Page 1 of In Your Dreams

CHAPTER ONE

POPPY

The last thing I ever expected to be doing on the eve of my thirtieth birthday is unpacking boxes back into my childhood room in my parent’s home. But that’s exactly what I’m doing. I haven’t been in this room in quite a few years as anytime I visited over holidays, we always stayed in the one and only bed and breakfast in town. And by “we” I mean me, my husband, and my son. Though from now on, I’ll just mean me and my son.

Divorce is a tricky business. One moment you’re happy as a clam and the next you’d maybe like to see your once-significant-other fall down the side of a cliff and maybe not die but get seriously injured. And even though it seemed like it happened in the blink of an eye, in the case of me and my now ex-husband, Wayne, those few moments actually lasted several years in which we found ourselves growing farther and farther apart with each passing anniversary. And while it’s still a shock, ultimately, I know the big, scary D-word is the best thing for us. Right now, it’s my second favorite D-word. My absolute favorite D-word… well, lets just say I haven’t had any of it in a long time.

Though I’m still worried about our son. Aiden isn’t what I’d call a rough and tumble soul. He’s a sensitive kid, or can be sometimes. Watching your parents, your family, split in half is never easy. I know it will take some time for him to heal.

“Mom!” Aiden yells from the bedroom next door. Speak of the devil. “I can’t find my mitt!”

That boy would lose his ass if it wasn’t attached. “Did you look in your gym bag?”

There’s a few moments of silence and some shuffling, presumably while he’s looking. I don’t want to remind him that he put it in there last night so he would remember where he put it when we got here. He can also be an anxious kid and I don’t want to add to it.

“I found my mitt!” He yells.

I smile, shaking my head. Little devil. Baseball tryouts start in two days and I’m not only hoping he makes the team but that it’s something he can focus on while we’re both transitioning into this new life. While not rough or tumble most of the time, baseball seems to be the only area where he lets loose a little and gets a taste of that.

He’s moving into my brother’s old room and while Theo hasn’t lived here in years, I still asked my mom to sweep the room for dirty magazines that may have been left behind. She found two. I know Aiden might be showing interest in girls soon but an issue ofPlayboyfrom more than a decade ago is not how I want those hormones triggered.

“Need any help in here?” My dad asks from the doorway.

“Um, if you could just take this box to the basement, I think that’s it,” I say, passing it to his open arms.

He peers down into it, the faux gold plating of more than a dozen cheerleading trophies no doubt capturing his attention. They’d still been proudly displayed on top of the dresser when I arrived.

“You were such a talented cheerleader,” he says, giving me one of those beaming proud dad smiles.

“Yeah, I was okay,” I say. I guess the trophies are proof that I was pretty good but the ankle injury my freshman year of college sent those dreams down the drain. That’s when I met Wayne. He was in physical therapy for an injury of his own at the same time as me. He had football hopes and dreams that luckily weren’t dashed by his shoulder trouble. He made a full recovery and I became a different kind of sideline cheerleader.

“Knock, knock,” Theo’s voice chimes from where my dad was just standing.

“Hey big brother,” I say, turning toward him. I place my hands on my hips as I survey the room between us.

“Getting settled in?” He asks.

I nod, sighing. “As well as I can.”

Theo closes the space between us, wrapping me into a brotherly hug. There’s something very soothing about his protective nature. I’ve missed it. Back in high school, I felt like I had a bodyguard. No one dared to mess with Theo Jameson’s little sister. It didn’t make dating very easy, which might be why I fell for Wayne too fast and too hard.

“The gang is excited to see you tomorrow,” he offers, no doubt hoping to lighten the mood.

“And I’m excited to see them,” I say. It wasn’t a lie, though I didn’t have a lot of enthusiasm to give my statement. I know tomorrow during the actualwelcome-back-happy-birthday-sorry-about-your-divorceparty, I’ll be happy. But right now, that seems like a lot of work.

“Mom!” Aiden yells from next door again. “I can’t find my lucky socks!”

Ah mom life. No one tells you when you become a mom, you’re crowned theOfficial Finder of Lost Thingsbut there’s not an actual crown and I’m a little pissy about it. Just think, it could be crafted from the very junk I’m tasked to find. Two lucky gym socks hot glued next to the remote, car keys that aren’t mine, and a broken watch all expertly stuck to extra thick cardboard cut into points. Maybe I’ll make that my Halloween costume this year.

CHAPTER TWO

PARKER

Have you ever wished you could genuinely punch yourself in the face? I mean really haul off and knock yourself out? My senior year of high school when I realized I’d wasted four years pining over Poppy Jameson and then watched her move away right after graduation without ever uttering a word about myfeelings for her is that moment for me. I wish like hell someone had been there to kick my ass.

I will say, the night she left, I illegally procured a bottle of bottom shelf whiskey and got drunk in a field. So drunk in fact, that I fell off the tailgate of my trunk face first into the cold, wet, and unrelenting ground. I had a busted lip and bruised jaw so maybe I did succeed in kicking my own ass.

Now she’s back in town. The moment her older brother Theo told me she was moving back, I felt an intense wave of emotions. Many emotions. Confusion, because she was supposedly happily married and living her best life. Excitement, because maybe a rare second chance was going to present itself for me. And shear panic, because how long do you wait after a divorce to make a move?

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