Page 38 of Just One Kiss

“He’s not confused,” Josh said. “He’s already forgiven me. He knows I want to be here for the right reasons.” He grew quiet. “I wish you’d believe it too.”

She looked away.

“I’m not going to let you guys down this time,” he said. “I’ll prove it—just you wait and see.” He grinned at her, despite feeling like he’d been punched in the gut.

“Good night, Josh.”

“Good night, Carly.”

His mind spun back to all the good-night kisses they’d shared on the front porch of her childhood home. Sweet, innocent kisses he wished he had the right to relive.

But not having the right hadn’t stopped him from reliving his and Carly’s greatest hits over the years, had it? Just over a year ago, their best moments seemed his only comfort. His company’s success had been fast and furious—the kind that people called an “overnight” success, even though he’d been working for years designing apps for other people or apps that never quite caught on.

And then everything changed. The free video game he’d only created as a sort of pet project, in his free time, began taking off, and it had landed him a feature inWiredmagazine, naming him one of the top new tech entrepreneurs to watch.

The night the magazine released, Rebecca organized a party to celebrate Josh and his hard work, something Josh never would’ve approved if she’d told him about it ahead of time. She had to know that, so she’d kept the party a secret and turned him into the guest of honor.

And while Josh was touched by the gesture, as he walked around mingling with acquaintances and work friends, he found himself at the end of the night terribly alone and desperate for conversation with someone who understood him, someone who knew not only his work, but him, as a person.

He stood next to a giant cake that saidCongratulations, Josh, scanning the room for a single person who fit that description, but he came up empty.

It had been that moment, the moment of his greatest success, that he recounted his greatest failure and began to wonder if there was a way to make it right. Because success without his family fell flat. The only people he wanted to impress, the only people he wanted cheering him on, were hours away, hating him, or at the very least, not thinking about him at all.

As he walked to his truck, then drove away from Carly’s house, he internally set his commitment to them all over again.

He may never win her back, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to be worthy of her. How did he prove that after all he’d done? How did he win forgiveness he didn’t deserve?

It didn’t matter. He’d spend his whole life working to earn her trust. And if it wasn’t enough—and it most certainly wouldn’t be—at least he would be better for it.

And more than anything, Josh wanted to be a better man.

Because of Jaden. And because of her.

11

Josh showed up, as promised, ten minutes before Carly had to leave for work.

It had been a week since the parade. A week since she started living inthe land of I-don’t-know.Would things ever go back to normal?

“He’s still sleeping,” she’d said. “You might get out of here early—he said something about hanging out with Grady tonight, some ski thing.”

Josh nodded. “And you’re okay with that?”

“Yes. I briefed both Grady and Quinn yesterday, so I feel pretty good about leaving him with them.”

“Sounds good.”

It was weird, talking to him about their son, as if they were making arrangements for a toddler who needed a babysitter. Truth be told, she’d called Quinn last night and asked if Jaden could hang out with them. The thought of seeing Josh right before her date had her nerves on edge.

Not that she’d told Quinn that was her reason.

That she would keep to herself.

“Hey, how has he seemed to you? His mood, I mean?” Carly had noticed Jaden was quieter than usual, which was saying something because he, like his father, wasn’t a big talker.

Josh shifted. “I think he’s doing okay. I mean, it’s a lot to take in.”

But Josh had given himself away. Most people would’ve missed the line of worry traced across his forehead, but she’d seen it. It had been fleeting, but it had been there.

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