The kids laughed in the other room, reminding him that they weren’t alone, and that plenty had happened since high school.
“I love that movie,” Hailey said with a smile, closing the yearbook and setting it in one of the boxes.
“I know you do,” Ransom laughed.
They applied themselves to removing the books in friendly silence for a little while, the soft sounds of the television in the next room drifting in here and there.
“What are you going to do with all the books?” he asked after a bit.
“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t really thought about it. If there are any you want, feel free to take them. They really belong to your family.”
“Mom went through everything before she moved out,” he said. Though he honestly wasn’t sure if she’d done that good of a job, now that he was unpacking the shelves and finding some personal things among the paperbacks like that yearbook and a family photo album. “I just figured you had books of your own you’d want to put up.”
“I never really had time to shop much, and my city apartment was so tiny,” she said a little sadly. “I guess it’s good to have some books to put on the shelves here, at least until I can start getting my own. Plus, you have some really great ones.”
He nodded and moved to the far shelves by the window that overlooked the side yard. A whole set of Nancy Drew and another of the Hardy Boys were waiting for him.
“I wonder if Travis and Mae will read these,” he said. “I guess they’re probably pretty old-fashioned.”
“I’ll bet they’d love them,” she replied. “Take them home if you want.”
“Maybe they can come up here and borrow them one day,” he suggested.
That earned him a big smile.
She turned back to the bookshelf, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her, so he saw the moment when she pulled a book off the shelf and something fell out of it and fluttered to the ground.
She bent with the grace of a dancer to pick it up, and when she straightened, the expression on her face transformed.
He went to her without speaking, knowing instinctively that she was moved by what she was looking at.
“Oh, Ransom,” she murmured.
He took her hand gently and pulled it closer to him so that he could see what she was holding in it.
Unlike the pristine yearbook, this was just a discolored photograph that was worn around one edge, like it had been accidentally bent over. But he recognized it instantly and his breath caught.
It was a casual picture of the two of them backstage during a dress rehearsal forSleeping Beauty. Hailey wore a beautiful princess gown that sparkled with sequins and pulled tight around her tiny waist. Her head was thrown back as she laughed, and Ransom stood beside her, a tender expression of naked longing on his young face as he gazed down at her.
He could close his eyes and be that boy again right now, basking in the glow of the girl he couldn’t help but adore.
Hailey tilted her head up to look at him, probably wondering why he wasn’t saying anything.
But as soon as her blue eyes met his he felt a pull like she was the sun and he was now in her orbit.
His whole world seemed to slide into slow motion, and he knew with absolute certainty that he was going to kiss her.
Will it be like the kiss in Sleeping Beauty? Will it break the spell, make her see how much I’ve always loved her? Will it make her want to stay?
His hand moved to cup her delicate cheek, but before he could touch her, there was an explosion of small footsteps.
“Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad,”Travis and Mae yelled, bursting into the library.
He dropped his hand just in time for Mae to grab it.
“It’s yourfavorite part,” Mae yelled.
“He’s about to do your favorite part,” Travis said. “You know, with the soda.”
