The Wreck (21 page)

Carly heard sniffling and realized one or
both of their mothers hadn’t been so strong.

“Well,” Mary Ann said brightly. “How
about those drinks?”

The others followed her into the kitchen
to give Brian and Carly a moment alone.

Brian released her, but she couldn’t take
her eyes off him. He seemed to be having the same problem.

“It’s good to see you,” she said, putting
it mildly.

“You, too.” He looped one of her curls
around his finger.

The familiar gesture took her breath
away.

“And to hear you talking again…”

Swallowing hard, she had to remind
herself she was expected to say something.
What would he think if I kissed
him instead?
“It’s been a strange, crazy day.”

“I know what you mean. I woke up this
morning in my old room and had no idea where I was.”

“I woke up in my mother’s bed because I
was too afraid to sleep alone.”

“When I heard what happened to you
yesterday…” With what seemed to be great reluctance, he let his hand drop from
her hair. It landed on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

Touched by his concern and distracted by
the feel of his warm hand on her shoulder, she said, “I have good moments and
bad moments.” Her cheeks heated with embarrassment. “You heard where he put
her.”

Nodding, he said, “We probably should
talk about that, but right now do you think maybe I could…”

“What?” she stammered, undone by the
intensity of his gaze.

“I really want to hug you again.”

She stepped into his strong arms, but
this time she made no attempt to stop the tears.

Brian
held her for much longer than he should have. He had told himself to play it
cool, but the moment he saw her, all his good intentions disappeared. Judging
by her tears, this moment was as overwhelming for her as it was for him.

“Carly,” he whispered. “Don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry.” She pulled back from him and
wiped her face. “I can’t seem to help it. I’ve imagined what it would be like
to see you again, but nothing could’ve prepared me.”

Cradling her face in his hands, he
touched his lips to her forehead. “I’ve thought about you, too. More often than
I should probably admit to. I walked in here when you were hugging my dad, and
it was an odd feeling to realize you’re closer to him these days than you are
to me.”

“That wasn’t my choice,” she reminded him
with a small smile.

“Touché,” he said, grinning. “I need to
let you go now so we can visit with our parents, but what I really want is to
take you by the hand and get the hell out of here.”

“And go where?” The dashing and almost
dangerous edge to him was new—and exciting.

He clutched her hands. “Anywhere.”

“I wondered if I would see you while you
were home,” she confessed.

“Did you really think I’d be here and not
see you?” he asked, incredulous.

“I didn’t know.”

“Yes, you did.”

She held his gaze. “It might’ve been
better if we hadn’t.”

“Safer, maybe, but not better. Not
better.”

In that moment, a zing of awareness passed
between them—everything they had once felt for each other was still there.
Perhaps even stronger than before.

“Brian…”

“Let’s go spend some time with the
parents. I’ll walk you home later.”

“Just like old times?” she asked with a
smile.

He returned her smile. “Only better.”

“I’d
forgotten how quiet it is here,” Brian commented as they left his parents’
house two hours later.

“Anywhere must be quiet compared to New
York City. How do you stand it?”

He shrugged. “I hardly notice it anymore.
At first it was completely overwhelming—so many people, so much noise and
chaos. But you do get used to it.”

Their hands bumped together, and he took
advantage of the opportunity to lace his fingers through hers. The touch of his
hand electrified her. To be walking through a quiet summer night holding hands
with Brian Westbury, like fifteen years hadn’t passed since the last time she
held his hand… What was left of her common sense compelled her to let go while
she still could, but somehow she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Just a few
weeks ago, she’d thought an hour with him would be enough. How foolish that
seemed now.

“I was surprised to hear you were in New
York.” She wanted to know everything about his life, every detail since she’d
last seen him. “I never pictured you for the city.”

“It was the job that appealed to me more
than the location. The D.A., Saul Stein, is a good guy to work for.”

“I followed the Gooding trial,” she
confessed. “I was
so
proud of you, Brian.”

“That means a lot. Thank you.”

“Why didn’t you go to Harvard for law
school?”

“Do you know everything about me?” he
asked with a chuckle.

Embarrassed, she looked down at the
sidewalk.

He stopped walking and turned to her.
“It’s flattering to know you didn’t forget about me.”

“Forget about you?”
She released a choppy laugh. “It’s safe
to say I did
not
forget about you.”

With his hands on her face, he asked,
“Has there been anyone else?”

She shook her head.

“Carly,” he whispered as he leaned in to
kiss her.

His lips were soft and undemanding, and
for a moment, she allowed herself to simply feel the sensations that spiraled
through her. His kiss was familiar and yet new at the same time. Then reality
came crashing down to remind her he was home for only a few days, and she
couldn’t let him do this to her. She wouldn’t survive it a second time. With a
hand on his chest, she gently pushed him away. “Don’t.”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. I’ve
missed you so much. I don’t think I had any idea
how
much until I saw
you tonight.”

“Please don’t do this,” she pleaded. “We
can’t pick up where we left off like nothing ever happened. In a few days,
you’ll be back in New York, and I’ll be left here again. I can’t go through
that again. It was bad enough the first time.”

“Do you want to know why I didn’t go to
Harvard?”

She nodded, grateful the conversation was
headed in a less intense direction.

