Page 74 of Perfect Assumption

I pull back so our breath is flowing back and forth between one another’s lips—lips that haven’t touched yet. Then I answer her honestly, “I don’t know. I’ve never felt anything close to it.”

Then I lean my body into hers lightly and tip my head to the side. My lips brush across hers once, twice, before I nip at her lip, seeking entry to her mouth. She almost makes my knees buckle when her lips part and her tongue is there waiting to brush against mine tentatively.

Ruthlessly, I keep my hands where they are, though it wouldn’t surprise me if I leave score marks where I’m clutching the wall. I need her to understand there’s a rightness here, not just between any man and woman, but between us. Our kiss goes on and on, until I slowly back away by nibbling on her lush lower lip.

I don’t want to frighten her again. I can’t. She’s quickly becoming entwined around my heart, causing parts of it to beat after I thought I’d managed to kill them long ago.

Her head falls forward until it hits my chest. We stand that way for a few moments until Angie whispers, “Unless you really want to go, stay. I promise, we’ll talk, Ward. It’s just…I haven’t figured out how to say everything I need to. You’ll be the first.” And without another word, the woman I want as my lover ducks beneath my upstretched arm. With one last look back at me, she picks up the coffee server and enters the family room.

I’ll be the first what? The first person she’s spoken with about this? The first person she’s trusted her heart to? My heart pumps frantically. She can’t mean…

Or, can she?

I stare blankly out at the dimming light. How did I not notice this has been building up since the moment I first laid eyes on her? The simmering resentment from imagining her with someone else. The burgeoning need. The tension. David said it himself: everyone else has seen this coming. A clawing fear invades me. What happens if she becomes even more woven in my soul and she vanishes from my life—just like my parents did?

Staggering into the room, I sit down. Angie hands me a cup of coffee, which I readily accept. If my hands are shaking when I do, no one else notices but me. And for now, that’s okay. No one else needs to know my terror is she’s going to disappear from my life once she becomes so entwined in it.

* * *

“So,Sula and I snuck out. It was the first major snow of the year here. We totally couldn’t resist it. Of course, since we didn’t have a sled, we had no idea what we were going to do. Then, she came up with this great idea.”

“What did you do?” I take a sip of coffee.

Mistake. Big mistake.

“Cafeteria trays. Grandma had brought a stack of them home from the senior center she worked at to be donated at the thrift shop in town.” Angie’s smile is both joyful and a bit wicked.

My coffee ends up all over my sweater as I howl with laughter. “Nice. I remember doing something similar, only we stole ours right out of the cafeteria.”

Angie leans over and gives me a solid high five.

“That actually works?” Carys demands, a bit truculently.

I snort. “This is what you get for studying all the time.”

She sticks her tongue out, and I make a face. We grin before Angie interjects. “Sure does. We almost ended up in the lake.” Angie points beyond my shoulder.

“What did your grandmother say?” David asks. Ben woke up a little while ago and is cuddled in his lap.

I’m enthralled by the story, by this unburdened glimpse of Angie. But when she bursts into laughter, I realize it’s more than that. It’s a damn gift.

“Grandma gave us this disapproving look for about two minutes.” Angie lowers her brows and purses her lips. She looks like she just sucked on an overly tart lemon at the same time someone plucked a bit too hard at the groomer’s.

“Ooh, show me that look. I need it for when Ben’s older,” Carys exclaims.

“Or when Ward gets out of line,” David drawls.

Smoothing her expression, Angie grins. “But like I said, it was for just for a few moments. Then it was Grandpa roaring like a thundercloud because Grandma wanted to come sledding with us.”

We all crack up again.

“My God,” I wheeze, unable to catch my breath but not because of the laughter. It’s because Angie is transformed.

The late-afternoon sun is streaming through the window and setting her hair on fire. Her smile is wide and unencumbered.This is what she was meant to be like. Always.And it makes me want to use every single resource at my disposal to hunt down the people who hurt her and do the same to them until they lose their luster.

And she once again glows.

Twenty-Eight