Page 32 of Temporarily in Love

DECLAN

She was gone in the morning, and I couldn’t say I was surprised, but it still hurt. She was so pliable last night, so into wanting to submit to me. Being with her had all those old feelings swarming back.

I should go to the brewery and forget about last night. I should chalk it up to it being a one-night stand. We were just nostalgic for high school and wanted to be in each other’s arms one last time. But that didn’t stop me from getting up and going to her parents’ house.

Kelly Sullivan opened the door a second after I knocked, and her face lit up when she saw me. “Declan! What do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hey, Mrs. Sullivan. Is Lila around?”

“She and Kelsey took the girls to the farm to pick pumpkins. You just missed her.”

I sighed. “Right. The one up in Buckingham?”

She smiled at the fact I remembered. Every year we went to the farm around this time. We’d pick pumpkins, get lost in the corn maze, and take the hayride. When we got older, it was just me and Lila; she always wanted to bring the biggest pumpkin home to carve.

“That’s the one!” Kelly said.

“Thanks, Mrs. Sullivan.”

She put her hand on my arm. “Declan, honey, she’ll come around. She’ll realize that she made a mistake breaking up with you. But no matter what, we still consider you family.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Sullivan.”

When I was walking home, I realized if I was going after her; I needed coverage at the brewery. I shot off a text to my brother.

ME: Gotta take the day to take care of something. You good?

NOLAN: Bro, weren’t you the one yelling at me to take time when Avery was pregnant? Take a day off.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket and walked around the back of my apartment building to my car. I wasn’t sure why I was going after her when I knew we didn’t have a future together. But my body ached and my heart wrenched for her. I was hopeless.

It was about a half-hour drive to the farm. Did I think about turning back and going to the brewery instead? Yup. But I didn’t because my heart and my dick were in control today. Last night, it was like we fell back into place, like we were teenagers again, without a care in the world. But we were thirty-four, and for some reason, I was chasing the woman who got away.

I parked my car on the lawn, took my glasses off, and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Was I making the right choice here? What was I doing? I wasn’t sure what I would say to her when I saw her.

But my heart told my brain to get out of the car and go find her. I let it do all the thinking for me as I walked toward the entrance and paid for my admission. I took the hayride over to the patch where all the big pumpkins were and almost stopped in my tracks when I saw her with her toddler niece on her hip. Callie had that vibrant Celtic red hair she got from both sides of her family, looking like a little clone of Kelsey. Lila had beautiful chestnut-colored hair from Kelly, but I noticed her in a sea of people.

I strode over to them, and Lila jumped when she turned around and saw me. Callie held onto Lila’s neck when she saw me. Lila held her niece closer to her chest. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s just Declan. You know Declan.”

“Hi,” I said.

Lila raised an eyebrow at me. “Um. Hi.”

“Your mom said you were here.”

“Declan!” Kelsey called out and walked over to us with her other daughter holding her hand. The other little one was carrying a pumpkin that looked bigger than her.

“Whoa, there. That’s a big pumpkin,” I said to Cora.

Cora beamed at me. “I picked it myself.”

Kelsey grimaced as she looked around frantically for something. For what, I wasn’t sure. She gave her sister a pained look. “Can you watch the kids?” Lila nodded, and Kelsey looked at her daughters. “Stay with Auntie Lila.”

“What’s wrong with mommy?” Cora asked.

I looked over and watched Kelsey find a trash can and throw up in it.

Oh.