Move the Stars (Something in the Way 3)

“Thank you,” I said.

“It’s awfully sweet,” she said. “I’m trying to figure out if you’re the high school sweetheart type of couple or if you’re in that honeymoon phase. Which is it?”

“We met in college,” he said. “So I guess it’s the first one.”

“Well, you’re precious.”

“Yes,” he said, squeezing my hand. “She is.”

“Oh my. He’s a keeper.” She winked at me, teasing. “Are you married, and if not, when’s the wedding?”

Wedding? There was no wedding, and maybe there would never be. At least not anytime soon. And if there was, it would be a pretty lonely affair without my family in attendance.

He’s already married.

I almost said it to see her reaction. Someone had to stop us, and maybe it was this woman. Things couldn’t keep going as well as they had.

“In the summer. That’s her favorite time of year.” Manning moved his arm around my shoulder. “It’ll be intimate, just close friends.”

“And family,” the woman added.

“No, no family.”

I couldn’t have my own family at my wedding, but neither could Manning. Realizing that actually made me feel closer to him. I cozied into his side. “Are you sure that’s my favorite time of year?” I asked. “I never told you that.”

“You’re a summer baby.” He looked down at me. “Born in June, grew up in the ocean and under the sun. Or has that changed?” He grinned. “Are you an ice queen now?”

I couldn’t pick a favorite season. I loved them all for different reasons—although winter was certainly pulling ahead based on today. “Any time of year is fine with me,” I said.

“She’s an easy bride,” he told the woman. “Doesn’t need much, and neither do I. Just her.”

“Let’s see the ring,” the lady said.

Manning smiled. “I haven’t asked yet.”

She gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth. “And I ruined it. Did I ruin it? You’re too sweet.” She winked at me. “Marry him. Surely you’re already beating the women off with a stick. No reason to delay.”

Manning’s mood visibly lightened. “You hear that? Why delay the inevitable?”

Feeding off their playfulness, I relaxed. “Okay. I guess so.”

She clapped her hands. “Oh, you’ve made my afternoon. My entire trip. I’m going to go home and tell all my girlfriends I witnessed a proposal.” She pushed off. “Best of luck to you both!”

“Why’d you lie to her?” I asked as Manning watched her skate away.

“Not a lie so much as a fantasy. Didn’t any of that sound good to you?”

“You said we met in college, though.”

“I was teasing.” He skated back from me, our hands locked between us. “Come on. I’ve seen enough of your New York for one day. Now I want to go back to heaven.”

“And that would be . . .?”

“My precious girl,” he said, mocking the woman’s accent, “in her precious bed.”

I pulled on his hand, but he was so solid that all I did was glide toward him. When I collided with his side, I leaned on him for a kiss. No matter how much of my weight I gave him, Manning never budged, not even in skates.

13

Manning

Lake’d been asleep for ten hours. I’d worn her out, whereas I was just getting started. I’d woken up throughout the night and morning to check on her. My visions of bad-things-happening shouldn’t have been as severe as they’d been when she was younger. Back then, she’d been naïve, and she still was in some ways, but she was an adult now. She could care for herself.

Those visions hadn’t gone away, though.

When the woman at the ice skating rink had approached us, my heart’d locked in my chest, my instincts turning predatory. I’d felt threatened by a woman in her forties and lied about meeting Lake in college because for the briefest of moments, I’d expected her to say, “Get your hands off that child.”

It was ridiculous; nobody would look twice at us now, but it’d seemed as if she’d known, on some level, how old Lake had been when I’d met her. Known all the reasons Lake and I weren’t supposed to be standing on that rink, touching and kissing as freely as we’d been.

Lake slept soundly on her stomach. It didn’t even look as though she were breathing. I moved some of her fine blonde hair off her neck, soothed by how warm her skin was. I wanted to touch and be touched by her. I wanted to have her now and keep having her until it became too much. I couldn’t help the feeling she could be taken away from me at any moment.

There was a lot to figure out, a lot left to say, but I didn’t want to go there yet. For two more days, Lake and I were a regular couple in love. We didn’t need anything but each other. My stomach grumbled. Each other, and some food.