As Good as the First Time by K. M. Jackson

Author:K. M. Jackson [Jackson, K. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-08-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The view never failed to calm her, and after that meal, calm was definitely what she needed. That and this cherry pie. This pie of Aunt Joyce’s was magic, the way it was soothing her nerves after enduring lunch sitting next to Clayton Morris. Really, the man could have chosen any of the twenty or twenty-five mismatched chairs today at that long farmhouse table, but he had to choose the one next to hers. Liv frowned. It was as if he knew exactly what to do to get under her skin. Was the fact that she was back in town some sort of new game to him? This thought pulled her up short, and her frown deepened. Though frustrated, Liv forced herself to smooth her features. At this rate, she’d age three years in the few weeks she was in Sugar Lake.

But the thought of Clayton Morris playing her for a fool was almost too much to take. Was he playing with her now? And more so, was what she thought they had when they were young just some sort of teenage game to Clayton, even back then? Just then, the wind picked up and she felt a prickly sensation on the back of her neck, and something, as if a strange calling, made her shift her head. Liv turned and glared. It was him. Of course. Well, she wouldn’t let him know he was getting to her. Not this time. Not anymore. She sucked in a breath, let it out, and smiled before taking another bite of pie and turning back toward the lake. This time the sweet cherries tasted almost sickly syrupy and stuck in her throat as the memory of the bitter pain of finding out he was gone, possibly never to return, that summer when she’d just turned eighteen and had come back to Sugar Lake ready to rekindle their romance came rushing back to her in his gaze. As hard as she tried, she’d never forgotten all they shared. The promises made their last day and night together. Of love, of the future and forever. She swallowed down hard, determined to get the stuck bite down, when Clayton’s voice reached her ears.

“I would say it looks like nothing’s changed, but you know as well as I that that’s not true.”

She turned and looked at him, shocked to find him so near. But he wasn’t looking at her as he spoke; instead he was watching the kids playing by the water’s edge. Once again Liv marveled over how very similar Clayton’s daughter was to him at that age. The vision gave her a conflicted knot in her stomach, and she hated herself for her intense, petty jealousy as shame engulfed her. How could she have anything but kind feelings and goodwill for Clayton’s choices? Look at what it yielded him. He had a beautiful little girl and a chance at happiness in life. How could she deny him or anyone that?

So what, she was the

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