Fourteen Read online

  “This is Antoine,” she proudly announced, gripping the guy’s hand. “We’re engaged.”

  “Never would’ve known,” I heard Ashley mumble.

  I pressed my lips together, clearing my throat and looking down at my stomach in an attempt not to laugh at her.

  “Congratulations,” Evan said, coughing and grabbing my hand. I looked over at him and smiled, squeezing his hand before I looked up at Grace again. “You remember Anna, don’t you Grace?”

  Her gaze slowly shifted as she appraised me. “Arianna Weller?”

  “Hello, Grace,” I said through my teeth in an attempt to be polite.

  “You still hang around with her?” she asked, crossing one arm under her breasts and jutting a thumb at me. “I thought you would’ve grown out of that years ago.”

  “They’re married, half-wit,” Ashley snapped, slapping her hand on the table. “Where have you been for six years? Collins Point is not that big of a town, so don’t be a dumbass and pretend that you didn’t know.”

  Christina choked on her drink, fanning herself as she gasped for air.

  “Nice to see you again, Ashley,” Grace said dryly.

  “I wish I could say the same to you.”

  “Well, we have to get going,” Grace said, turning on her heel before any of us could say anything more.

  “Damn!” Kyle said, his voice booming. “I thought she was a moron back in high school. She hasn’t changed much, has she?”

  “No.” I laughed and saw her smack Antoine’s arm as they stormed over to their table.

  We continued talking about all the ways our kids annoyed and amused us, briefly mentioning our careers and pretty much ignoring the rest of our classmates.

  Brittany had meekly made her way over to us, being as polite and nice as anyone else. She’d gotten divorced from Steve three years ago, she’d said, and he’d given up the rights to their daughter. The blonde he was carting around was their former nanny, and it was hard to hold a grudge against someone who had to watch her ex-husband troll around the room with someone else.

  I made her sit with us, and we spent the rest of the evening at our little round table, sharing stories. By the end of the night, I was exhausted and more than ready to go home as opposed to going out to the dinner we’d promised everyone else.

  “You okay, babycakes?” Evan whispered into my ear, trailing his hand up and down my arm.

  “Are you going to make that nickname permanent?”

  “I’m thinking that I kind of like it, so yeah, probably.”

  I laughed, leaning my head against his and smiling when he pressed a soft kiss against my ear.

  “We’re here for another couple of days,” he whispered, nuzzling his nose into my hair. “We can go out to dinner with them tomorrow night if you want.”

  “Will they be okay with that?”

  “They have to be. Plus,” he began, his other hand trailing back to my stomach, “you have a pretty good excuse.”

  “Our son is not an excuse.”

  “No, but if you’re tired, they’ll all understand. You can’t overexert yourself, baby.”

  “I’ve missed everyone.” I pouted, closing my eyes.

  He laughed as he kissed my temple. “I know. I have, too. But like I said, we have a few more days. It’s not a big deal.”

  I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to readjust to the harsh lighting of the gym.

  “What are you naming him?” Brittany asked from her spot in between Christina and me.

  I looked over at her and smiled, placing my hand over Evan’s.

  He said, “We’re not—”

  “I was thinking William,” I interrupted. “After his amazing, wonderful papa.”

  He looked down at me, shock clearly written all over his face, and I smiled and placed my hand on his cheek, rubbing my thumb over his chin.

  I’d been thinking about it a lot and while he’d already told me that he didn’t want any son of ours named after him directly, I had been sitting on his middle name ever since we found out that we were having a boy. He hadn’t brought up the name issue until recently, and I had wanted it to be a surprise. Being here tonight, it just seemed like the perfect place to tell him.

  “You . . .”

  “Is that okay?” I asked when he continued to stare at me.

  “You are . . .” He chuckled. “You’re perfect for me; you know that, don’t you?”

  “Is that your middle name, Evan?” Brittany asked, bringing me out of my private moment with Evan.

  “Yeah,” he said, not breaking his gaze with me. “It was my grandfather’s name.”

  “You’re okay with that?”

  “I’m more than okay with that, Anna. Fuck,” he whispered, standing and pulling me up with him. He wrapped his arms as far around me as he could and buried his face into my hair. “You are . . . I have no words for you.”

  I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my forehead on his shoulder and closing my eyes again.

  “Let’s leave. Right now,” he whispered into my ear, gently kissing my neck. “I need you, Anna.”

  I tangled my hand in his hair, pressing a kiss against his jaw.

  “Yeah.”

  “We’re gonna get going,” he said, looking at our table of friends. “Can we postpone dinner until tomorrow night?”

  “You all right, Anna?” Kyle asked, tilting his head at me and draping an arm over the back of Ashley’s chair.

  “Yeah, just kind of tired,” I said, picking my head up to look at him. “It’s been a long day.”

  “Tomorrow night for sure,” Christina said, pointing at me. “We only have a few days.”

  “Promise.”

