Brett was in the other room and had no idea he had a son.
She’d never told him. Suddenly, she felt she’d made the wrong decision. Would he understand her reasoning? Or would he be angry?
Oh God, he’d be angry…
She wanted to be with him. Wanted to make love with him again. Wanted all the passion and excitement she’d given up twenty years ago. The passion and excitement she’d never felt with another man in all this time.
They still had a dinner date. Maybe she could tell him, in a public place, where he wouldn’t have a fit…
What if he hated her? She couldn’t bear the thought. What if he walked away? Forever? When she’d just found him again?
She clutched the phone in her hand as her eyes misted. She walked numbly out of the bedroom.
“You okay?” Brett came toward her. “You look a little off.”
She sniffed. “A patient. He’s okay though. It’s just hard sometimes.”
“I bet it is. You’re such a caring person. You must hurt when they hurt.”
If he only knew. “Yes. It’s difficult. A doctor is supposed to keep a professional distance.”
“How can you? They’re people. People you get to know.”
“Yes they are.” She smiled. “You get it.”
“Of course, I get it. I get you, Kath. I always have.”
God yes, he always did get her.
“Ready for dinner?”
She nodded and grabbed her jacket. They drove holding hands, not talking, to a small Italian place that someone in the Falcone family owned. She joked with Brett about being related to half of Columbus. Seemed like all the central Ohio Italians were bound by blood in one way or another. But the Falcones were never a mafia family, Brett maintained, despite the rumors.
Kathryn remembered those rumors. Those rumors that had nearly cost Brett his life. And hers.
Twenty years earlier
She hadn’t laughed so much in ages. Turned out they both loved chocolate—the richer, thicker, and darker the better.
Kathryn followed Brett outside the door of the ice cream shop.
He turned and drew near and she gasped as he brushed his lips and tongue over the corner of her lips.
“A little chocolate,” he said, smiling.
Anyone could have seen them. The ice cream shop was a popular hangout. No one from school had been there today, true, but still. She couldn’t believe he’d done such a thing.
What would Michelle think?
Well, if Brett didn’t care what Michelle thought, why should she? She wouldn’t go out of her way to kiss him, but if he kissed her? Why fight it?
She wanted to kiss him. Had never imagined such an intimate feeling as his lips on hers. Couldn’t wait to start kissing him more. To kiss other men more. She’d be the kissing bandit!
“Let’s walk behind the mall, in the alley,” Brett said.
“Why?”
“So I can hold your hand, kiss you.”