Forever Yours (4 page)

He wanted her back. He wanted their life back. A life he didn’t deserve, but suddenly understood that he couldn’t continue being without.

He turned his head when he heard her call out to him. The look on her face and the tone of her voice let him know it wasn’t the first time she’d said his name. Looking at her now, he swallowed hard to resist the urge to pull her to him and hold her as he begged for another chance, begged her to believe in him again, and promised—
swore
—that he’d never hurt her like he had before.

“Are you okay?” She started to reach out to him but stopped. “Do you need some water?”

“Uh, no. No. I’m fine.”

“You look like you could be sick.”

He smiled slightly. “No. I’m good. I, uh, I didn’t have breakfast.”

“Oh. Well, let’s get out of here and grab something to eat.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. That sounds great actually.”

He looked at the photo one more time. The happy family reached him on a level he hadn’t known existed. It was like a sign from the universe that this was the house he needed to buy. This was his new home. The place where he would have the life he wanted.

This was the place where he would win Meg back.

Chapter Five

“Feeling better?” Meg asked.

John finished off his hamburger and brushed his hands together. “Much.”

“Good. So what did you think about the last place? You didn’t say much.”

“I liked it.”

She smiled. “Great. Do you want to make an offer?”

He did. He really did. But that would put an end to this time with her and he wasn’t ready for that just yet. “It’s only the second place I’ve looked at. Let’s check out the other place we picked out yesterday. It had a lot of potential.”

She looked out the window. “The snow is still coming down. If we are going to head out there, we should get going.”

John took a few of her fries and stuffed them in his mouth, and then wiped his hands. He slid out of the booth and carried their tray to the trashcan.

Though Meg still seemed tense, she had relaxed considerably. John was hoping they could have a conversation about anything other than buying a house, his past, and breaking her heart.

“So,” he said after they climbed into the Jeep, “I haven’t bought Steve and Suz anything for the baby yet, but I want to do something big.”

She glanced at him. “The baby’s too little for beer and a foosball table, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

John laughed. “I’ve kind of outgrown that.”

“I hope so.”

“I was going to get a gift certificate to some fancy hotel with a restaurant so they can have a night off while I keep the baby.” He glanced at Meg and saw her staring at him with a furrowed brow. “Is that a terrible idea? I mean, I know they’re not going to want to leave her right way, but a gift certificate can be used anytime.”

“Actually, that’s a really great idea. Kind of blows my portable crib full of diapers out of the water.”

He grinned. “Well, I bring it up because…you know…I don’t think that I should keep a baby all night by myself. Yeah, I’m a doctor, but I’ve never been a babysitter. So I was thinking maybe you could help me out with that?”

Meg scoffed. “Oh. But you get all the credit, I suppose.”

“Well, it was my idea.”

“Mmm-hmm. Whose idea was it really?”

“What? Like I can’t be creative?” He laughed when she lifted a brow at him. “Okay, I looked up baby shower ideas. I liked that one.”

“Okay. You ante up half the money and half the babysitting. I’ll do my half and it’s from both of us.”

“I can deal with that.”

Their drive filled with debate about hotels and restaurants and, much to John’s relief, seemed to be as far away from reminding Meg of how badly he had hurt her as they could get. He listened while she rambled on about how excited she was. She practically squealed at the thought of holding her niece and confessed her plans to spoil the little girl rotten.

“I can’t wait,” she said.

And then he heard it—the beautiful sound that had eluded him since his return. She laughed. A real laugh, not a half-laugh, not a just-to-be-polite laugh. A laugh that made her eyes sparkle and his heart lift with the sound.

She glanced at him and her smile fell. “What?”

“What?”

“I don’t know. You were just looking at me funny.”

“I’ve missed your laugh,” he said without thinking.

She lifted her brows and looked away.

John exhaled slowly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t.” Silence surrounded them and then she said, “John, I’d really like it if we can be on an even keel. Suzanna was right when she said we have to put our past behind us so we can be a family for the baby. I don’t know what that means for us. I don’t know if I want to be friends, or acquaintances, or…just two people who are nice to each other when we have to be. But I do know that I don’t want to keep hanging on to this anger. And I also know that I’ll never be more than a friend. That’s not going to happen, so if anywhere in your mind you are thinking we’re going to get back together, forget it, okay?”

He looked at her and was certain his disappointment was on his face, but he brushed it aside and made a face at her to ease the tension. “All I said was I missed your laugh. Geez.”

John could deny it all he wanted, but Meg had seen through his façade. He’d been upset when she said she had no intentions of getting back together with him. God. What did he think? He’d just strut back into town and she’d forget that he was a complete jerk? That he should have stayed a loner? That he didn’t want
or
need her?

“Damn it,” she said under her breath as she looked at him across the living room of the empty house she was showing him. For a while she
had
forgotten. She wanted things to be back to the way they were. She wanted him to want her back. She wanted to live in that house with him. With their children. She wanted the life that he had promised her so long ago.

But the past was right there, reminding her that it was a bad idea to let him in. No, scratch that. It was a terrible, horrible, no good idea, and she needed to forget it right now. Reminding him, and herself, that she wasn’t going back down that road was her only defense, and she had jumped at it.             

He’d quieted down after her declaration. They drove the rest of the way to the next house on their list in silence, with her giving directions as needed.

