“Well, we can’t go back,” Lula said softly. “And I can’t move forward. I can’t imagine being your friend, let alone…” She waved one arm in a small circle near her shoulder, her fingertips barely peeking out from the bulky sweater.

The gesture was so familiar, so Lula, that it revived Carter’s flagging hope. The girl he loved was still there, locked inside the cautious woman standing before him. If only he could get her to relax her guard, just for a little while.

“What about twelve dates?” he said, pushing on when she frowned. “Like the Twelve Days of Christmas, but we’ll have the twelve dates of Carter and Lula. Just give me until Christmas Eve. We can take the time to enjoy each other’s company without any expectations and see where we are on the twenty-fourth. Maybe we’ll end up friends, maybe more, but I’m sure the path forward will be clearer by then.”

Lula studied him. “And what if there is no path?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if we get to the end of the twelve dates and there’s just a brick wall with a bunch of ugly graffiti on it?” she asked. “What then?”

“I’ll get out my paintbrush,” he said with a smile.

“No, you’ll go away,” Lula said, banishing the smile from his face. “This is my place in the world, Carter. You gave up any claim to Lonesome Point when you drove away. If we get to the end of the twelve days and I want you to go, I need you to promise that you will.”

“All right,” he said, nodding somberly. “I’m not here to make you unhappy, L.J. That’s the last thing I want. Come Christmas Eve, if you tell me to go, I’ll go. No questions asked.”

Lula’s lips pressed together, but after a moment she stood back and opened the door. “Then come on in. I made fresh bread.”

“That’s perfect,” he said, moving inside to see that Lula had set one of the tea shop tables with a checkered tablecloth and two place settings. He crossed to the table and began laying out his offerings. “I brought salami, prosciutto, the stinky cheese you like, three kinds of olives, roasted red peppers, a salad, and a cabernet I think is good. It’s been a while since I was in a liquor store with a wine selection. Up in Dad’s part of Alaska, they make do with beer and moonshine.”

“You’ve been in Alaska with your dad?” she asked as she fetched wine glasses and a wine key from the china cabinet near the counter and brought them back to the table. “Is that why you switched back to the cowboy hat?”

“I switched back to the cowboy hat because I’m too old to play dress up,” he said as he opened the wine, laughing at his younger self’s obsession with his prized wide-brimmed fedora. “And yeah, I was with Dad, taking care of him and running the ranch while he was doing chemo. But the treatments only held the cancer off for a little over a year. He passed six weeks ago.”

“I’m so sorry,” Lula said, laying her hand gently on top of his. “I know you two were close.”

Carter turned his hand over and curled his fingers around Lula’s palm. It felt so good to touch her—so electric and right. “Thank you,” he whispered.

They stood that way for a moment, with longing thickening the air between them before Carter continued in a soft voice, “I started back to you five years ago, Lu, and I’ve been fighting my way to your door ever since. I know that’s still too much time with my head up my ass, but I’m hoping you’ll let me explain why it took so long.”

“Pour me a glass of wine,” she said, her head tipped down as she studied their joined hands, her long curls falling around her face. “It sounds like the kind of story that needs wine. And maybe some chocolate, too.”

“I’ve got some in the bag,” he said, lifting his free hand to wind one of her curls around his finger. “I love the long hair, by the way. It suits you.”

Lula looked up at him, her breath rushing out between her parted lips. “I’m willing to give you the twelve days, Carter, but I’m out of practice with this. I can’t go from zero to sixty. I need to take things slow.”

He nodded and his hand fell from her hair. “I’ll pour the wine; you grab the chocolate from the bag. We can have dessert first.”

For the next half hour, they sipped wine and ate squares of dark chocolate while Carter told her about the rare meteorites he and his partner, Shane, had found in the Moroccan desert. The find had come at the perfect time, after a depressing year in Italy he’d spent regretting the poor choices he’d made. He was on his way back to Lonesome Point to beg for Lula’s forgiveness when he and his partner learned the meteorites had been lost in the mail.

Tags: Lili Valente Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net