He scoffed. “I don’t think so.”
“Really?” She whipped her head to glare at him and was painfully aware of her messy bun wiggling around. Darn it all. Why couldn’t she run into him when she was all dolled up and stunning? That would have shown him a thing or two. “So you don’t remember ruining my history project?”
His eyes widened.
“Or painting my hair in art class? Or overwatering my bean sprout so it died? Or sitting on my white elephant gift and smashing it?” She pulled into a parking spot and stopped, yanking the keys out of the ignition. Pointing in his face, she hurled her last memory: “Or kissing me on the school bus?!”
She felt the color slide out of her face as she realized what she’d just said. She threw open her door, ready to storm in and demand someone take this rascally wrangler off her hands.
“I’m sorry.”
She froze, not sure she’d heard him right. Unable to turn around and see if he was sincere, she waited to see if he’d say anything else.
“You were the cutest girl in class. I wanted you to notice me. I was such a dumb kid.”
She gritted her teeth to keep from firing back that she’d noticed and it wasn’t good. But then she thought about Billy, about how awkward he was around Kelsie Anne. He had no idea what he was doing with girls, and Forest probably hadn’t either.
The tight muscles in her neck loosened and she twisted to look over her shoulder at him. Their eyes met in the dim light—met and held as a connection formed between them, one of years gone by and time spent together as children. All that history became laced with a new awareness of one another as adults.
They both tipped their heads as they took in the changes. Forest had laugh lines around his eyes. His skin was weathered and thick, like a man’s. His shoulders were broad and full of muscles. His facial hair was straight and thick, coming in several shades of brown. And that hat. Even as a kid, he’d always had a cowboy hat on his head—no matter the season.
His eyes traced her face, doing the same calculations of time and change that she’d done. She wondered what he thought of the curves that had sprouted after pregnancy and the worry wrinkle in her forehead that had grown during her divorce. Deciding that she might not want to know what he thought about all that, she jumped out of the car and went around to help him out.
Forest was already on his feet when she got there. He held on to the top of the open car door, his knuckles white. She moved closer, placing a hand on his stomach to brace him as he walked. When he didn’t take a step, she looked up and found him gazing at her.
“I’m sorry about everything, Mitzi.”
She nodded, the wordsit was a long time agoon the tip of her tongue. They’d been children, just learning everything from compound fractions to classroom dynamics.
“Everything but the kiss,” he added.
She froze in place, not sure she’d heard him right. Also, her belly did this thing that it hadn’t done before. The sensation was scarily pleasant.
He leaned closer and spoke deep. “I remember the kiss.”
She rolled her eyes, trying to cover up the way her body responded to being so close to him with sarcasm. “Yeah, I had game in the fourth grade.”
He chuckled. “About as much as I did.”
She liked the way his laughter rumbled through him, like a train on the tracks, making its way lazily along without a care in the world. It made her feel like time slowed down. Like she didn’t have to push or fight for everything in life. Like she could just be.
“Forest Nicholas.” She smiled softly. “I can’t believe you’re here.”And that I have my hand on your incredibly flat stomach.
Chapter Nine
Forest laid in the hospital bed, staring up at the speckled ceiling and willing it to tell him the answers to all the big questions in life. Also, he told it not to tell him what made the water stain in the corner. That was disturbing enough without an explanation.
But Mitzi Edge? There was a mystery he’d like to solve. She’d moved into Sleigh Bell County in the second grade. All that red hair—sheesh! What was a guy to do but trip over himself? And he’d done it again tonight.
“What was I thinking?” He groaned and threw his good arm over his face. “I can’t believe I said that about the kiss.”
“Talking to yourself is a bad sign.” The doctor walked in, a big smile on her face. “Mr. Nicholas.”
He dropped his arm, pushing himself up on the bed as best he could. Why did they make them with tissue paper sheets? So annoying. “I’m doubting my sanity, so if you can fix that while I’m here, I’d be much obliged.”
Dr. Manhattan smiled fondly, as if she was looking at her grandson. “You said you wereaccidentallyhit with a tire iron?”
He nodded. If Mitzi had known it was him skulking around her property, she wouldn’t have attacked him—he hoped. After what he’d put her through as a kid, he wouldn’t blame her if she’d hit him anyway. The first day he’d seen her, probably her first day of school, he’d beengobsmacked.That was the only word he could come up with to explain how his mind had scrambled and he felt like he was on a flying sleigh for the first time, his stomach dropping out.
