Read Online The One That Got Away by Jamie Sobrato - Free Book Online

definitely not the appropriate response at the moment. Nor was it entirely true. “I…don’t know. He was great,” she said, shrugging.
    He just wasn’t you.
    No, she had to stop thinking that way. She knew she’d been unable to marry Leo because she believed there had to be a guy out there who could make her feel the way Marcus had once made her feel—only this time the guy would actually return her interest.
    She filled a pot with water for the pasta.
    “I get it. You weren’t ready. Believe me, I know how that feels.”
    There was no point correcting him. “The breakup was inevitable. I can see now that I look back on it. I’m not sure my heart was ever really into it.”
    “If your heart wasn’t there, where was it?”
    This was the kind of poetically poignant question that had made Ginger fall for Marcus so many years ago. He saw right to the heart of things—well, most things and most people. But not her. He’d never quite seen her heart.
    She sighed, willing herself once again not to blurt out any uncomfortable truths. “I don’t know. I guess my heart was in hiding. Afraid of committing or whatever.”
    He laughed. “You? Afraid of commitment? That’s supposed to be my line.”
    “Why are you the only one who gets to use it? How many committed relationships did you ever see me in?”
    “There was that one guy—what was his name? Neddy?”
    “Teddy.”
    She cast a glance at Marcus over her shoulder and caught him grinning wickedly.
    “Right,” he said. “You were with him for what? A year?”
    “Yeah, something like that.”
    “But it doesn’t matter how many relationships I saw you in. The point is I know what kind of person you are. You’re not afraid of intimacy. You’re probably devoted to it more than anyone I’ve ever known.”
    “I am not,” Ginger protested, but as the words left her mouth, she realized he was right.
    She was devoted to the idea of intimacy, and she’d done a great job of finding it with her friends. It was in her romantic relationships that she’d fallen short. And maybe it was her devotion to some ideal intimate relationship that had tripped her up.
    An ideal intimate relationship with the one guy she’d ever loved, the one sitting at her kitchen table. A man she now wanted only to be friends with.
    But the mere fact that he knew her so well sent the unwanted tingly sensations in her belly into overdrive. Her grip slipped from the heavy pot of water, sending it clattering into the sink.
    “Need any help there?” Marcus called as she cursed and began filling the pot again.
    “No, thanks.”
    “So you’re still thinking about adopting, even without the guy around?”
    “I don’t know. It would be a long shot. But I’m getting older, and I don’t want to put off having a child until some man I might never find comes along, you know?”
    “Of course you’ll find the right guy if you really want to.” There was firm conviction in his voice.
    “You make it sound so easy.”
    “Look at yourself.” Marcus sounded incredulous now.
    She turned to him to make sure she hadn’t misread his tone. “What do you mean?”
    “You’re amazing—beautiful, smart, funny, accomplished. What guy wouldn’t want to be with you?”
    What guy, indeed?
    She bit her tongue. Not now . Not now.
    This wasn’t the time to castrate him verbally for his utter and complete inability to see why she’d managed to be a failure with men all these years.
    But the fact that he’d called her beautiful…
    That sent the warm tingly storm south, into dangerous territory.
    Pathetic.
    She was completely hopeless if this was how she responded to a mere compliment from the guy she was supposed to be over.
    She knew she was an attractive woman. Over the years she’d shed the insecurity of her twenties, along with the extra fifty pounds she’d managed to carry around from her preteen years, and she liked who she was and how she looked. She wasn’t perfect, but she was comfortable