Back to You by Priscilla Glenn Read Free Book Online

and she knew better. Lauren realized it was quite possible that he had changed too, just as she had, that he would no longer make the same mistakes he did back then.
    But she knew she would never risk herself long enough to find out.

    As Michael Delaney tucked his daughter into bed, his mind was a million miles away.
    “Good night, baby girl,” he said against her forehead before he kissed her there, and she reached up and hugged him around the neck the way she always did.
    “Daddy?”
    “Hmm?”
    “Are you sad tonight?”
    She was so observant. He should have expected her to pick up on his behavior.
    He pulled back and sat on the side of her bed. “No, I’m not sad,” he said, brushing her hair out of her eyes and pulling her blanket up a bit higher. “I’m just tired.”
    “Me too,” she said.
    “Well then, we both better get some sleep,” he said, standing from her bed.
    “Okay. Connor asked me to color with him today and I said yes.”
    Michael stopped on the way out of her room, trying to remember that they were only three.
    He turned in her doorway. “You know,” he said, “if Connor wants to take you out on a date, he has to ask me first.”
    “ Daddy ,” she said, rolling her eyes. “We’re too little.”
    Michael grinned. “Sorry,” he said, blowing her a kiss. “Night.”
    “Good night,” she murmured, rolling over and pulling her stuffed cat against her.
    He stood in her doorway for a minute, watching the rise and fall of her chest under the covers before he gently closed her door.
    And then he went and sat at the kitchen table, clasping his hands in front of his mouth as he stared blankly off into space.
    Lauren. He couldn’t stop thinking of her.
    She had always been pretty, but now there was a maturity, a confidence, a womanly quality to her that made her that much more beautiful.
    She still had that dark red hair, those impossibly long eyelashes, and those eyes. Forest green. But they could turn dark with protectiveness, or desire.
    Or pain.
    He had caused all three in her.
    Michael sat back in his chair as he ran his hand through his hair and exhaled, wondering if she’d forgiven him. It would be typical of her if she had.
    But he didn’t even know if he wanted her forgiveness.
    She had been civil today, but not amiable.
    Professional.
    That openness, that innocence, the unfailing and unconditional acceptance she had always shown him, despite what he was, was gone.
    She was the only one who had ever given him that, and he’d destroyed it. Consciously.
    Michael closed his eyes as he dragged his hands down his face, because as much as he longed to have that back, even for a minute, he hoped she hadn't forgiven him.
    He didn’t deserve it.

December 2000
    D el stood up against the lockers in the East Building, waiting for his friend Jay so they could cut fifth period and go down to the deli to grab something to eat.
    The other students skirted past him, giving him a wide berth, and he watched them, the way they chattered mindlessly, the way some of the girls flirted pathetically, the way a few of them eyed him like they didn’t know if they should acknowledge him or run.
    And then she walked past, glancing over at him and smiling softly before she stopped at her locker a few feet ahead.
    She had been doing that for a while now. Ever since he had defended her against that arrogant asshole in Health class a few weeks ago, anytime she saw him or passed him, she would smile.
    Once, when she had been entering the building as he was leaving, he held the door for her, and her shoulder brushed his chest as she smiled up at him and thanked him.
    And now she was at her locker, balancing her books in one arm as she worked the combination of her lock, blowing her breath out the side of her mouth every few seconds to get the veil of hair out of her eyes. He couldn’t stop watching her.
    She wasn’t like any of the other girls.
    It wasn’t just because of the sweet way she acknowledged him.