Page 51 of Sneak Attack

Cole stood by the driver’s side until I met up with him, Bongo staying at his side and taking a seat. “We’ll talk again.”

Of course we would. Cole wouldn’t leave this unfinished. Not now that he knew how badly I was still struggling. Not after he’d done what he just did.

I opened the door to my 4-Runner and set a foot on the running board. I pushed up, looked at both the gorgeous man and sweet dog over my door. “See you at BarkTown?”

He chuckled, lips kicking up into a full grin. “Probably, Eden. Probably.”

I returned the grin, slid into my seat, and shut the door. Both of them stayed focused on me, only Bongo looked a little cuter with his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth as I turned the key I’d left in the ignition and did a three-point turn in his large driveway. I’d been so consumed with talking to Cole this morning I hadn’t fully taken in the beauty of his large, white, house with black shutters and door and four-garage when I arrived, but as I backed up, my eyes stayed glued to the vision of Cole and Bongo, man, with arms crossed over his chest as I pulled out and Bongo happily sitting next to him, imagining him in that beautiful, newer house and what he’d done to hopefully, turn it into a home for him and his two boys.

Neither man nor beast moved, and as I turned in his driveway before hitting the main road, they disappeared from my view, but I had no doubt they stayed there long after I was gone.

Cole probably wondering what in the hell I was going to do now.

If only I knew myself.

That one kiss made me feel more like any home than I’d had in the last seven years.

* * *

No way could I return to Marley’s like Cole assumed I was headed.

I’d walk into her house, and she’d probably scent Cole on me somehow and not only know exactly where I’d been, but what we’d done. No, I needed time to compose myself even if she’d be wondering where I was.

I’d taken off so quickly after breakfast and hadn’t given her any explanation but when I woke up that morning, I could only think of Cole. Needing answers.

I got them all right. Along with a host of new questions and more uncertainty.

He’d kissed me.

Whywould he do that?

Then there was still Hilary and all he’d said.

I apologized.

Right, because it was that simple.

Go to Hilary and apologize but what good were apologies when the person I needed to apologize to couldn’t give me forgiveness. Manufacturing it seemed like the easy way out.

Unlike Cole, I’d never had anyone walk into my life giving me some deeper, more meaningful reason to put it behind me. Was that why it stuck to me like an oil spill? Covered and coated every part of me, suffocating me with the weight of it and every breath I took?

After this long, I couldn’t just scrape it off, fling it to the side and go about my day like nothing had happened. Like that night hadn’t irrevocably changed me forever.

Like that night hadn’t ripped out a piece of my soul I could never get back.

I spotted the park up ahead as I drove through town, the same park where only a week ago I’d seen Jasper for the first time, and pulled in. It was empty now, but I had no doubt as the day wore on, it’d be filled with kids his age, boys and girls, running and screaming without a care in their tiny little lives.

Oh the envy I could have for them.

The swings beckoned me, and after grabbing my keys and phone and slipping them both into the hip pockets of my yoga shorts, I trudged through the rubber-looking mulch and plopped down. My back to town, hills in the distance and rooftops of homes peeking out above them, I leisurely pumped my legs, felt the cold steel of the chains in my hands as I started moving. The sun was behind me, heating my back.

I’d need to go to BarkTown after lunch, but other than that, my only agenda was to be there for Marley. In her house where the memories wouldn’t cease. Where, if it was quiet enough, I could hear Hilary’s laughter from the back patio as she sat on Cole’s lap around Marley’s fire pit.

God, they’d been so cute together. So adorable my teeth hurt as I got to know them more.

Hilary was tasked with showing me around the school that very first day and at lunch, I’d gone to ask her about the boy I’d met the week before when her large, round eyes had widened even farther, and she’d gotten so giddy.“Here comes my boyfriend. He’s amazing. The best quarterback in the state, but he’s also super nice. Just awesome. You have to meet him…”

I’d turned around and had almost had to pick my jaw up off the floor as Cole strolled into our high school’s small cafeteria, plastic tray in one hand, shoving another guy playfully away from him with his free hand.

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