A Forever Love

by Sharon Cummin

  “Would you please let me help you?” I asked.

  “No,” she said, before falling back onto her ass yet again.

  I shook my hand at her, as I let out a laugh.

  “Fine,” she growled out, as she grabbed my hand hard with hers.

  I pulled her up and reached out with my other hand to steady her. Then I felt a zap fly up my arm and quickly released her.

  “Thank you,” she said, her voice filled with sarcasm.

  “Do you have to say it like that?” I asked, totally shocked by how the woman was talking to me.

  “You were the reason I was on my ass in the first place,” she said. “So, I guess so.”

  She leaned down to fix her dress. Then she turned to the women behind her.

  “I think you've seen enough,” she snapped. “That should fill your gossip column for days.”

  I'd never seen a group of women snap their mouths shut so fast in all my life. The woman was something else. She didn't seem to hold her tongue for anything. I couldn't help but give her a high five in my mind for that. She could hold her own, that was for sure.

  When she turned back in my direction, she brushed off her dress one more time.

  “This isn't me,” she whispered.

  “Then why are you wearing it?” I asked.

  “Because jeans and a t-shirt would be frowned upon,” she said, as she stood up and brushed her fingers through her hair.

  When her hands came away from her face, our eyes connected, and my body took a step back on its own. No way, I thought.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, all anger gone.

  “Yeah,” I said. “You have a son here?”

  “Of course,” she said, as she gave me a strange look. “I don't make it a habit to crash elementary school dances when I have nothing better to do. That's why I look like this.”

  “You don't look so bad,” I said, totally understanding just how much she meant what she said.

  “Thanks,” she said, as she turned and pointed down the hall. “The bathrooms are that way. I think you were going the wrong way.”

  “Oh, I know where they are,” I said, feeling irritated that she could look at me like she'd never seen me before. “That's not something I could forget. I spent a lot of time in there when I was a kid.”

  “Yeah?” she said, giving me a questioning look.

  “Yeah,” I answered. “I was actually going out to get some air.”

  “Can't handle the little girls or the macho dads?” she asked.

  “It's not like that,” I answered.

  She nodded.

  “I was on my way to the bathroom before some big lug knocked me off my feet,” she said.

  “Big lug?” I questioned.

  “You heard me,” she said.

  “You always talk to someone you've just met like that?” I asked, giving her every opportunity to come clean.

  The look that crossed her face had me instantly regretting my words.

  “No,” she said, as she looked down at her feet. “I actually don't. I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me.”

  I nodded, as the need to get some air came over me again.

  “Don't let this big lug stop you from getting somewhere important,” I said, as I motioned toward the bathroom. “I'll let you go first. I wouldn't want you to fall on your ass again.”

  For the first time since I ran into her, she smiled, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. The second she crossed safely in front of me toward the bathroom, I took off for the door that would lead me outside. The moment the cool air hit my face, I knew my world would never be the same again. Everything I'd tried so hard to fight was crashing to the surface.

  “It couldn't be,” I said, as I pushed my jacket from my shoulders. “If she were back, my sister would have told me.”

  My ass hit the brick wall, and my jacket landed next to me. I reached up, ran my fingers through my hair, rested my elbows on my knees, and held my face in my hands.

  “There's no way,” I said to myself, as every emotion hit me at once. “Why the fuck didn't Julia tell me? I never would have come back.”

  Chapter 5

  Grace

  I shook my head and walked toward the bathroom, but I couldn't stop myself from turning to watch him walk out the door. He was on a mission, that was for sure. It was like he couldn't get out of there fast enough. I knew the feeling. When I turned back and continued on my own mission, so many things began running through my mind. Why had I reacted so harshly toward him? Sure, he'd knocked me on my ass, and the gossip crew had caught most of the show, but that didn't give me the right to be a total bitch. That corner was the worst in the school. You were either coming in and hurrying to get somewhere, or you were trying to get the hell out of there. It was just an accident, and I was horrible.

  I closed myself in a stall and stood with my back against the door. It had been a long time since I'd gone off on someone like that. It was the strangest thing. I was normally the one trying to avoid a scene, and there I'd been, causing one. I'd never even spoken like that to my husband, and we'd had some trying times. My parents hadn't even gotten that reaction out of me when they'd told me how disappointed they were that my life was turning to shit. There was only one person that had ever had me feeling like I had been when I was sitting on that floor, and he'd never even gotten a chance to catch my wrath. He'd taken off before I let it out.

  My hand rubbed where the guy had touched me. The strangest feeling shot through me. I thought he might have felt it too. He'd pulled back fast but hadn't said anything.

  When our eyes connected, I swear I'd seen them before. They were beautiful and such a deep brown. I honestly felt like he could see me, the real me. He took a fast step back and broke the connection, and while I asked if he was okay, I was so damn happy he'd done it. Nobody needed to see the real me, not ever. The feeling of his eyes on me wasn't one I welcomed. I needed to keep to myself, fix things with my parents, and take care of my son. That was it.

