Free That Touch of Magic by Lucy March Page A

how sorry I am.”
    I felt like my lungs were caught in a vise. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t speak. And, just like old times, when I couldn’t do something, Leo stepped in and did it for me.
    “None of it happened because I didn’t love you,” he said, his voice stiff. “I need you to know that.”
    “Oh, I knew that,” I said bitterly. “One of the classic signs that a man loves you is when he runs off and doesn’t speak to you for ten years.”
    “I didn’t think you’d ever forgive me. I didn’t think I could ever do anything for you but bring you pain, so…”
    “So … you went into the priesthood?” I shook my head. “That is literally the worst reason to become a priest.”
    “Yeah. Found that out. Thanks.”
    There was a hint of a rueful smile on his face, and I almost laughed with him for a moment … almost  … and then it all hit me again and the anger raged through me. The shoes started to slip out of the crook of my arm, so I just threw them on the ground. Screw it. The clutch and dress bag followed and, freed from my burdens, I advanced on him. I must have looked pretty scary because this time, he stepped back, eyes wide.
    “You son of a bitch!” I hollered. “You left me!”
    “I know.”
    I put my hand flat on his chest, and felt his heart beating under my fingers, and a wave of pain crashed into me so hard that I thought I was going to fall over. How did he do that to me? Still? Shouldn’t that have gone away over the years? But no, there it was, the same as always. I touched him, and my body physically altered. It was like …
    … magic.
    “It was us, ” I said quietly, my voice low and faltering. “You know how many people get this, what we have? No one, that’s who. And you threw it away. How could you do that?”
    It took him a moment to answer, and then he said, “I hurt you.”
    “You don’t know what I felt. You don’t know what you did to me. You were gone. ”
    “No.” He placed one hand gently on mine, pressing it against his chest. “ Before I left.”
    I stared up at him, my mind reeling. And then, I hit on something that felt like a missing puzzle piece. “What? You left because you slept with that girl?”
    He stared at me for a moment, looking confused. “Well … yeah. Why did you think I left?”
    The memory of that night flashed through my head. I’d thrown things. I’d screamed. I’d cried. I’d been ugly, the way that my mother had always told me I was ugly when I was a kid.
    You may be physically beautiful, Stacy, she had said, so many times through my childhood that it became like a chorus in my brain. But you’re vicious and angry and ugly inside, and no one can love that for very long.
    “I thought…” My voice cracked and I stared up at him. “I thought you saw me.”
    He shook his head. “Saw you what?”
    I pulled my hand away from his chest at the same moment that he reached out to touch my face. His hand froze in midair, and I took a step back.
    “What do you want from me?” I said.
    He took a deep breath. “Nothing. I just…” He blinked. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately. Working through things.” He let out a short laugh. “I have a therapist.”
    “About ten years too late,” I said, unable to cut the edge in my voice.
    “Yeah.” He nodded, all seriousness. “I screwed up, bad. And you’re right. I hid, and the closer I got to taking my vows, the more I knew I’d screwed up. So I got out, and I got a job, and I worked on things. Now I know who I am again, and I’m not wasting time hiding anymore.”
    I took a moment to process this, and then I said, “Okay. Well, good for you. I’m glad you … found yourself or whatever. But that has nothing to do with me, so—”
    “It has everything to do with you.”
    I looked up at him and shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
    “I came back because I thought … seeing you…” He released a breath. “Dr. Roth said that when I saw you, I’d