  “Get some sleep, Anna.” Ashley smiled, winking at me.

  I laughed, hugging everyone including Brittany. She seemed shocked and hugged me back tightly.

  “I’m sorry about what happened when we were in school, Anna,” she said.

  I grinned and grabbed her hand.

  “It’s okay. We were all pretty stupid back then.”

  She smiled and squeezed my hand.

  “Did you want to come tomorrow?”

  “Oh, Mel doesn’t do well in restaurants.” She laughed sheepishly and fidgeted in her seat, referencing her daughter. “Thank-you, though.”

  “If you change your mind, we’re staying at Evan’s parents’ place. You can reach us there.”

  She smiled at me. “Thank you, Anna.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Early lunch!” Ashley declared, pointing at us as I dropped Brittany’s hand. “Well, not really early, but lunch. Twelve o’clock at the diner for old time’s sake.”

  “All right.” Evan wrapped his arm around my waist. “We’ll see you then.”

  With another round of good-byes and one more invite extended to Brittany, we were finally walking out of the gymnasium. It was barely nine when we finally made it back to his parents’ house, and my heart jumped when the only light on in the entire place was the front porch. Macie was staying with my dad, and Evan’s parents had a completely separate floor all to themselves.

  Evan led me into the house and locked the doors behind us, leading me to his old bedroom on the first floor. He closed the door and turned to me, pulling me into his arms. He kissed me slowly, twining our fingers together and walking me toward his old double bed. We did everything slowly—undressing each other, kissing, touching, making love to each other, and whispering quiet words of adoration and love. When we were done, he stretched out beside me, tracing invisible patterns on my stomach and pressing soft kisses against my shoulder blades.

  “Sometimes this doesn’t seem real.” I placed one hand on his wrist and folded the other underneath my head.

  “What doesn’t?”

  “You, me . . . Macie and this baby. I never thought I’d ever be lucky enough to have all of this.”

  “All of what?”

  “This life with you.”

&nb
sp; “If anything, it’s the other way around,” he whispered, resting his chin on my shoulder. “Coming back here reminds me that I didn’t deserve any chances with you, and you gave them to me anyway. I’m a very lucky man.”

  I turned over, and Evan moved back a little, placing his hand on my stomach again when I’d settled in front of him. “You gave me a chance, too,” I said placing a hand on his cheek. “You didn’t let me push you away, and you fought for me when it mattered most.”

  “You were more than worth it.”

  “So were you. You still are.”

  He leaned down and gently kissed me. I laughed as the baby kicked right under his hand, and I rubbed my thumb over the bridge of his nose as he pulled away from me.

  “Hope you didn’t mind all that bouncing your momma just did,” Evan teased, scooting down in the bed and placing gentle kisses against my bellybutton.

  “Yeah, your papa apparently needed me or something,” I said dramatically, putting my hand over his.

  “Oh, but your momma wasn’t complaining now, was she?” he cooed, still pressing small kisses around my stomach.

  “Your papa failed to mention that he had his tongue down my throat.”

  “Oh, she liked it. Don’t listen to her.” He grinned up at me. “She just doesn’t want to admit that I’m right.”

  “Your papa is hardly ever right. You’ll see when you get here.”

  “Now that wasn’t fair,” he whined, sitting up and pouting at me.

  I laughed and opened my arms to him as I turned on my back. He huffed dramatically before crawling up to me and laying his head on my breast. I threaded my fingers through his hair and closed my eyes, listening to his even breathing.

  “You know you and the kids are everything to me, don’t you?” he whispered.

  “Yes, just like you and the kids are everything to me.”

  He propped himself up on his elbows, leaned down, and gently kissed me again. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and we kissed languidly.

  This was where I belonged. This was the life I’d dreamed of, and the man I’d dreamed of spending it with. Nothing in this world made sense until I was in his arms, and I never wanted it any other way. The past ten years hadn’t always been easy, but together we’d dealt with whatever came our way, and we made it through.

  Ten years ago, I counted down the days by thinking of college. Ten years ago, I hardly mattered to anyone in my school. Ten years ago, my husband made a mistake, and it brought us together no matter how hard everyone else tried to push us apart. Ten years ago, I fell in love for the first time and hadn’t looked back since.

  Walking through those doors tonight had proven how far I’d come—how far we’d all come. The things that I thought were most important back then had really only been minor blips on the screen. High school had helped shape me into the person that I was today, and while I wouldn’t go back and do it all over again if someone paid me a million dollars, I no longer regretted or held anything against anyone.

  I wasn’t a famous celebrity, and I hadn’t cured cancer or ended world hunger; but I was a wife to a wonderful man and a mother to a beautiful little girl and a little boy on the way. I worked hard at my job, and I loved my family. I’d say that was damn successful.

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title

  Copyright

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 01

  Chapter 02

  Chapter 03

  Chapter 04

  Chapter 05

  Chapter 06

  Chapter 07

  Chapter 08

  Chapter 09

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue