That Summer With Me - Julie Prestsater Page 0,20

thought he looked good in scrubs. In jeans, he was something straight out of a rom-com where he played the hunky hero.

She laughed inside. Her mind sure did wander when she was busy staring him down and enjoying the view. She had plenty of her own work to do but couldn’t stop taking breaks to get a good look at the handsome man that spent his day off helping her daughter’s school marching band.

The truth was, she could have looked at him for days and never got bored. For so long, he only lived in her daydreams—a cloudy ghost-like image that she conjured up out of the blue and pined over for most of her adult life. And now, he was real. She could reach out and touch him anytime she wanted. Even though he had just recently come back to her life, their closeness made it feel like he had been there all along.

The last few weeks, they fell into a routine. Dinner at Melody’s on Mondays and Wednesdays with her family. Saturday mornings and afternoons were spent at Luna’s school, watching her practice and helping with props. Melody loved spending Saturday evenings on date nights with Jordan. They walked the promenade in Santa Monica one night, and on another, they went to Knott’s Berry Farm. Melody had a great time coercing Jordan into getting on the more adventurous rides. She was so used to Luna begging her to go on the thrillers; she hadn’t expected that Camp Snoopy would be more Jordan’s speed. He was more interested in funnel cake and cotton candy. The other night at dinner, he blamed Melody and her family for him gaining five pounds.

The more Melody sat there holding a paint brush and not painting a thing, the more she smiled at the thoughts that were playing around in her head. She could have filled her days thinking about all the ways Jordan fit into her life. More importantly, how he fit into her life with Luna.

It scared her, though. Bringing a man into the picture was always a risk when it came to children. The last thing she wanted was for her and Luna to get comfortable with having Jordan around and have something happen. What that something was, she didn’t know. It could be anything. There were no sure things. She knew all too well the pain she felt when Jordan disappeared from her life the first time. Like hell would she allow her daughter to get swept up in that level of anguish, too. They both had absentee fathers; they didn’t need another man to let them down.

Stop, Melody. Just stop. She needed to get to painting. Procrastinating by gazing longingly at Jordan was one thing. Taking a walk on the crazy train was another. She needed to quit while she was ahead.

JORDAN

Jordan cleaned up his work area and headed over to Melody when he noticed she looked lost in thought. She was staring off, a paint brush in her hand, and chewing on her bottom lip. He knew that look. He’d seen it when they were in Baltimore. She had a paper due for her cognitive science class, and she couldn’t decide what research to site. She deliberated for hours, tossing papers around, and debating the pros and cons of each in her head. He knew then that something was bothering her, and he wondered what was eating away at her now.

As Jordan got closer to Melody, she didn’t once look his way. He peered in the same direction as her but didn’t see anything but the science building. It was quiet as can be without a soul in sight, so there wasn’t much to see. He startled her when he bent down, placing his hands on her shoulders and kissing her on the cheek. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t even see him coming.

“Where were you?” he asked.

She looked at him, the skin between her brows crinkled. “I’ve been right here all day.”

Jordan sat down in front of her and stretched out his long legs. “Physically, yes, but your mind was somewhere far, far away.”

She shrugged. “You got me.”

“Wanna tell me about it?” It didn’t surprise him that she thought about it for a beat before she spoke up.

“Well, I was just sitting here, minding my own business, checking out this hot guy on a ladder,” she said, her smile reaching from ear to ear.

She seemed amused, and he loved it. Seeing her smile made