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“Darn straight.” I patted my lap. “Come here, pretty girl. Letme hold you for a minute, and then you can tell me what you want to do next. But first, turn off the television. None of that nonsense has anything to do with your real life.”
She tilted her head, as if contemplating what I’d said. “Fine.” She picked up the remote and punched the Off button. For a second, her hand remained midair. “What’s happening between us?”
“I can only speak for myself.”
“And what would you say?” Annie set the remote on the table.
“That there’s only been one regret in my entire life. And that was having to say goodbye to you and losing touch. This is a second chance for us—to find out if the love we had as children is something more.”
“When you put it like that, it seems perfectly reasonable.”
I grinned and patted my lap again. “Come over here.”
“So bossy.” She returned my grin as she crawled into my lap. “Do I feel heavy?”
Heavywas not exactly the word I would use. She appeared slender, but the strength in her legs were obvious, even under the cover of her jeans. “You feel like a dancer. A muscular one.”
“All those dance and Pilates classes are paying off.” She laughed. “A month here and who knows what will happen?”
A month?My heart soared. Was she contemplating staying through the holidays?
“I can think of a few things we can do. For exercises.”
She playfully smacked my chest. “Not so fast, Mr. Moon.”
“I know, I’m just teasing you.” I smoothed back her wild curls to kiss her gently on the mouth. She snuggled into my neck, and I breathed in the strawberry scent of her hair.
“Tell me about your mom,” Annie said. “Is she all right?”
“Like you, this may take some time to process.”
“So evolved, Atticus Moon.”
“I may have attended a few therapy sessions in my time,” I said.
She snuggled more deeply into me, as if she wanted to merge. I tightened my hold on her.
“I want to go out to the cemetery, but I’m not ready yet,” Annie said after a few minutes. “Instead, I want to do something fun. I want to go to the festival and then to the tavern for burgers and beers. Like a normal person. You’re right. We can’t let them ruin our time together.”
“The festival sounds like a great idea,” I said. “In fact, you can help me pick out some Christmas ornaments at the crafts fair. I’m putting up my very first tree this year.”
“Very first one?”
“Yep. Before now, I just spent Christmas at the old house with my family. This is the first season I’m free of the chains that kept me at my desk.”
She leaped from my lap, beaming. “This will be so much fun. Can we get a tree today too?”
“Yes, we can get a tree. I already have lights and bulbs that I ordered online. But the crafts fair always has so many pretty ornaments that I thought I’d wait.”
“I’ll help you pick some out,” she said.
That could go one of two ways. They could become a precious memory of the first ornaments we chose together for our very first tree. If this was the case, each year they would bring smiles and memories of a special day. Or she could walk back out of my life after the holidays, leaving me with a bunch of ornaments that made my stomach churn.
Life was a risk. Time to take a few. If I won, the prize would be better than anything life had to offer.
13
ANNIE
