Selena’s mouth dropped open, so Jace kissed her again before she had a chance to protest.
Chapter Fourteen
Selena glanced over at Jace, standing next to her on the snow-covered front porch of his parents’ house. Fresh flakes of snow dusted his hair, and his breaths puffed out in faint clouds. He was rubbing his hands together absently, staring at the door, but he hadn’t made any move to open it. Was he having second thoughts? She certainly was.
She slipped her hand into his back pocket and tugged him closer. “Are we really ready for this?”
“Sure we are…in a trial-by-fire kind of way,” he said with a little laugh. Then he reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers. “Seriously, we can handle my family.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, more to herself than to him. “I used to love coming here.” Most of the time, at least. In the end, it was harder. Seeing his mother for the first time in nine years? That part probably wouldn’t be as fun.
Jace gestured to the gift bag with cards sticking out of it. “You didn’t have to bring a gift.”
“Just chocolate,” she said. And a couple other things…
“Plus, Drake’s here for the weekend. My mother will spend a good portion of the evening convincing my brother to visit more often, so she can see all four of her kids at the table.” Jace flashed her an innocent smile. “I’m one of the good sons, remember?”
It was a valid point, but…“And I’m the ex-girlfriend that broke the good son’s heart.”
“That’s the past.” He turned to rest a hand on her face, stroking her cheek. Snowflakes fell through the air between them, landing on his eyelashes, his coat, everywhere. His gaze wandered to her lips, and he bent down for a soft, warm kiss. “This is about us today. And whatever happens tonight, I owe you anything you want for a day.”
“Anything I want for a day,” she repeated. “That does have its appeal. You’ll be washing dishes, doing the laundry, shoveling snow…”
Before she could continue, Jace’s mouth was on hers again for another kiss, this one hungrier. “I was hoping your demands would be more along the lines of me going down on you, sex in the shower, a dirty—”
The front door of his parents’ house creaked open, and Selena froze.Classy way to start the evening.She took a deep breath and turned around. But it wasn’t his mother standing in the doorway. It was Lizzie, and she was so far from the girl she had been the last time Selena had seen her.
“You two planning on making out on the doorstep all evening, or are you coming in?”
Selena just stared at the woman in front of her. When she had left for college, Lizzie had been an adorable eleven-year-old kid. Now, she was gorgeous and tall, taller than Selena by inches. She looked like Jace. It shouldn’t have caught her off guard, but a lump rose in the back of her throat. So much time had passed.
Selena probably would have stood there, gaping for a lot longer if Jace hadn’t tugged her hand.
“Welcome back,” said Lizzie softly. For a moment, his sister look vulnerable, as if she, too, had worried about this dinner all day.
So Selena set aside her own worries, took a few steps into the warmth of the house, and wrapped her arms around Lizzie. She sighed and hugged her back. It felt so good to see her again, and Selena struggled to focus on that part, not on all the years she had missed.
She pulled back a little. “Look at you. It’s been a long time.”
“A lot happens in nine years.”
“Don’t I know it.”
The entranceway was silent for a moment as they watched each other. Then Lizzie dipped her head and turned down the hallway. “We’re all in the kitchen. Drake just got here a bit ago.”
Selena took off her coat and scarf, handing them to Jace, trying to process that this young woman walking away was the same girl she had left. Nine years ago, she was still a kid, so happy to watch movies with Jace and her or play board games or do any of the other things families did together—families whose parents weren’t so exhausted from a day of work that they collapsed in the evenings.
Though Jace was the biggest heartbreak that came with leaving Sacred Harbor, he wasn’t the only one. In that first year after she left, Selena had ached to see Lizzie, but she had known better than to contact her. Even on the chance the call might have been welcomed, Jace’s mother would have put an end to it, and there was a chance Lizzie would have dealt with the brunt of her mother’s bitterness. So Selena had left that alone. Maybe a second chance with Jace meant she and Lizzie could be close again, this time as adults.
Jace found her hand again and waggled his eyebrows at her. “No turning back now.”
“I’m ready.” Hopefully.
Jace’s parents’ house was so familiar it almost hurt to look around. Each photo on the wall, each embroidered throw pillow unlocked memories she had hidden away from herself. The couch was where she and Jace made out when no one else was home; the coffee table was where she and Jace had done their homework together. Even the Christmas decorations on the mantle were the same: garlands and red bows strung along the edges. So many things she had left behind.
But Jace was tugging on her hand, leading her through the living room and into the dining room. He slowed to a stop outside the kitchen, just out of sight. His family’s voices floated through the doorway, loud, familiar voices, but Selena’s heart was pumping too fast to tune into what they were saying. She had told herself that she was coming here for Jace, but as she stood outside the kitchen, ready to walk in, to face them nine years after she left, Selena knew this wasn’t just for him.
How many times had she eaten brunch at their table, fell asleep on their couch? While her own parents had been wary of her relationship with Jace, his family had folded her into their lives. Even his mother in her own way. She had made sure she set a place at the table for Selena at Sunday brunch, even toward the end, when she and Jace were falling apart. Had his mother set a place for her today? Selena was too nervous to look now.
