Page 89 of Starting Back
A wide grin split her mouth as she shook her head.
“A bottle of the house white, please. Thanks, Missy.”
After the waitress left, Kristina leaned in closer to the table.
“Laying it on a little thick tonight, no?”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t love it,” I lifted our joined hands and brought them to my mouth. “Where did you go just now?”
“What do you mean?” Her brow crinkled as she tilted her head.
“When we were talking about Keith being a good guy. You seemed to drift for a minute.”
“Oh, it just made me think of something. Between Connie mentioning my dad’s name and thinking about what he sees…”
She tore a piece of bread from the loaf and set it on her plate, picking at the crumbs.
“My father had a heart attack while he drove home from watching the Yankees game at his friend’s house. They said it was massive and immediate, which I hope it was since he crashed right after.” She took in a deep breath and leaned back. “Keith was on duty at the time and told everyone not to call the family until he said. He drove out to my brother’s house, then they picked me up, and we all went to tell my mother. He didn’t want any of us to be alone when we heard.”
The waitress came back to the table to fill our wineglasses. Kristina didn’t add anything else before she took a long sip.
“Sorry, that’s not good date conversation. Sometimes the memories just hit you, you know?”
“Don’t be sorry. The whole point of taking you out is getting to know you better.” I reached for her hand again, squeezing until she gave me a smile. “I mean, I do know youprettywell already, but…” I lifted a brow, smiling when her shoulders shook with a chuckle. “I’m sorry about your father.”
She nodded, her green eyes glossy when she lifted her head.
“I’m sorry about your parents too. You were young, but I would think the same thing happens to you.”
“Why do you think I’ve never been back? My mother’s best friend keeps in touch with a Christmas card, even though I kept changing addresses.”
“Why don’t you visit? I’d come with you.”
“We’ll see,” I said, lifting a shoulder. “My father once told me how afraid they were to move up there.”
“Afraid?” Kristina’s brow furrowed. “Why?”
“He and my uncle took night classes to get their electrical engineering degrees for a promotion, but when they couldn’t get one, they started looking for work outside the city. My uncle found something upstate, and my father took a job in New Hampshire. Both places were a huge change from New York City, but they wanted Gabe and me to live where we could have big yards to play in.”
I was allowing the memories of my parents in more than I ever had, and that was a big step.
“My father said the town, at the time we moved in, wasn’t very diverse, so he wasn’t sure what to expect. The day we moved in, the neighbors all swarmed us with pies and welcome casseroles, plus gifts for me. I was still a baby, so I don’t remember any of it, but I grew up with huge parties and barbecues, always going back and forth to neighbors’ houses. They were all like our family.”
“Kind of like how it is here.”
“We had the decency to wait until December to celebrate Christmas, but yes.”
Kristina burst out laughing, the sweet sound distracting me from the ache in my chest.
I never talked about New Hampshire, but again, something about Kristina made me want to tell her everything, the good and the bad that I’d kept locked up until now. But talking about my hometown was one thing. Actually going back there, seeing where we’d lived and the people we used to know who may have been left seemed like more than I could handle for now.
Kristina’s smile was warm and sweet and still drew me all the way in. She was a balm to all the cracks in my scattered soul.
“If and when you’re ever ready, my offer will still stand, okay? I bet you still have friends there. Probably some brokenhearted girls, too.”
I laughed when her brows shot up.
“Are you saying that you want to make out with me in bars out of state too? That does offer some incentive. And I know, babe,” I whispered, grabbing her hand again. I’d spent so many years mourning the life I was supposed to have that looking forward to my life now was still a strange feeling.
