Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Asa.” I said his name, unsure if it was a greeting or a question.
“Looks like you’re getting ready for something,” he said, taking in my appearance.
“Lawton graduation,” I told him.
“Ah yes, I forgot about that. I didn’t get a Lawton graduation. Covid stopped that,” he replied. “I…” His shoulders lifted and fell with a sigh. “Look, I know you’re busy and I should leave you alone to get ready, but I don’t think I can. I need to talk to you.”
I reached out and opened the screen door for him. When he took it from me, I stepped back and let him come inside. He was right that I needed to get ready, but this was also Asa telling me he needed to talk to me. I had an Asa weakness that hadn’t gone away over time. I was accepting that now, just as I needed to accept this was fleeting. He was leaving.
Asa didn’t walk very far into my house. He stopped just inside, and the smell of his cologne was so dang sexy I wished he had stayed outside. Now my house was going to smell like him.
“I took the Spanish teacher position and offensive coordinator coaching position at Lawton today,” he said, turning to face me.
Of all the things I’d expected him to say, this was not one of them. “Oh” was what came out of my mouth as a response.
He smirked then. “Yeah, ‘oh,’ ” he echoed.
I shook my head and smiled. “I’m sorry. You just surprised me. I didn’t know you were interviewing for a job at Lawton. I thought this was the last place you wanted to be.”
He gave a short laugh and ran a hand through his hair. The way his bicep flexed as he did the small movement caught my attention. He wasn’t leaving. I would see him every day at work. This was slowly sinking in, and so was my panic.
“I didn’t intend to take the Lawton job, until… well, until you decided to stay in town. I thought I wanted to work at the larger high school offering me a position in Georgia. I could say I’m surprised by my decision, but the truth is I’m not,” he said.
I stood there staring at him at a loss for words. I wasn’t sure what my words should be, because the truth was not something I could speak right now or ever.
“Hell, it’s been five years. One would think my seeing you again wouldn’t affect me. That I would have been over you by now. I thought I was. Then I saw you and nothing had changed. The way you make me feel. My inability to think of anything other than you. My need to be near you. It’s all still right fucking there. I am connected to that football field, and coaching kids on it will mean something to me. But that is not why I took this job. I want to be here because I want that chance now. The one we were too young to take. I want to prove to you I’m not that kid anymore that you can’t trust. The one whose life had screwed him up.” He took a step toward me, and his hand reached out and brushed mine.
“My last words to you five years ago were ‘You’ll always be the one.’ I didn’t know then how true they were. But they are. I hadn’t wanted to say good-bye to you because it sounded so fucking final. I couldn’t do it. Deep down I knew then one day I would get that chance. I needed to run from this place and the pain here. You needed to chase your dreams and go your way. But we are both back. We did those things, and we are back where it all began. You don’t have to say anything today. I just needed to tell you.” He stepped back again, and then I watched as he turned to leave.
He was leaving? After all that? I hadn’t even had a chance to say anything. Although I had needed a moment to get my thoughts together and accept that this was real. It was happening. I wasn’t daydreaming.
“Yes,” I blurted out. “I want that.” I said the words while his back was turned for fear I would lose the nerve when he looked at me again.
He turned back around, and the smile on his face made his eyes twinkle. I was expecting him to respond, but he took three long strides toward me, then his massive hands cupped my face just as he lowered his head. “You might be a little late to graduation,” he whispered, then his lips touched mine and the world faded away.
The boy I had loved from afar for years, and then witnessed his darkest moment and fallen in love with, had never left my heart. I knew loving the man he had become would be too easy. Life has a funny way of coming full circle even when you are determined to go another path. I was thankful for fate. Because fate had brought me home. To Lawton, to my family, and to the man I was meant to love.