Chapter One
Jenson
In five hours and two left turns, I’ll be pulling into the town I left years ago, the same place I left my heart. I tuck my two sons into their car seats and buckle them in before I climb into the driver’s seat and start the truck. We pull out of my townhouse complex in Pittsburgh, and I head for the highway.
“Daddy, how long before we get there?”
As we pull up at a stoplight, I look at Kyle in the rearview mirror. “A little while. But before you know it, we’ll be home. To the home where I grew up,” I clarify. “You boys remember the town. You always love visiting Liberty Falls.”
“Will we get to play football with your new team like we do here? What if they don’t let us?” Connor asks me, as he pulls his blankie tighter around him.
They may be identical twins, but my two boys couldn’t be more different in temperament: Kyle’s always running three steps away from me, and Connor makes his decisions more cautiously. I’m trying to take a page from each of them and follow my heart without ignoring all sense of logic. Like this move I’m making across the state of Pennsylvania—I’ve wanted to do it for a while, but I didn’t make the leap. Not until right now. My heart pounds at the risk I’m taking, but the woman at the finish line is worth it. She’s always been worth it, and she always will be.
“I’ve already told the head coach how much you love coming to practice. He’s looking forward to meeting you both,” I assure Connor.
“Will we see Grandma?” Kyle asks.
“We’re going to stay with her and Grandpa, like always,” I say.
“What about Livia?” Connor asks, staring at me in the mirror with those serious green eyes that match mine in color and intensity. “Will we see her too?”
“Yeah, I want to see Livia!” Kyle chimes in, nodding his blond head vigorously.
My chest tightens. “I hope so boys. I certainly plan on it.”
As the light turns green, I put my focus back on the road. But my thoughts are only on one woman.
Olivia Graham, I’m coming back for you, babe. I hope you’re ready because I’m not giving up this time without one hell of a fight.
* * *
Olivia
#JustDivorcedGoals
1) Keep well-meaning but pushy relatives off my back so I can figure out my love life on my own.
2) Date a man who makes my palms sweat and my heart pound. A man I trust and who accepts me for the somewhat neurotic, numbers-obsessed, good-hearted, quirky-humored woman that I am. Someone like…
I suck in a deep breath as hot sensations flood my mind. And my body. And…intimate parts of me.
I spin around in my office chair, squirming in my seat and pressing my feet into the carpet to try to shake the memory of Jenson Beau. Before I can force myself to concentrate on my work, the phone rings at my desk.
I whip my chair back around and grab the phone. “Hello and welcome to Liberty Falls Union Bank. This is Olivia. How may I help you?”
“Olivia, I have some bad news,” Hayley says in a nervous tone.
“What is it?” I say in alarm. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine. It’s just…don’t kill me, but I have to work this Sunday.”
“What?!” Panic fills my chest. “You can’t go to my great-aunt’s birthday party with me?”
“This huge editing project due Monday literally just came up, and my boss is insisting I’m the only one who can do it. And I would start in on it early so that maybe I’d be done by Sunday, but the client isn’t even sending the proposal over until Saturday. They’re paying double for the quick turnaround, so it will be a nice paycheck for me.”
“Well, that part is great,” I say. “But you were going to be my friend-date. My sidekick to help me stave off my pushy relatives, who will no doubt be pestering me all day about what went so wrong to drive me to divorce. Not to mention everyone trying to set me up.”
“I know. And I swear I will be there for you for the next shindig. When is the next Graham family event?”
