“I’ll have a good enough day.”
Wink.
Gah! That wink.
Chapter Eleven
Dear Lost Fisherman,
I’m falling in love with you, again. But this time, you’re earning it, even if it’s not your intention. It’s not that I ever fell completely out of love with you. Timing … it really is everything in life. And I still struggle with all the things I was taught to believe. Are our lives predestined? Where does free will play a part? Are destiny and fate real? Or is it merely what we call events in life after we’re willing to acknowledge them, even if we refuse to accept them? I just … don’t know.
In the meantime, keep the smiles and winks coming my way.
Ten across: Seven letters. Clue: Awakening.
Rebirth.
“Hey, Rose. Where’s Rory?” I asked as I set my bag by the entry and slipped off my shoes after work.
Rose glanced back at me from the stove. “She’s having dinner with Fisher. The talk.”
I raised my brows. “Sounds intense.”
“She’s in an awkward position.”
I nodded. Seeing her stirring pasta, I grabbed a jar of sauce and emptied it into a pot. “She should have told his family and even Angie that it’s not her place to tell Fisher what to think or do.”
“Is that your unbiased opinion?” Rose shot me a look.
I smirked. “It’s been five years. I’ve had other boyfriends. Angie asked Fisher to marry her. Why would you think my opinion by this point would be biased?”
“Maybe because you were so easily able to articulate everything that Angie’s feeling. Like you have or are in her shoes. Like you’re in love with a man who doesn’t remember you.”
Keeping my chin down, gaze on the sauce as I stirred it, I shrugged. “Want to know what I think would be incredibly romantic?”
“I don’t know, do I?”
I released a quick laugh. “Probably not, but I’m going to tell you anyway since you’ve managed to keep my and Fisher’s secret all these years.”
“Lucky me. Then do tell. What would be incredibly romantic?”
“A true second-chance romance. Falling in love with the same person twice. Each time, feeling brand new. No memories of the first time. Just … something about that person that makes you fall in love with them. Every. Single. Time.
“That chilling kind of love that maybe does last more than one lifetime. The truest definition of soul mates. If I were Angie, I wouldn’t want to marry Fisher unless he did, in fact, truly fall in love with me again.
“Nothing forced. No timeline. No expectations. Just the butterflies in the stomach and insane giddiness of new love. If Angie loved him the way she claims to love him, she’d see that he’s not the same Fisher. She’d see the subtle changes in his personality. And she’d feel this indescribable excitement at the chance to get to know the new Fisher and fall in love with him all over again.”
Rose turned off the burner and rested her hand on my wrist to stop me from stirring the pasta sauce.
I looked over at her, the lines of concern along her face and the intensity—the concern—in her eyes. “Oh, Reese, you’re going to get hurt.”
On a nervous laugh, I shook my head and continued stirring as her hand dropped to her side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You didn’t see them. Before his accident, you didn’t see them. They were in love. You can’t be that person, the one who tries to steal another woman’s man.”