Page 34
He sat on the sofa. Nearly all the furniture in the house was new. Judy had kept a few antiques she’d had since she was a young woman, but otherwise, they’d started over. The big sectional was deep and wide, with overstuffed cushions and plenty of pillows.
“Leigh Somerville came to see me today,” he began.
“Reggie’s mother? I know who she is, of course, but we’ve never traveled in the same circles.” Judy smiled. “It’s a generational thing.”
“She’s inviting us to Thanksgiving.”
Judy’s smile broadened. “Is she?”
“Yes.”
“With Reggie.”
“I’m guessing she’ll be there.”
She put down her book. “I always liked Reggie. She was a sensible girl who knew what she wanted. I wish you hadn’t blown it with her.”
He winced. “Hey, you don’t know what happened.”
“I know it was your fault. You told me yourself, when you were packing to go. You said you’d ruined everything and there was no reason to stay.”
A time he didn’t want to recall. “You know I didn’t leave because of her.”
His grandmother seemed to shrink a little, as if the memories of that time were too painful to be remembered. “Yes, I know.”
He involuntarily rubbed his left arm—the burns there, compliments of his father’s cigarettes, had mostly faded. He had scars from beatings with a belt and what he would guess were interesting X-rays showing multiple broken arms.
“What about Thanksgiving?” he asked. “Would you like to go there? I know it’s very last minute, so if you’d rather have dinner here, just the three of us, that’s okay, too.”
“Dinner with Reggie and her family would be nice.”
He narrowed his gaze. “This is just a night with friends. No matchmaking.”
“Why not? You need to be married.”
“Harrison and I are fine.”
“I don’t worry about him. He’s going to be a happy, healthy man. But you’ve been alone too long. Let someone in, Toby. You need a little love in your life.”
“I’m doing fine without it.”
He got up before she could ask about sex—because she would, and it wasn’t a topic he wanted to discuss with his grandmother. He walked over and kissed the top of her head.
“I’ll see you tonight.”
“Yes, you will.”
He drove back to the office. As he waited at one of the five lights in town, he found himself wondering why he was suddenly so interested in Reggie. From the second he’d seen her walking her dog, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.
Maybe it had something to do with how much he’d loved her once. Or how he’d lost her. The latter had shattered him, leaving a greater impact than any one of his father’s blows. It had been the Tuesday after prom, the Tuesday after the night she’d finally given herself to him. They’d made love, going all the way, the first time for both of them.
After a year of dating, they’d done everything else many times, but the act of making love had been even more incredible than he’d imagined. The feel of her body, the way her gaze had been so trusting, her hands so sure, had thrilled him. He’d spent the next two days feeling like he could fly.
Monday afternoon, in the locker room, he’d admitted that to his best friend. Someone must have overheard them because by the next morning, word had spread all over school that Reggie Somerville was the best sex of his life.
Given his reputation for trouble, no one would ever think she’d been the only sex of his life. Instead, she’d been humiliated and had wrongly assumed he’d been the one to betray her by broadcasting something that should have stayed between the two of them, and making it seem cheap instead of beautiful. She’d ended their relationship, and days after that, he’d left town.
He parked in his spot and made his way upstairs.
