Read Online The One That I Want by Marilyn Brant - Free Book Online Page B

of those passionate looks. And, furthermore, I could tell they knew they had something special.
    I was delighted for them, but I envied them, too. There was no denying it. Once upon a time, I’d felt the same way about Adam. I missed the miraculous, wonderfulness of that feeling. But it couldn’t be forced or manufactured. It didn’t happen with just anyone .
    “Oh, to be so young and high on pheromones,” Shar whispered in my ear.
    “They do look happy,” I agreed.
    “They look like they can’t wait to get away from here and jump each other’s bones,” she said dryly. “Must be nice to start a relationship without much baggage. They’re cute, but they’re kids.”
    I snorted at this. “They’re twenty-six and twenty-eight, and you’re only thirty-two, Shar. You’re hardly an old lady.”
    “But I’m divorced,” she said simply and seriously. “It leaves a big, though invisible, scar, and it ages a person’s soul.”
    I couldn’t really argue with that. My own experience as a widow had aged my soul, too, and by many years.
    “Do you think it’s possible to love again?” I asked her. “Someone like you, who’s been so hurt, and someone like me, who’s lost so much?”
    She studied my face. “Has spending time with Kristopher made you wonder?”
    “It’s crossed my mind. There’s a stirring of…something in me, I guess. I’d been crazy about him once, although a lot has happened in both of our lives since then. It’s just—”
    “Just what?”
    I swallowed. “Well, it’s not that I want what’s probably a little romantic fling to transition into a real relationship anytime soon, but it just didn’t strike me as even possible until this week. I couldn’t even imagine it before that.”
    “And now you can imagine?”
    I nodded. “It’s a pretty vague, faraway image, but it’s not completely impossible now. Is it for you?”
    Shar was unusually reflective tonight and took her time before answering. Finally, she said, “Yes. It may not be likely, but it’s within the realm of possibility.” She paused. “At least I hope so. But it’ll be harder for me to fall in love again, I think, than for you.”
    “Why?”
    She smiled sadly at me. “I don’t mean to make light of your loss, Julia, but you, my sweet and lucky friend, at least had a happy love story once. For you, true love exists—not just in your imagination, but in your experience. That’s no small thing. I’d need to be convinced first to trust again, and it would take an extremely unusual man to make me believe I could. I’m guessing he may need to be an alien life form, actually, because I don’t know any Earthlings that come close to what I’m hoping to find.”
    “He’s out there for you, Shar. I know he is.”
    She shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
    As night fell, we relocated as a group to the openness of Eastman Field, where we’d get the best viewing of the fireworks.
    Analise huddled with the boys while Shar and I propped each other up and turned our gazes to the heavens. The better to see the rockets’ red glare light up the sky with a kaleidoscope of patterns…and, perhaps, to keep a look out for UFOs with potential romantic partners aboard.
    ~*~
    The next morning, bright and early, Yvette and her daughters were waiting in our driveway—the trunk of their SUV stuffed with suitcases—ready to carpool together up to Camp Willowgreen.
    My gut was churning as I boosted my daughter’s bag into the back.
    Analise seemed to be equal parts excited, nervous, and groggy, at least until Brooke and Lindsay started teaching her one of their favorite camp songs, “By the Light of the Fire,” the lyrics of which had elements that were reminiscent of that children’s story, I’m Going on a Bear Hunt . Kept them occupied in the backseat for an hour and a half at least.
    Meanwhile, Yvette and I chatted up front.
    “So,” she said, lowering her voice, “what was it like seeing Kristopher again after all