“Mia? You okay?” Hannah followed Mia’s line of sight, but the stroller and the woman were gone.
“Yes. Fine.” It couldn’t have been her baby—the odds were a billion to one. And anyway, not her baby. Not anymore.
Hannah’s phone rang, and Mia was grateful for the distraction. “Stephen?”
“No. Nick.”
Nick. Right there on the other end of that line.
She was still shocked at the sharp pain that came with just the mention of his name. Just a reflex, just old memories taking their shot at her. She covered it well, she thought. Years of practice and going on with the broken heart Hannah’s oldest brother had left her with.
Hannah clicked it off. “I’ll call him back.”
Mia hadn’t asked Hannah about Nick, and Hannah hadn’t mentioned him except to say that she didn’t want her brothers to know she was seeking any kind of help. That was her right and her privacy. Neither of them had specifically set out to keep it from Nick.
Mia had no idea what Nick’s reaction would be if he found out she and Hannah had been seeing each other. He was the most overprotective man, and that was before his years in the FBI, before what had happened to Hannah. She’d loved his protective nature, but to say he didn’t like secrets, especially where his sister was concerned, was an understatement.
But she and Nick’s history shouldn’t have, didn’t have, any bearing on her relationship with Hannah. It was history, albeit painful, and Hannah had been a young girl going through her own extremely difficult time. It had nothing to do with what Hannah needed now.
They reached the line of cars, where they’d parked next to each other.
“He’s not too happy I’m seeing Stephen,” Hannah said, glancing at the phone in her hand. “I’m not sure if it’s Stephen specifically or if it would be the same with any man.”
Mia was pretty sure Nick wouldn’t be happy about any man.
“But,” Hannah went on, dropping her phone in her bag and straightening her shoulders. “I’m an adult.”
“You are,” Mia agreed, smiling.
“A capable adult, making my own decisions.”
Mia’s smile grew. “Yes. You are. I’m proud of you for knowing it.” She touched Hannah’s hair as she’d done so many times when she was young then pulled her in for a hug.
Hannah gave her a squeeze and pulled back. “We’ll talk soon.”
Hours later, Mia sat behind the desk in her office, making last-minute notes before heading home. Her gaze brushed over the framed baby photo, painful to look at but impossible to put away.
Hadn’t it been that way with Nick, and hadn’t she survived? Once she learned to love with this new hole in her heart, figured out how to take a deep breath without the pain, she’d be fine. She’d move on. She was good at moving on.
She hadn’t moved here because of Nick. She hadn’t even known he lived in Norfolk when she moved here. But now they were so close, so close, she thought, though it might as well have been on the far side of the moon. And that brought a new pain.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t know she lived here. If he’d wanted to, he could have found her. Ten years ago. Five. One. But he hadn’t, and she hadn’t tried to see him, either. She wasn’t sure she could survive it. And that sliced through her chest like a hot blade when she remembered a time she’d wanted nothing more.
* * *
Twenty-four years ago…
HE KISSED ME. NICK kissed me!
Not her first kiss, but the first one with a guy she actually liked. More than liked. She’d never been struck dumb by physical attraction, but it had happened the first time she’d locked eyes with Nick Walker. She’d recovered, just barely, her days in high school theatre saving her from making a complete fool of herself. Focusing on Hannah had helped. Of course, watching Nick cuddle the toddler to his chest like a warrior made her heart stutter even more.
With her heart pounding and her lips tingling, taking notes for the past two hours hadn’t been easy. She’d done it, of course, because… well, because it was class, and she took notes like an athlete trained for the Olympics. Still, her lips tingled.
Mia floated to her dorm located in the heart of campus, literally roll-out-of-bed-and-get-to-class-in-under-two-minutes close. She opened her door with her key and immediately saw Georgia, who was actually from Georgia, sitting cross-legged on her monogrammed comforter across the room. Most of Georgia’s things were monogrammed. At least neither of us will forget her initials, she thought fondly. She liked Georgia, with her Southern-peach city drawl and animated way of talking.