Free Letting Go (Vista Falls #3) by Cheryl Douglas Page B

beginning, I was looking for someone who liked to do all the fun things you and I used to do together. But it didn’t take me long to realize that probably wasn’t the best idea.”
    “Why not?”
    “I couldn’t help drawing comparisons.” Gabby smiled at Paula when she set their drinks down, promising their food would be up in just a few minutes. “It was subconscious at first. I didn’t realize I was doing it until we got into a fight one night and he told me he was sick of being compared to you.”
    Colt was shocked, but he wasn’t about to let an opportunity like that pass. He wanted to know more. “You’d talk to him about us? The things we used to do together?”
    “No, not really.” She took a sip of her water. “But we’d go to parties and events around town, and he’d hear me talking to high school friends about some of the crazy stunts we pulled, things we used to do together for fun. Our friends didn’t mean to be disrespectful to my husband, but they couldn’t talk about the old days without mentioning you. You were a huge part of my life, a big part of all of our lives.”
    Colt had never expected to feel sorry for her ex, but competing with some faceless dude who’d been his wife’s first couldn’t have been easy for him. “I guess I never thought too much about our friends after I left. It was easier not to, you know?”
    “Was it easier to just forget about me too?”
    “I never forgot about you, Gabby. You know that.”
    Paula returned with their food. “Can I get you kids anything else?”
    Colt smiled, thinking how long it had been since someone had referred to him as a kid. In a lot of ways, it was nice to return home to the people who’d known him way back when. “No, I think we’re good. Thanks.”
    “Actually”—Gabby bit her lip—“it’s been ages since I’ve had a vanilla milkshake.”
    “Coming right up, hon,” Paula said before hustling back to the kitchen.
    “God, I forgot how much you used to love those things.” Colt grinned. “Those and banana splits.”
    “Yeah, I can’t indulge the way I used to though.” She patted her flat stomach. “I swear something happens to your metabolism when you turn thirty. You can’t eat the way you used to unless you’re willing to sweat it out in the gym, and that is not my thing.”
    “No.” He brought his burger to his lips. “I remember you liked to work up a sweat other ways.”
    She blushed before popping a fry in her mouth. “You are so bad.”
    He liked that he could tease her again, that things seemed to be getting easier the more time they spent together. Maybe they could make this friends thing work… if that was his only option. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Paula returned with the milkshake.
    As she took a sip, Gabby’s eyes widened before she groaned. “God, this is so good.”
    “Anything that makes you moan like that must be.” He chuckled when she shook her head.
    “Want some?” She extended the straw, reminding him of the days they used to come to this very diner and she’d share her decadent treats with him.
    “Sure.” There was something intimate about watching her while wrapping his mouth around the same straw she’d used. “You’re right. It is good.” He licked his lips. “Even better than I remember, but then a lot of things are.”
    She withdrew her glass and took another sip before she set it down. “Does that mean you like being back here?”
    “I do.” He hadn’t expected to feel at home, yet he did. “I’m thinking it could work this time, especially if you and I can figure out a way to be… friends?”
    “Is that what we are?” She took a bite of her tuna melt. “Friends?”
    “I’d like us to be. Wouldn’t you?”
    She nodded. “Yeah, I would.”
    He raised his glass and tapped it against hers. “To good friends, the kind who know all your deepest, darkest secrets.”
    She smiled. “To friends.”
     
    ***
     
    Gabby was dying for Colt to