A Simple Wish About love - Karice Bolton Page 0,57

She used to love what his closeness did to her. She craved it for so long and had for such a short amount of time.

“Erika,” Slade began.

“Save it.” She glared at him. “Thank you for bringing Miranda here, but that doesn’t erase what went on.”

Slade nodded. “I agree, except nothing went on.”

“I saw what I saw.” Erika gritted her teeth and turned away. Her stomach was in knots.

Being this close to him was so difficult. She wanted it all to magically fix itself so she could just live happily ever after, but that wasn’t in her cards.

Erika should’ve learned that twelve years ago.

“I know exactly what it looked like, but I promise you it wasn’t that at all.”

Erika folded her arms over her chest as the crowd next to them kept growing. “Then what was she doing there in the first place?”

Slade looked relieved that Erika was at least asking a question, talking to him.

“I went to discuss some business items with my parents. They insisted on having a barbecue.”

“With your high school sweetheart as the guest of honor?”

Slade’s expression fell. “No, with me as the guest of honor. Penny wasn’t invited. My parents never liked her, to be honest.”

“You obviously do.”

“Not even a little bit.” Slade drew a breath and glanced at Miranda, who was busily signing kids’ shirts, shoes, and backpacks. Socks would be next. There was a part of Erika that was worried Miranda would get swallowed up by these kids. She just wished it could be Penny instead.

“I saw her wrapped around you in a way I hadn’t even tried yet.”

A smile touched Slade’s lips, but he shoved it away as quickly as it came. “My dad sent me into the kitchen to retrieve a platter. I spun around with it in my hand, and she kept blocking me. I told her I wasn’t interested, asked her to leave, and she literally curled me into her snare and trapped me.”

“You’re like eighty pounds heavier than her.”

“Exactly.” Slade nodded. “I wasn’t going to push her down. I’d be the one that goes to jail. Not her. If you heard the crap she was telling me . . .” He shook his head. “It was horrible. I tried to get her off me. I wanted a Silkwood shower after it happened. I’m just sorry. I know you may never believe me, but I don’t want you thinking I would ever do that to you.”

Erika’s pulse started to race as his words wrapped around her. She wanted to believe them so badly it made her body ache, but she’d been fooled before.

“You can even ask my parents. I was horrified, disgusted, angry.” His expression was earnest and raw, just like she’d seen so many times before.

Slade had to be telling her the truth. He ran his fingers through his hair as the silence grew between them.

Erika didn’t know what to say. She’d started to get used to the idea that Slade wasn’t going to be in her life.

But she missed him so much.

Slade dropped his shades down, and she wondered what he was trying to hide. “Erika, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“But I live here and you live in Colorado.”

Slade smiled and shook his head. “I sold my business. The ink is dry. The money is in the bank. I’m a free agent.”

Excitement pulsed through Erika, but she didn’t want to believe it. She wouldn’t let herself believe it.

Slade glanced at the Camaro behind him. “In fact, this is the first thing I moved to Silver Ridge.”

She stared at him. “What do you mean, moved to Silver Ridge?”

“What do you think I’ve been doing for the last three days? It takes some doing to convince the world’s most popular singer to visit a school all while I’m driving my brother’s Camaro from Colorado to Silver Ridge. This took planning.” He smiled. “And it was the only shot I had.”

Erika smiled, seeing the Slade she’d fallen in love with, and she realized he’d never gone away. It was her past that was clouding her present and threatening to take away her future. For the first time in a really long time, Erika listened to her heart, gave her heart, and risked her heart to a man who promised to protect it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

Slade flashed a wry grin. “Things always have a habit of working out.” He waved around the group of kids and Miranda in the middle of them all. “None of this