This house, secluded and out of the way, was larger than the first two. It was also the oldest of them all. An old farmhouse to be exact. A bit rundown and some of the rooms were small, but the last owners had done a great remodel. They had moved to California, leaving the house empty and ready to sell. The close would be fast, simple, and she was confident the owners would negotiate a much better price.

Even so, she could tell as soon as they pulled up, he wasn’t interested. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just admit that he wanted the last house. It was the perfect fit for him. His connection to the house had been written all over his face. Hell, she’d felt it too. That house was home.

He should just make an offer and be done with it. He hadn’t had a bad thing to say about it. He liked the colors, the kitchen, the finished basement, the fenced in yard…everything. Even so, they did the obligatory walk through in the empty farmhouse and left within a few minutes.

“Well?” She secured her seatbelt.

He started the engine and looked up one more time. “I don’t think so.”

“Would you like to go back to the office and look at a few more listings?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Okay.” She sighed.

As he started down the poorly paved road, he turned on the wipers, swiping away the huge snowflakes that just kept coming. “You don’t want to?”

“You liked the last house. You’re going to buy the last house. You know and I know it, so let’s make an offer on it.”

“I want to make sure it’s the right one.”

“It’s in the perfect location. The price is well within your budget. It had all the things on your list of wants.
And
I saw on your face that you wanted it. Stop being so wishy-washy and go for it.”

John cocked a brow and glanced at her. She was expecting a smart comeback when the Jeep hit a patch of ice. He managed to keep his cool as he lost control, and didn’t slam on the brake or jerk the wheel. Meg still braced herself as the vehicle slid toward the edge of the road. There were no guardrails between the road and the ditch—just a steep snow covered drop off that looked increasingly dangerous as they approached it. She was thrown forward and then to the right. She cried out when the side of her head cracked against the window.

It happened so quickly. Within a few seconds the car slammed to a stop, nose first in the ditch, and John’s hand was on her arm. “Are you okay?”

She winced as she put her fingers to her forehead. The throbbing in her head was sharp and intense, so much so that it took a moment for her to register the cut on the bone just above her eyebrow. “I think I’m bleeding.”

“Look at me.” He unhooked his seatbelt and pushed her hand away. His panicked eyes skimmed over her brow. “You’re going to need a stitch or two in that.”

“Great.”

He jerked his scarf from around his neck and handed it to her. “Put some pressure on it.”

“With your scarf?”

“Do you have something better?”

She put the material to her head and winced as she pressed against her wound.

“I’ve got a first aid kit in the back.”

Meg’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “You’re going to give me stitches now?” she practically screamed.

“No. But trust me, you’re going to want an aspirin. Is it just your head? Is anything else hurt?”

“No, I’m good. You?” She hadn’t even considered if he’d been hurt. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Sit tight.”

He pushed the door opened and climbed out into the cold. While he walked around the back and released the hatch, she flipped the visor down and looked at the wound.

“How bad is it out there?” she asked after he climbed back into the driver’s seat.

“I don’t think I can get us out of here. You don’t happen to have a tow truck company in your phone contacts do you?”

She made a face. “No. But I can make some calls.”

“Let me look at that first. I may be able to push us out, but I want to bandage this before I do anything.”

Meg closed her eyes when she felt his hands on her face. Despite the coolness of his skin, heat rushed through her. She didn’t want to react to him, but she couldn’t help it. No matter what had happened, how much time had passed, her body remembered his touch and wanted more of it.

His fingertips gently turned her chin, pushed her hand away, and then touched along her hairline. “Does that hurt?”

Meg frowned at the reminder that his touches weren’t of a personal nature. “No.”

“It’s still bleeding pretty good. Put pressure on it again.” Once she did, he said, “Open your eyes.”

His voice was soft but so full of concern that Meg had to swallow hard to find the strength to do as he said. Why did he have to be so close? Why did she have to notice?

His hand left her face and a moment later he was flashing a light in her eyes. While this was purely clinical—he was obviously checking her pupils—she felt as exposed as if she were standing naked before him. Damn. The memories that thought brought with it.

She cleared her throat and pulled away. “I’m fine, John.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I didn’t hit that hard.”

“You’d be surprised how little impact it takes to bruise a brain.”

His hand was on her chin again, gently forcing her to face him. The light flicking back and forth was a good distraction. She couldn’t see him as clearly, but she could still smell him, feel his hand on her, and feel small bursts of warm moist breath. All of which reminded her again of more intimate moments between them.

Finally, he turned the light off and dug in his kit for something else. A moment later he asked her to lower the scarf. She did and he touched her face again. Apparently satisfied that the bleeding had stopped, he applied a small butterfly bandage.

“There.” He dropped his hands from her face. “That should hold until we can get you to the ER.”

“The ER?”

“Don’t argue with me on this,” he said firmly. “You’re not going to win.”

She sighed when he set the first aid kit on the back seat and then put the gearshift into reverse. He gently pushed on the gas. The vehicle rocked slightly but didn’t move more than a few inches. He tried again. And again.

“Okay, I’m going to have a better look and see if I can figure out how to get us out of here,” he said. “Are you okay to wait, or should I call 9-1-1?”

She cocked her injured brow at him. She almost winced in pain, maybe did just a bit, but she refused to let him see how much that move had actually hurt. Instead, she climbed out and walked to the front of car to have a look.

The front tire had gone over a huge branch that kept the treads several inches off the ground.

“You were right,” Meg said when John came to stand beside her. “We’re going to need a tow truck.”