Page 35 of Falling Back to You

When I returned to the house, Ozzie was sitting on the porch stairs. “You okay?” He knew I wasn’t, which was why he was waiting for me.

“Yeah, just tired.”

“If you want, Maple can stay with me for another night.”

I knew he was trying to be helpful, but the offer angered me. “I’m fine and more than capable of taking care of my child.”

“Never said you weren’t.” His thick Southern drawl was relaxed and should be soothing instead of riling me up. “Not everything is an attack.”

“Then why does it feel like one?” I was always on the defensive. I didn’t mean to be; it was just in my nature.

“That’s a you question, Dial, not a me question.”

I dropped down, sitting next to him and changing the subject. “I guess thanks are in order.”

“For what?”

“For pulling this all together. I know Sundays are your only full day off, and you went to a lot of trouble to make this happen.”

“I’m glad we did it.” He nudged my shoulder. “You know if something’s wrong, you can tell me?”

My only response was a jerk of my shoulders.

“I can’t fix it if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

“I’m not asking you to.” When it came to Ozzie, I couldn’t stand to be near him, but I hated the thought of being without him. I’d claimed we needed to move on, but it was easier said than done. We had a deep history, and the thought of just throwing that all away seemed wasteful.

He slapped his thigh. “Let me show you a magic trick.” Raising his hands, he wiggled his fingers. “I have nothing in my hands.” He turned them to show me his palms. “Now watch these hands closely—don’t take your eyes off ’em.” I followed his left hand as it inched toward my ear, and when he pulled back, he held up a shiny half-dollar. “Ta-da.” This trick was solely for the purpose of putting a smile on my face, and it worked.

“Is it embarrassing to admit I still don’t know how you do that?”

“What, make the coin appear?”

“Yeah.” That, and his ability to make me feel less alone. Ozzie was my lighthouse, and when shit got stormy, I looked at him to ground me. And I could admit that sometimes I used him as a punching bag to distract me from the real problem.

The sounds of merriment from the house grew louder when someone turned on music. “You know I told Daddy at least ten times this porch needs a swing, right there.” I pointed to the left side of the front of the house. “There, you get the best views.”

“You could get one for your house.”

“My porch isn’t big enough for a swing. That’s why I have the Adirondack chairs.”

Ozzie wasn’t just my ex-boyfriend—he was my former best friend. Which made our relationship all the more difficult. I could get married and have three more kids, and somehow I’d still find myself on a porch with Ozzie. And that was precisely why we needed to keep our distance.

He cleared his throat several times before saying, “Hey, I wanted to tell you something before you heard shit from someone else.”

The muscles in my jaw tightened and a sense of dread zapped the remainder of my energy. “What?”

“I’m bringing Melodie to Fancy and Edison’s housewarming party.”

My heart stalled in my chest. Sure, I’d said we needed to see other people, but when I said it, I was talking about me. I needed to reenter the dating pond—in Hume we called it a pond because the pickings were so slim—and he needed to pine over us for a little bit longer. Selfish, yes, but I couldn’t stomach the thought of his moving on and leaving me here in this purgatory.

Nodding thoughtfully, I ran through potential responses. Melodie Gouche, who’s dated half our senior class and some of the faculty? Twice-divorced Melodie who insists on sporting cleavage at Sunday service? “I think that’s great. She’s a nice girl.”

His jaw flexed. “Yeah, I agree.”

“It’s good you mentioned it, because I’m… also bringing a date… too, also.”

“Really, who?”