“For your sake, I hope so. I think he could be the one.”
Biting her lip, Lauren counted to five before speaking. She didn’t want to argue with Kelly. “How about on this one we agree to disagree, okay? Arguing won’t change whatever happens between Kevin and me.”
With a loud sigh, Kelly nodded. “Fair enough, I guess. At least for now.” She wrapped an arm around Lauren’s shoulders. “How about we take a break in here? I picked up double chocolate chip brownies from Rosie’s yesterday.”
“You’re just telling me this now? You should’ve brought those out the minute I walked in.”
Lauren followed her sister into the kitchen. As they sat enjoying the chocolaty desserts from the town’s best kept secret, they talked mostly about the upcoming birth of Kelly’s first baby and the baby shower Kelly’s co-workers had thrown for her. Despite the pleasant conversation, Lauren’s thoughts routinely drifted back to their conversation in the nursery. While what Kelly said was partially true, she’d never admit it aloud. On some level she’d never stopped loving Nate. She’d tried countless times to vanquish the feelings, but a tiny seed of love for him always remained. Eventually she’d assumed her residual feelings toward him were normal. They’d grown up together and he’d been her first love. Surely it was normal for your first love to always have a place in your heart. But regardless of what Kelly said, her inability to find love had nothing to do with Nate. It simply was a matter of not yet finding the right man. Just because Kelly had met and fallen in love with her husband while in college didn’t mean everyone did. People met in all kinds of ways and at different times in their lives. Who knew? A year from now she and Kevin may be madly in love with each other. So what if she was not in love with him yet. She enjoyed spending time with him, and they had fun together. That type of relationship could easily turn into love. Not all relationships started off with fireworks.
Biting into the rich brownie, Lauren tried to picture herself with Kevin ten years from now. No matter how hard she tried, the visual wouldn’t form. While she could picture herself several years from now sitting in her living room watching a movie while cuddled up next to someone, Kevin’s face wasn’t the one sitting beside her. Instead, Nate sat on the sofa, his arm around her.
Without stopping to consider what her actions might tell her sister, Lauren popped the last bite of her brownie into her mouth and reached for a second. For years she’d kept thoughts of Nate Callahan blocked out, safely stored away. Now, though, she couldn’t get him out of her head.
***
Nate pressed down on the accelerator of his Mustang as he hit the apex of the turn on Breakneck Hill and grinned. It’d been a long time since he’d driven the curvy road, but he still knew where each and every turn was. Man, it felt good to be home. Until the weekend before when he’d moved back into the apartment over his parents’ garage, he hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed Ridgefield.
Crossing over the town line into Slatersville, he turned onto Milford Road toward the center of town and Elm Street. He’d gotten Lauren’s address from his mom the day after the retirement party. When he’d asked if she knew where Lauren lived, she hadn’t asked any questions. Instead she’d given him a small smile, pulled out her address book, and wished him luck. He’d wanted to stop by that afternoon, but an appointment with a realtor made that impossible.
Turning right onto Elm Street, he slowed the car so he could check house numbers. All the homes on the street were either small capes or ranches with small yards. A few homes had swing sets or pools in the backyard, but for the most part it was your typical cookie-cutter neighborhood.
A mailbox with flowers painted on the sides and a large number four told him he’d reached his destination. Turning into the driveway behind a red Mini Cooper with a bumper sticker that read “Love to Dance,” he killed the engine. Nervous energy shot through him as he studied the well-kept ranch before him. From the looks of it, the home had been recently painted, perhaps that past fall, and squat shrubs sat in a row in front of the farmer’s porch. Right now the shrubs were still bare, but in the summer he imagined they’d be alive with color. A flagpole with an American flag was attached to the home and a black lamppost sat at the end of the brick walkway.
Getting out of the car, he slammed the door shut. Beneath his boots the gravel crackled as he strolled up to the walkway. The sound of a nearby wind chime and children playing outside a few houses down faded away as the blood thundering in his ears increased. Polite but distant described her behavior at the party. While she’d reacted much differently in his dreams, her initial reaction to his return didn’t shock him, but it did disappoint him. A lot of time had passed since their last summer together. How would she react today?