Page 645 of Not Over You

“Hi,” she greeted with a huge smile on her face.

I kissed her again. “Hi.”

We laid on her bed and talked about everything and nothing, laughing quietly and whispering so we wouldn’t wake her parents. We talked about our future, our hopes, and our dreams. We had everything planned out; going to Duke together, then getting married and starting a family. We’d have a boy, a girl, and a dog.

Before I left, we went out onto the roof and looked up at the stars.

“Do you think we’ll always be like this?” Liv asked.

I turned my head to look at her. She stared up at the stars for a few moments longer before she brought her eyes to mine. “I hope so.”

She smiled softly. “Will you still love me when I’m old and wrinkly?”

My chest swelled, full of love for her. We might have been young, but she was it for me—everything I wanted—and I was the luckiest guy on Earth to have her. “I’ll love you as long as the stars shine in the night sky.”

Her eyes gleamed in the moonlight. “Promise?”

“I promise, Liv. No matter what, it’ll always be you and me.”

LIV

The night I received Lincoln’s letter, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned, my mind unable to turn off as I weighed the pros and cons of each choice.

I got out of bed before my alarm, resigned to the fact I wasn’t going to get any sleep. I padded to the kitchen and made some coffee, then went over to where I left the letter on the dining room table.

I feathered my fingers over Lincoln’s words on the paper. Most of the time, I could block out how much I missed him. I became a pro at numbing myself and burying my feelings since the adoption. I had to in order to survive losing the two loves of my life. But seeing his handwriting and hearing his familiar voice in my head as I read his letter made ignoring my emotions difficult.

My stubborn side said that I’d made my bed and I needed to lie in it. But another side of me, the sensitive side I hardly listened to, argued that I could right my wrongs.

I finished my coffee and got ready for work. I grabbed Starbucks on the way because one coffee wasn’t going to be enough to keep me functioning for the day after no sleep.

I was an environmental scientist for a government lab specializing in ecological and biological field work, which included habitat assessment, species survey, jurisdictional determinations, and project management. My passion had always been protecting the environment, and I’d been lucky to find a career in the field I loved.

My work was the only part of my life that had been part of the plan. Everything else had gone to shit.

When I arrived at the lab that day, my boss called me into his office. I stifled an exasperated sigh. I didn’t need more stress on top of what had been thrown on me the night before.

“Yes, Mr. Cole,” I said, forcing a smile.

He didn’t even glance my way, his eyes fixated on his computer. “Miss Owens, please have a seat.”

My stomach started to knot. Even though I’d done nothing wrong, being called into the boss’s office still made me nervous.

I sat down, then waited for him to continue.

He swiveled away from his computer, finally turning his attention to me. “We’ve recently been given a contract for a project, and I wanted to offer it to you first.” He picked up a folder on his desk and handed it to me.

My anxiety ebbed, and I relaxed as I took the folder. I opened it and started reading the details of the assignment. When I read the location, my heart started to race.

“You grew up in Beaufort, right? I thought you might like to take the project and visit your hometown.”

I glanced up at my smiling boss, then back down at the paper.

This has to be a sign, right? My boss offers me an assignment in Beaufort the day after I get a letter from Lincoln about meeting our daughter.

A few seconds passed as I tried to read the details of the assignment, but I couldn’t process anything. I was too focused on the unlikely coincidence surrounding the two major decisions presented to me and how they were both linked yet totally unrelated. It had to be fate.

Right?

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