“So? Age has nothing to do with it.”
“No? Hmm. I guess I stopped believing in a lot of things a long time ago.”
Her brow creases as those dark eyes flick back and forth between mine. “Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Where to begin, that is.
“Yes, you do.”
“I’m serious. I don’t—”
“Dean…” She turns my face back to hers when I look away. “You can trust me. You know that, right? Sure, I might’ve talked you into marrying me, but I haven’t told anyone, and that’s a really big secret to keep.”
“That’s true.” I grin and trace my thumb along her cheekbone.
“So tell me.” Her hand slips to my neck, and I swallow hard. “Your secrets are safe with me, I promise.”
I’m sure they are, but confessing them isn’t as easy as she makes it sound. I’m not the type to just open my mouth and divulge. Especially not shit I’ve kept buried for as long as she’s been alive.
“One thing,” she whispers. “But you can’t tell me you don’t believe you’ll ever fall in love, because I already figured that out.”
Oh really? Maybe she’s not as smart as I thought she was. “One thing. Then can we drop it?”
She nods, but I know better. I’ve always known better where she’s concerned, not that it’s stopped me.
“Fine.” I huff out a breath. “I used to believe in ghosts. When I was a kid.”
“Go on.” She strokes her thumb over the tendon in my neck.
“My Aunt Terry—my mom’s oldest sister—got custody of me after the accident. She moved me up to Montana, and she put me in the bedroom my mom stayed in when she’d visit during the summer as a teenager. I swear I could feel her there sometimes. Like she’d come to me at night.”
She presses a palm to her chest. “That’s so sweet.”
“Eh. Eventually, I grew out of it, and in hindsight, it was probably just my aunt coming to check on me when I was half-asleep. Regardless, it gave me comfort in those early days after losing my folks, so believing served its purpose.”
“My heart hurts for that little boy,” she whispers. “I wish I had known you back then.”
“Why’s that?”
“You must’ve been so lonely.” Her voice is gentle and genuine, like she actually gives a damn.
“I did all right, sweetness.” I shrug. Always have. One way or another. And when this thing with her ends, I’ll be fine, too.
Like my mother’s ghost, it’s a lie I’ll keep telling myself, because for now, it’s what I need to get through.
chapter 16
TESSA
“Ican’t believe you’ve never been to Boulder. Didn’t T.J. grow up here?”
Dean and I walk hand in hand toward my favorite café bright and early the next morning. The sidewalks are still damp with morning dew, the traffic is quiet, and the sky is clear and blue. Basically, it’s a perfect day.
“Nope. He’s from a small town just west of here. I visited plenty as a little kid, mostly before he was born, but we never came into Boulder.”
“Ah, I’ll have fun showing you around then.” I’m tempted to hold him hostage in my apartment all weekend and ravage him every chance I get, but that doesn’t seem fair, considering we spent most of the night doing exactly that on the couch before we crammed into my modest full-size bed.
“You’re from Bear Creek, right? How far is that?”