  I walked out of the bathroom and back toward the gym. When I looked out through the window in the door leading outside, I saw the guy sitting on the brick wall we'd all sat on as kids. He had his head down in his hands with his elbows resting on his knees, and I couldn't help but feel for him. He'd been trying to get away just as quickly as I had been. Part of me wondered what it was he was running from. The man was big and had a toughness about him. Seeing him out there, alone and vulnerable, pulled at my heart strings. There was something about him I couldn't seem to turn away from.

  I looked in through the gym door to see Noah playing and laughing with his friends. He wasn't missing me at all, and I was thrilled to see him having such a good time. One of the moms turned toward me, and I quickly turned and began walking toward the door leading to the outside. It was safer out there, I thought. It had to be.

  I pushed the door open and sucked in a huge breath of the fresh, cool air. Then I looked over at him. His jacket sat next to him, and his sleeves were rolled up to just above his elbows. I could see his arm muscles pushing against the material of his shirt. The end of a tattoo peeked out from under his sleeve, and I couldn't help but wonder just how many he had. The man was built like a damn wall, and there was no missing how sexy he was. That was when I noticed a chain hanging from his neck with the front of it dipping down into his shirt.

  “You couldn't get enough,” I heard from beneath his hands.

  Just as I turned to hurry back inside, he spoke again.

  “Didn't give me enough shit inside. Had to come out for more.”

  My hands tightened into fists, and I closed my eyes for a moment, before opening them again and turning back to face him.

  “I came out to apologize,” I said, with my voice as calm as I could make it. “That wasn't me. I don't know what came over me. I'm sure you didn't bulldoze me over on purpose.”

  “Starting not to sound like such an apology anymore,” he said, with his head still in his hands.

/>   “Shit!” I snapped. “I really am sorry. I never speak this way. Maybe it's being back here. No, that can't be it. I was a pushover then too. Had to have someone else fight my battles. I think it's you.”

  “You went here?” he asked, with a laugh that sounded so damn amazing, as he dropped his hands from his face.

  “I did,” I answered. “Born and raised here. I left for a few years.”

  “Now you're back,” he said, as more of a statement than a question.

  “I am,” I said.

  “What brought you back?” he asked.

  “My husband,” I started, but I stopped the moment I heard the door behind me open.

  He looked up, and his eyes connected with mine for the second time. The look in them made my entire body shiver. Was it that cold outside, I wondered? Then he pulled his eyes from mine and looked at the door behind me.

  What the hell was that, I wondered, as I snapped back to reality. I found myself wanting to talk to him, wanting to tell him about my life. That was not okay and not at all what I needed.

  I turned quickly to see a woman I'd seen before. She was a teacher, and she had a little girl with her that looked just a bit older than my son. His daughter, I thought. He has a daughter. Get in that building, get your son, and get out of here. That was all I was thinking. I could hear their voices behind me, as I walked toward that door. Just as I grabbed the handle, I heard the words that stopped me frozen.

  “You have to come in, Uncle Sawyer. The fun dances are about to start.”

  Chapter 6

  Sawyer

  She turned back toward me, and I could not stop the smile that crossed my face. If she had seen the look on her face, she would have been smiling too. The woman was speechless. That shit was priceless.

  “The fun dances,” I said, as I looked down at my smiling niece.

  “Yes,” she said, her little body jumping with excitement. “Hurry.”

  I grabbed Ava's hand and walked to the door. Then I reached forward and my hand touched the one still frozen on the handle. With my hand over hers, I pulled the door open. Then I motioned for the teacher and my niece to walk through. They did, and I stepped to the side.

  “The fun dances,” I said with a wink, as my eyes connected again with the beautiful ones attached to the same face that cocky mouth was.

  “Sawyer,” she whispered.

  I motioned for her to walk through ahead of me, but she didn't move.

  “Hurry it up,” I said. “We wouldn't want to keep your son or your husband waiting, Gracie.”

  Her eyes widened, but she didn't say a word. Instead, she stormed through that door and into the gym without ever looking back.

  I knew that should have been it. I should have let it go at that, but I couldn't. I had questions, and she was the only one that could answer them. The second the fun dances were over, my ass was standing against the wall, outside of the gym she was in, waiting.

  Chapter 7

  Grace

  When his niece said Uncle Sawyer, I couldn't believe my ears. I was so damn shocked to hear his name and equally glad she wasn't his daughter. There could have been other Sawyers, but the second his name came out of her mouth, I knew it was him. How had I missed it? I shouldn't have. Those eyes, the feeling of his hand on me, the cocky way I talked to him, and the way I found myself wanting to tell him things, I should have known. He was the only one. It was him.

  Before I even had a moment to think, his hand was on mine, and he was pulling the door open. Did he know? He couldn't have, I thought. There was no way. When I said I'd gone there, he acted as if he didn't know. When he winked at me, I couldn't stop the whisper of his name from my lips. Then he spoke again, and I wanted to punch him in the stomach.

  “Hurry it up,” he said. “We wouldn't want to keep your son or your husband waiting, Gracie.”

