Free Where Forever Lies by Tara Neideffer

make it look like he
had to try and remember. If he was being honest with himself, he
hadn’t forgotten when she’d told him at the accident
scene. He noticed the way her long wavy hair fell around her round
face and the way her white shirt seemed to cling in just the right
areas. Her plaid shorts were short, but not too short, and showed off
her nice tanned legs. He thought she looked beautiful, and wondered
if she was dating anyone. He swallowed hard, his mouth feeling dry,
and wondered what had made him think that; he couldn’t remember
the last time that question had crossed his mind about a woman.
    Paige couldn’t help but
smile back at him. She had to admit, he had a killer smile. Every
time he flashed her that crooked smile, his dimples showed underneath
a hint of stubble. She felt herself blush and hurriedly said
something. “Good memory. It’s nice to meet you, again,
and that is my daughter Kyra over there on the jungle gym, pretending
she’s a monkey,” she smiled as she pointed towards Kyra,
squinting as the warm sun hit her face.
    “She looks like she’s
having fun,” Tyler said, as she watched Kyra swinging back and
forth on the swing. He looked at Paige from the corner of his eye and
saw the smile on her face as she watched Kyra play. He couldn’t
get past the look of love she put out towards her daughter. She
seemed like the type of woman who wore her heart on her sleeve. It
definitely showed on her face.
    “Hey, Dad! Are you ready?”
    He heard Brandon yell for him in
the distance, breaking him from his wandering thoughts. He seemed to
be doing that a lot lately, and mentally cursed his friends for
putting thoughts in his head about his miserable single life. It
wasn’t like him to let other people influence his way of
thinking. He was usually straightforward, knew what he wanted in
life, and had his whole life planned. He knew he didn’t have
much interest in dating and he’d been fine with staying single;
but lately he’d been finding himself thinking about how lonely
he was, how there was something missing. And now, here he was letting
his mind get to thinking too much about some girl he didn’t
even know. She was probably married, but as he nonchalantly eyed her
hands, he didn’t see any ring sitting there.
    “I’ll be right
there!” Tyler called over his shoulder to Brandon. He turned
towards Paige, not sure what to say. Seeing her again crossed his
mind, but he wasn’t sure now was the right time to say anything
so he settled for, “Well, it was nice to see you again but I’d
better get back to my game. I’ll have to take him home soon
anyway.”
    Paige looked over at Brandon who
was shuffling from foot to foot, looking impatient. She smiled. Typical boy ,
she thought. “Um, yeah, it was nice to see you, again.”
Paige gave him a small wave as she got up and headed towards the
swings where Kyra was. She thought she felt his eyes on her the whole
way, and to her surprise, she was hoping he was watching her. But, when she risked a glance behind her, he was
already back to shooting hoops with his son. She felt a hint of
disappointment at that, but then told herself it was crazy because
the odds of her seeing him again were slim. He was a country boy, she
could tell by his slight redneck twang and cowboy boots, and she
lived happily in the city where there was very little dirt and plenty
to do. They were two different people from different sides of town.
Chapter 7

    After
Paige got Kyra buckled into her car seat, she walked around to the
driver’s side of her car to get in, and watched Tyler and
Brandon walk across the parking lot to an old orange and white Chevy
truck. She thought the truck looked ancient and figured he must have
had to pull out his junk truck while his new truck was getting fixed.
    Brandon
was trying to wrestle with his dad and was punching him in the arm.
Tyler got him in a head lock, almost making them both fall to the
ground. Paige laughed and opened the