Read Online Almost a Family by Donna Alward - Free Book Online Page A

didn’t tell Kim about the other night. I think it’s better if we forget about it.” As if they could.
    He stood behind her, close enough that she could feel his warmth through her sweater; she felt, rather than saw, his shape and knew she would never really forget all the moments they’d shared since her return.
    “Forget about the argument? I agree. It doesn’t change anything.”
    “Perhaps we should forget everything that’s been said and done since you opened your door and found me there.” She focused on Sara as her heart paused, waiting for what he’d say next.
    “Are you saying we should let the past go and start over?” His voice was soft in her ear and she shivered.
    How many times had he murmured endearments in her ear over the years? For more than four years they’d been a couple; now she could hardly go anywhere without some sort of reminder of that time. Still, nothing affected her more than his voice, his touch. The thought of starting over was exhilarating and deathly frightening at the same time.
    “Do you think that’s even possible?”
    He stepped back and the air around her felt suddenly cold, deprived of his presence. “No, I don’t.”
    She turned, her heart heavy. What had been good between them had been really good, but all the things that had gone wrong were still there.
    He looked down at her, his jaw set and his eyes cold.
    “People always talk about a clean slate,” he said, shoving his hands into his back pockets. “But you can erase marks on a slate. They haven’t found a way to erase memories yet. And we have too many of those.”
    They stared at each other a long time as the past warred with the present.
    “Do the memories still haunt you, Jason?”
    He turned away, avoiding her probing eyes. Perhaps she’d gone too far. She had said all along that she didn’t want to get into this with him. But now, now they were together, she couldn’t help it. She felt the odd urge to know exactly how badly he’d been hurt. If he’d suffered as much pain as she had.
    She laid a hand gently on his shoulder, which stiffened beneath her touch.
    He stared at her fingers on his shirt. “What do you want me to say, Molly? You broke my heart when you left. For four years you had been my world and then you were gone. You never said goodbye. You never called or wrote. It was easy for you.”
    Easy for her? Never. Molly glanced at Sara and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Is that what you think? That it didn’t hurt me to leave you?”
    “You didn’t show it.”
    “How do you know? This is the first you’ve seen me since I left.”
    He turned back to her and she saw the pain in his eyes, along with resentment and perhaps even a little longing. “Did it?” He took his right hand out of his pocket and cupped her jaw. “Did it break your heart to leave me?”
    She swallowed, closed her eyes to the touch of his fingers on her skin. Oh, it had. It had torn her to little pieces and she was coming to realize she’d never really put them back together. Nothing had changed. Jason was still her ideal, no matter how much she blamed him for their breakup. But he could never, never know that. She couldn’t give him any ammunition, not if she wanted to make it home in one piece.
    “I survived,” she whispered and exhaled as his hand disappeared from her face.
    He cleared his throat gruffly. “I’d better get going, if there’s no emergency,” he murmured, and she let him go.
     
    *
     
    Molly sighed, took her fingers and began to work a kink out of her neck. Files were strewn all over the kitchen table, a cup of cold coffee sat forgotten beside the humming laptop. Sara had gone to her room to play tea party with her stuffed animals and Molly had grabbed the moment to get something—anything—accomplished. She’d planned to put in a few hours every day while Sara napped. But that hadn’t worked out, as at this age naps were the exception and not the rule. The briefcase sat unopened