She crossed her arms and smirked. “Uh-huh. You flew to New York to talk about an article?”

“You know how serious I am about literature.”

“I read it,” she said. “I thought it was fascinating. I love that the couple adopted their embryos out to friends. I have an interview scheduled with them next week, so thank you for that. I think I can finally put this story to bed.”

I smiled. I knew she would like that. “What was your favorite part?” I asked.

A slow grin spread across her face. “When they introduced their children to their new biological siblings, who had different parents but would grow up right down the street.”

Now it was my turn to grin. “I love that line where she says something about how when she looks back on her life, that’s how she’ll always remember her children. Her son and daughter meeting these new baby twins, the awe of that moment, the serendipity of it all.”

Amelia looked at me for a long moment. I couldn’t quite read her expression.

“When I think of you,” she finally said, “it isn’t as a baby in a bassinet or as the annoying neighbor kid who squirted me with the water gun. I mean, I can think of you all those ways, of course, and I love that I can. But it’s that day when you were lying over me on the beach and the water was dripping off your chest onto me, and all of a sudden you were grown-up. And you said—”

“ ‘You’re okay, Amelia,’ ” I interjected softly. “ ‘I’m not going to let anything happen to you.’ ”

If only she knew how many times I had thought about that moment. I moved closer, my eyes on her eyes, testing the waters. I touched her cheek, dipping my toe into the shallow end. I was in that moment all over again, all those years ago, my face so close to hers, our breaths in time.

It’d be the simplest thing to lean into her, let my lips touch her lips. But I didn’t. Not now. Not yet.

“Hey, Lia?”

“Yeah?”

“Want to go to dinner with me?”

She smiled and nodded. I reached out my hand to her, and she took it. It was perfect. It was a start. And if anyone needed a fresh start, it was us.

Amelia FALLING TOGETHER

PARKER AND I HAD THE best dinner ever. We had finally taken this spark between us out on the road, and it had been as electric as I had dreamed. I’d been charming, effervescent even. He had been as handsome and adorable and as sweet as any romantic hero. And then he walked me home, our fingers intertwined, his hand strong and steady and capable in mine, fitting there so nicely that I wondered why we hadn’t been doing this the entire time. And then we were standing close together inside the doorway of my apartment, and I knew what was going to happen next. My mind was racing with thoughts of us on the dock, the heat between us, the urgency.