“No one’s watching,” she said. “You don’t need to pretend we’re together.”
“I’m practicing,” he lied. He didn’t need practice to feel natural holding Holly’s hand. It felt right, and he liked it.
Once in the truck, he turned to her. “Where to?”
She drew in a breath and let it out. “I don’t have to be at work for another hour, and I just realized we completely missed lunch. How about the diner for a bite to eat?”
“I could eat a couple of burgers.” He drove out of the parking lot onto the road into town.
“Principal Ashcraft and Mitchell appear to have hit it off,” Holly said. “Joyce looked like a giddy teenager.”
“They seemed to be having fun.”
“Gives me hope.”
“Hope for what?”
“Oh, I don’t know...” She waved her hand, “Life, happiness...love. They aren’t as young as they used to be. I know it’s not Joyce’s first time in a relationship. Given that her last one ended in divorce, I’m happy she’s opening her heart for a second chance at finding happiness. She’s proving that it’s never too late for love.”
Simon shot her a glance. “Do you still miss Paul?” he asked.
“I miss our friendship. I missed having someone to talk to in the evening. My time in Atlanta taught me to live alone. For the first few months, I was desperately lonely and depressed. After a while, I got tired of wallowing and found ways to battle my depression. I exercised, took up painting—though I’m not that good at it—and read a lot of books. Both fiction and nonfiction.”
“Did it help?”
She nodded. “It did. Once I was past the depression and the grief of losing Paul and my parents had mellowed, I was able to look back at my relationship with Paul. We’d been friends since high school, but we never committed to marriage. I loved him. As a friend. I think we were both afraid of getting married and ruining our good friendship.”
“Do you feel like you wasted all those years being friends when you could’ve been looking for a different kind of love?” Simon asked.
“No. I think we were each other’s safety net. Love can be messy and hard. It was easy being friends. We weren’t ready to find that someone special we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with.”
Simon remembered Johnny telling him about Lacy shortly after they’d met. He’d said it was love at first sight and that he was going to marry her.
Looking back, knowing what he knew and how things had worked out, Simon was glad Johnny had grabbed at happiness when he had. Like Madam Gautier had said, Life is short. You don’t know how short.
Johnny had been happy with Lacy and over the moon when they’d had a son. Though his life had been cut short, he’d lived it to the fullest and loved with all his heart. Not just his small family, but also his teammates, his brothers in arms. Men he'd given his life for.
“What about you?” Holly asked. “Have you ever been in love?”
Simon snorted softly. “I thought I was once,” he said. “But she chose bucktooth Bobby.” His lips quirked. “We were nine years old.”
Holly shook her head. “That doesn’t count.”
“It did back then.”
“You really haven’t ever found someone you wanted to spend your life with?”
“Really,” he said. “I dated but never committed. Being Delta Force wasn’t easy on relationships. I felt like it would be setting up for failure.”
“I have to admit I felt guilty that I didn’t grieve overly long for Paul. Yes, I missed him, but I also felt like it freed me to be open to other possibilities.”
“Like Cody West?” Simon poked.
She backhanded his arm, grinning. “Absolutely not.” Her grin faded. “I also felt guilty that I didn’t push hard enough for answers about his death. I don’t think the sheriff’s department dug deep enough. They said it was an accident. Granted, there were no indications otherwise. No one witnessed him having an argument earlier that day. No skid marks were found on the highway. He had no reason to commit suicide when he had a good job and a steady relationship.”
Simon pulled up in front of the diner and shifted into park.
“Simon?” Holly sat staring at the diner in front of them. “I don’t think law enforcement looked hard enough into Paul’s death. And though they had multiple search parties looking for over a week for my parents’ bodies, they never found them. Mémère made a good point. I need to ask for all the help I can get.” She turned to face him. “If the offer is still open to enlist your computer guy’s help, I accept. I’ve run from this long enough. I’ll try everything in my power to end this curse, whether by magic or powered by people.”