  He knew. That asshole knew who I was. Nobody called me Gracie. I couldn't stand it, and he knew it. He was purposely fucking with me. Had he known the whole time, I wondered? Had he known before he knocked me on my ass? Is that why he hadn't caught me in time? Why did he mention my husband? Who the fuck did he think he was? How did he even know? My parents hadn't talked to his after I'd let them down. I'm sure they didn't talk to anyone about their disappointment of a daughter. How would he know? Then I realized I'd said the word husband when he asked why I'd come back. Had he known before too? It didn't matter.

  I pulled my shoulders back and took off through the door and into the gym my son was in. Screw Sawyer, I repeated in my head over and over. Noah came running over from his group of friends and pulled me out onto the dance floor.

  “Do the chicken with me, Mom,” he said, his voice filled with excitement.

  I stood next to my boy and did the chicken dance, along with a few others, with a smile planted on my face. In my mind, I was thinking about getting out of there as fast as I could. How could Sawyer be there? He was in the military. I knew that. He had been since he left, just after high school. He couldn't wait to get away from the city we grew up in. The asshole never even said goodbye.

  The second the last silly song played, I let Noah know that we needed to get home. I had to get out of there without another Sawyer sighting. It wasn't something I felt like dealing with, not ever again.

  “You didn't know all of the fun ones, Mom,” Noah said, as he put his coat on. “Some of the other moms knew them.”

  Those were the dances everyone learned in college while they were at parties. I wasn't a party girl, and I also didn't make it into my second year of college. The girls from my class were starting school, and I was busy thinking about getting married and having a baby.

  “I know,” I said. “Maybe we can learn them together.”

  “That would be fun,” he said, as we walked out of the gym and turned toward the door that would lead me out of the place.

  There he was, leaning back against the wall, just like he did when we were kids. I grabbed Noah's hand in mine and walked by as if the man didn't exist. You'd think he'd let it go, but he didn't, not Sawyer.

  “Grace,” I heard my name come from over my shoulder, but I didn't stop. “Grace.”

  I hurried toward my car.

  “I'll see you in school, Noah,” Sawyer's niece shouted.

  “Okay, Ava,” Noah yelled back.

  “Grace,” Sawyer yelled out again.

  “Who's that?” Noah asked, as I sped up our pace.

  “Just someone mommy knew a very long time ago,” I said.

  “Before me?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “Before daddy?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I answered. “Before daddy too.”

  In that short time, my first crush, my first ride on a motorcycle, my first kiss, my first love, and my first heartbreak had all run through my mind. They all belonged to him, the asshole yelling my name.

  I unlocked the doors on the way. Noah got into the car and pulled his door closed behind him. As I walked around to my side of the car, little Ava walked up to the big truck next to me and waited.

  “Did you need something, sweetie?” I asked.

  “Uncle Sawyer to open the door,” she said, as she crossed her arms over her chest. “It's too high for me to reach.”

  Sawyer walked right by me, opened the door, let the little girl in, and closed it behind her.

  “This is yours,” I said with a laugh.

  “Yeah,” he said sternly.

  “Compensating for something?” I asked, as I tried to move around him.

  Instead of letting me through, he stood with his feet a few feet apart and his arms crossed over his chest, blocking my way completely.

  “I don't have shit to compensate for. Want me to show you, Gracie?” he asked in a much too confident tone.

  The fucker was lucky the kids were sitting only feet away in the vehicles. That name was not to be used.

  “Not if you were the last man on Earth,” I answered, totally wonderin
g about the package in question and instantly feeling guilty. “Is the bike in the shop?”

  “I couldn't put my lady,” he said, pointing up at Ava, “on the back of my bike.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I thought you put anyone on the back of your bike.”

  “Not just anyone,” he said.

  “You still have it?” I asked, totally ignoring his comment. The man was so full of shit.

  “Not that exact one,” he said with a laugh. “I've upgraded since then.”

  “Some things never change,” I said, as I moved to walk around him.

  “What's that supposed to mean?” he asked, as he continued to block my way.

  I reached around him to grab hold of the handle on my door, and he stepped forward, looking down at me. I could feel his eyes on my body and couldn't help but feel the heat coming from him as he moved closer.

  “What's got you in such a hurry?” he asked.

  “I need to go,” I said.

  “How's the husband?” he asked in a snotty tone.

  “Dead,” I said, without thinking.

  “Shit!” he snapped out, as he took a step back, grabbed my shoulders, and turned me toward him. “When?”

  I was looking down at my feet, trying to keep my eyes on the shoes I'd worn for Noah.

  “It will be two years in a few months,” I said.

  “Fuck!” he whispered.

  Then his hand came up, grabbed my chin, and pulled up until our eyes were connected.

  “I'm so sorry,” he said. “I had no idea.”

  “Why would you?” I asked, my voice filled with sarcasm. “What was that little show back there, your way of fucking with me?”

  “I really am sorry, Grace,” he said, sounding totally sincere. “Julia didn't tell me.”

  “Probably because we haven't talked for years,” I said. “We're not best friends anymore.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “It was easier that way,” I answered. “At least I thought it would be.”

  “What would be?” he asked.

  “I don't have friends. I have my son, and he's the only one I care about,” I said. “I care about my parents too, but that's got a long way to go.”