the idea, but likely she was only staying in the city which she might not have loved nearly as much as this place to be nearme.

The heaviness of my guilt returned, squashing out all the good I had found in the day. I swallowed hard and started to think it would be impossible to ever stay happy for long around this place, with reminders of how I failed my mom around every corner. No amount of letters in my journal would give us more time together to make up for my mistakes.

I couldn’t remember if she ever shared the passage in the book with me or not. If she had, I was likely too distracted to really listen to it, or I was already formulating my list of excuses for why I couldn’t go to Silver Point with her any time soon.

The next day it was back to sweatpants and pizza boxes. However, by Monday morning, I was ready to pick myself up again in preparation for Derek’s visit. He wasn’t exactly a friend, but I had more run-ins with him than anyone else in town so far, so I wanted to show him a little hospitality. And maybe attempt to convince him that I wasn’t always as out of sorts as I had been the first few times he saw me.

I got up early to put myself together and cook up some of the bacon and eggs I had bought at the grocery store. Along with the breakfast I sat out on the kitchen counter with a few cloths over it all to keep it warm. When it was all ready, I took my own coffee out on the deck, again noting that I could see how . I also brewed a big fresh pot of coffee to offer to Derek and whoever else was working with him easily someone could get used to life around Mullins Cove, where the lake house was nestled. Not me, of course, permanently anyways. But for someone else, it’d be perfect.

“Morning!” Derek’s voice appeared right on time.

“Good morning!” I smiled back at him. “I left out some breakfast on the counter if you or your guys want any. There’s coffee, too.”

“Of course, there has to be coffee any time you and I cross paths, it seems.” His face brightened with a warm smile that made me blush for some reason.

I showed him in and filled up a mug that he sipped on while walking me through the house, explaining what they’d be working on that day. As they got started, I took my laptop out onto the deck, hoping to catch up on some work messages and remind Jeffrey that my accounts were only his domain temporarily. I wasn’t gone for good. I would be back, and my corner office still had my name written all over it.

Not long into my working session, the sound of a power saw rang through the house, making it hard to concentrate. I glanced through the window towards the sound only to see my biggest fantasy slash worst nightmare coming true right before my eyes. There Derek was with his shirt off and all those perfectly chiseled glorious muscles on full display. His tan skin beaded with sweat, and all the dust from the wood he was cutting flew up and clung to him, which was sexy in ways I would never have imagined.

It was becoming apparent that I would have to find somewhere else to work during the day. For one, because of the noise. And two, because one look at Derek shirtless turned my brain into mush, leaving me completely useless for the rest of the day.

I gave up and slammed my laptop shut around lunchtime. I decided to make some extra sandwiches for the crew, which I finished just in time. Derek found me in the kitchen just as I was setting out the plate. His shirt was back on by then, which was sad, but also a welcomed relief.

“You really shouldn’t offer us so much of your food,” he told me. “We’ll be eating you out of house and home by the time we’re done.”

“I thought it’d get things off to a good start,” I shrugged one shoulder. “With it being your first day working on the house and all.”

“It’s much appreciated,” he tipped his head towards me as he took a bite out of one of the ham and cheeses I had prepared. “Everything’s coming along beautifully so far. I hope we’re not disturbing you too much. I noticed it looked like you were working.”

“Itisnoisier than I expected,” I confessed.

“What kind of work do you do?”

“I work in public relations and marketing. So basically, I’m the reason why you know who certain up-and-coming fashion icons or celebrities are. It’s my job to make them famous,” I explained.

His brow furrowed slightly as he hung his head with a grunt. “Ah, I see. Sounds very interesting. I’m afraid I don’t know much about big-shot famous people or the lives they lead.”

I laughed a little at his honesty. “I noticed the shops around here don’t seem to carry many tabloids. And with the spotty Wi-Fi, the internet wouldn’t be a very reliable source of celebrity news either. It’s a whole different world here from New York. That’s for sure.”

“We have plenty of other things to make up for what we lack in Wi-Fi and big city gossip columns,” he assured me with a smirk.

I stopped myself from saying I had no doubt that was true.Like hot muscular firefighter hunks who also know how to fix a house and walk around shirtless in women’s dirty fantasies.

“Had you ever been anywhere near Silver Point before all this?” he went on to ask.

“No, and I haven’t had much time to explore. There’s been so much to do around here, and well, I’ve been a little preoccupied.” I didn’t want to go into detail about the depression I kept spiraling into or all the drama with Evan that had managed to catch up to me, even out there in the middle of nowhere.

“Yeah, I guess these parts wouldn’t have much of interest to a big city girl like you, especially considering all those fancy famous people you’re used to working with,” he admitted with a certain humility, like he wasn’t ashamed of the town he lived in. Yet, he knew it for what it was, which he could see was vastly different from anything I was accustomed to.

Still, I resented that he seemed to think he knew anything about me or what I would be interested in. And there was no mistaking the judgment I had seen in his eyes and in his brothers’. They thought I was the scum of the earth for letting my mom’s house go to waste like this and never spending time with her here before that. They didn’t realize I was doing a perfectly fine job at beating myself up for that all on my own.

“I like it here more than I thought I would,” I snipped, somewhat defensively. “I think I would enjoy it more if I didn’t have so much regret for not coming here with my mom before it was too late.”

---