DAY.
Those eyes raced over my face, her fingertips fluttering up over the thunder at my chest. “And what if too much damage has been done, Evan? What if life has been so cruel and unfair to us that there are too many wounds for either of us to heal?”
I set my hand on her sweet face, splayed out wide like I could hold all those fears. “The cruelest thing that’s ever happened to me was having to live without you.”
Energy spun. Love spinning and spinning. Winding us tight.
I swallowed down the dread, just . . . needing to be up front because the truth of the matter was my life no longer looked the same. “And I don’t know what’s coming. I know you don’t know all the details about what’s happening with Everett. Hell, I don’t, either. But the one thing I need you to know is I love him. He’s my son. And I need him in my life, every bit as badly as I need you.”
“Evan . . . I . . . I . . .” She fumbled for an answer.
“I get it, Frankie. I know you have a boyfriend—”
Her head shook, cutting off the direction I was going. “We broke up on Sunday after we got back home.”
Didn’t mean to exhale a gust of relief as intense as a desert windstorm. But it was there, filling the room.
She shook her head more. “It wasn’t right . . . me being with him when I’m not over you.”
I leaned in closer. “You make it sound like you’re trying to get over me.”
She huffed a self-deprecating laugh though everything about it was tender. “I’m been trying to get over you for years, Evan Bryant.”
I edged forward, backing her to the counter, loving the way her breaths shallowed out and her heart beat faster. “Yeah? Well, I think you should give that up because there’s no chance of me ever getting over you. Then we’re even.”
“Evan.” My name was a whimper. “I just . . . need time. Need to find a way to forgiveness. You hurt me more than I think you know.”
But that was the thing.
I did know.
Because even if she only hurt a fraction of the amount I’d felt without her? There was no questioning that shit was brutal.
Gaze searching her face, I let both hands weave into that wild mess of hair. “Frankie. I’m going to prove it to you. I promise.”
Dipping down, I sealed it with the softest kiss to her lips.
She exhaled an even softer sigh.
I groaned when I inhaled the girl. “Cotton candy. You really are testing my will, aren’t you, Unicorn Girl?”
She giggled a small sound. “Hey, don’t go blamin’ me. I do work in a bakery, after all. I was just whipping up something new and special. I might have felt inspired.”
Another groan, my stomach twisting up with want. “You’re gonna have to stop with that.”
She lifted her chin, the feisty girl I’d known emerging from that shell she never should have worn. “Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it, Froggy Boy?”
I pressed myself a little closer, only an inch of fire separating us, our noses close to touching. “I think you really want to find out.”
Her hand was about to fist in my shirt when I felt the movement at the door, and I whirled around to find my son pushing through, completely dazzled that the door swung.
My mom came in right behind him.
“Fi-Fi!” he said, pointing at Frankie Leigh, giggling as he went.
Something passed through her features. Something dark and overcast and still threatening to break with the day. He tottered over to her, and she only glanced at me for a second before she picked him up and pressed a kiss to his chubby cheek. “Hey there, little man.”
“Puppy?”
“Oh, you remember my puppy, do you? I bet he remembers you, too.”
She started bouncing him, walking him around the kitchen, showing off all the things.
Guessed I was getting way ahead of myself because I got the sudden, sharp sense that this was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
Seventeen
Evan
Two hours later, I pulled into the drive of my parents’ house, soaring high. Feeling like I was finally making progress. Like everything was making sense. Everett was conked out in his car seat in the back, pooped from hanging out at the café for a while before the two of us had gone to the park to play.
Just . . . getting to know each