“Because I was such a mess after leaving
you here that my freshman year was a bit of a disaster. I would’ve lost my
scholarship, but my mother—in her infinite wisdom—had mentioned to my academic
counselor that I’d lost my brother and asked her to keep an eye on me. So the
counselor went to bat for me. I got my act together the second year, but my
grade point average never recovered. I was very, very lucky to get into
Northwestern Law.”

Overcome, she rested her head on his
chest.

Putting his arms around her, he spoke
softly and close to her ear. “By the time I got to Ann Arbor, it was too late
to get out of the lease on the apartment. I had to live alone in the place we
were supposed share. There were days when I was so paralyzed by grief and
sadness I couldn’t even get out of bed, let alone go to class.”

“Brian,” she whispered.

“I was so sure I’d done the right thing,
but leaving was easy compared to living without you.”

Carly broke free of his embrace and ran
toward her parents’ house.

He chased after her. “Carly! Wait!”

She tugged her arm free of his grasp and
kept running.

At her parents’ front gate, he caught up
to her and pulled her into his arms.

“I can’t start this all up again and then
watch you leave,” she said, breathless from running and the emotions he had
reawakened in her.

“If we start this up again, I’ll never
let you go. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.” He captured her mouth in a
hot, passionate kiss that was full of longing.

This time she reached for him, her arms
tight around his neck as her tongue tangled with his in a fierce burst of
desire that made her head spin. She hadn’t felt anything like it since the last
time he held her.

With a gasp, he tore his lips free of
hers and kissed her face, her jaw, and then her neck.

Carly’s knees were weak, and only the
tight hold he had on her kept her from sliding into a puddle on the sidewalk.

“I looked for you everywhere I went,” he
whispered. “I married one woman because she reminded me of you and another
because she was nothing like you. But I discovered there’s only one you, Carly.
I’m not going anywhere until this guy is caught and you’re safe. And when the
time comes for me to leave, either you’ll go with me, or I won’t go at all.”

His lips brushed over her ear, making her
tremble.

“Tonight, when you’re in bed, I want you
to think about that, all right?”

Somehow she managed a small nod.

He kissed her again, long and deep, and
when he pulled back from her, he looked down at her with his heart in his eyes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Opening the gate, he nudged her inside and waited
until she was in the house.

She rested her forehead on the screen
door.

With a wave, he turned and walked away.

B
rian knocked on the front door at the
Holbrooks’ house at noon the next day.

Carol came to the door.

“Hi, Mrs. Holbrook.”

“Hi, Brian. Come on in, and my name is
Carol.”

Stepping into that house was like returning
to his second home. “Is Carly around?” he asked, just like he used to.

“She’s at work.”

Surprised, he said, “She is? How’d she
get there?”

“Steve walked her into town first thing
this morning. She was determined to get back to normal and not to let this guy
drive her back into seclusion in her parents’ house.”

Brian smiled. “Good for her.”

“How’s your dad doing today?”

“Chomping at the bit to get back to work.
The doctor said he can go back on Monday, but I’m afraid he’s going to drive my
mother nuts before then.”

Carol chuckled as she hugged him. “It’s
just so good to see you.”

“You, too. It’s good to be home.”

“Is it? You’re feeling all right about …
everything?”

“To be honest, I’m wondering why I stayed
away for so long. It seems kind of ridiculous now.”

“You did what you needed to do to survive
a terrible thing. Life’s too short for regrets.”

“And yet, after just a few hours with
Carly last night, I seem to be riddled with them.” He followed her into the
kitchen and accepted the cola she poured for him.

“You two,” she said, shaking her head.
“From the time you were what? Thirteen? You just had something so special.”

“Yes, and when I left here, I was under
the misguided impression it would turn up again if I spent enough time looking
for it.”

“And it didn’t?”

“Never even came close.”

“I love all my children,” Carol said.
“But Carly … she’s special. I know I don’t have to tell you she’s a gentle
soul. Her nieces and nephews adore her. I guess kids don’t need words to know a
person’s heart.” She looked up at him. “If you get her hopes up, Brian, and
then go back to your life, I don’t know if she’ll be able to bounce back again.
It took such a long time before.”

He reached across the counter for her
hand. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told her last night—if we’re able to get
back even a shred of what we had before, I won’t walk away from it again. I
promise you that.”

“I’m going to hold you to it.”

“Be my guest.” He took a long drink of
the icy cola. “How’s she getting home after work?”

“I was going to meet her when her shift
ends at two.”

“Do you mind if I do it?”

“Be my guest,” she said with a smile.

Brian
left the Holbrook’s house and headed for Tucker Road, figuring he may as well
get that over with if he was going to be sticking around a while. As he
approached the accident site, his stomach clenched with anxiety. It didn’t take
much, even after all this time, to recall the horror of that night … the
sights, the sounds, the smells.

Thanks to the obvious effort Carly had expended,
the site looked almost festive. The splash of color from the bank of
wildflowers that framed the six crosses was eerily beautiful. Brian crouched
down to pick a drooping cosmos and let it dangle between his fingers as he
studied the names on the crosses. So many memories were attached to every one
of those names, memories that had come to life again now that he was home.

Reaching out to run his hand over Sam’s
cross, he felt the familiar cloud of sadness begin to settle over him, so he
stood and shook it off. He didn’t want to be sad today, the first day in longer
than he could remember that he had woken up thinking about something—or
someone
—other
than work. He hadn’t seen her in fifteen years, and just then another fifteen
minutes seemed too long.