War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy (latest ebook reader .TXT) 📕

before Paisley. He was here for her now, and he’d do whatever it took to make up for those years apart.

Chapter 10

“I appreciate you letting me set up here today. Ty’s probably being overcautious, but I’m still nervy about being by myself.”

Ivy shut the door behind Paisley and bent to scrub Duke’s ears. “It’s no problem. Where better to hang out and write than a house with two other writers? Besides, now I can ask all my nosy questions.”

“I knew that interrogation was coming.” A part of her was glad of it. She had some of her own questions, and she didn’t think she could ask Ty. “At least ply me with coffee first.”

Ivy led the way toward the kitchen. “I will enjoy the second-hand coffee fumes.”

“I thought pregnant women could have one cup a day?”

“Doc says yes. Baby says, Ha ha ha ha! No! I’m considering an espresso-scented candle.”

“That might just make me sadder. Where’s Harrison?”

“Already in the writing cave.” Ivy pulled out a couple of mugs and gestured to the coffee pot before turning on the kettle for herself. “He still keeps early hours after all that time in the Army. He’s usually had a run, breakfast, and his first hit of caffeine by the time I surface.”

Grateful she didn’t even have to wait for it to brew, Paisley poured herself a cup. “Ty was a morning person even before the Army. I’m reasonably sure that means he’s from another planet. But he uses those hours to my benefit, so I can’t really argue.”

“Oh really?”

Paisley laughed. “I didn’t mean that. Although yeah.” She definitely couldn’t argue with a sexy start to her morning, even if it meant she’d be jonesing for a nap by two. “He took me to school back in the day, and he’d always bring me coffee in a travel mug. And on Mondays, he’d stop and pick up donut holes so the morning would suck less.”

“That’s really sweet. I have to admit, I’m having a hard time picturing high school Ty. The version I’ve known has always seemed…stony and taciturn.”

“He was less serious, but still kind of quiet until you pulled him out of his shell, which I was really good at.” Paisley sipped, smiling as much at the memory as the hit of delicious caffeine. “He had a chivalrous bent, even then. It’s how we met, actually. I was the new girl in school that year. My parents were big into throwing me into the deep end to make friends, so I was at the Homecoming Dance alone, feeling awkward as hell. This asshole started hassling me, and Ty shows up with punch, pretending to be my boyfriend. So, I did what any red-blooded girl would do in that situation.”

“Played along.”

“I kissed him. At which point we both forgot about the asshole. It was a damned miracle Ty didn’t spill the punch all over us both because I shocked the hell out of him.”

“Wow. What happened to the asshole?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t see anybody else after that because I’d just been struck by lightning. Ty’s hair was practically smoking, so I knew I wasn’t alone in that. I told him he was my hero and that was more or less it. We were just together after that. Back then I thought we always would be. He was my first love, and I couldn’t ever imagine being with anyone else. I’d picked right, straight out of the gate.”

Ivy joined her at the counter with a cup of tea. “I’m starting to understand how you became a romance writer.”

“It was really great fodder for it, that’s for sure.” But it hadn’t stayed that way. “After we graduated, I thought we had the whole summer ahead of us before we headed off to college. Garrett and Bethany got engaged, which was a shock to no one. They’d been together since the fourth grade. So, one night, Ty picks me up and takes me down to our spot by the river. There was this romantic picnic and Ty starts talking about the future and how much he loves me.” Even remembering, Paisley’s heart began to thrum with anticipation. “Any second, I was expecting him to get down on one knee and propose. And instead, he tells me he and Garrett have enlisted and that they’re aiming for Special Forces. I thought I’d misheard him. We were leaving for college in two months. What the hell was he talking about? He went off on this whole tangent about duty. I didn’t understand it. In my world there was absolutely nothing more important than love. It turned out this had been in discussion for months, and he hadn’t said a word to me.”

“Ouch! Was all the romance supposed to soften the blow?”

“He wanted to make it clear that making the decision to end things wasn’t because he didn’t care about me, which wasn’t at all what it felt like at the time. And he wanted to talk me into staying together until it was time for him to go, making the most of the time we had left.”

“Was that the end right there, or did you get your summer?”

“I held on. Did everything in my power to change his mind. In the end, nothing stopped him from getting on that bus.”

“That must have been awful having him choose the Army over you.”

“It was devastating. But it wasn’t the Army he chose over me. It was Garrett. He’s the only one Ty loved more than me. And I get it. They were brothers from diapers. Nothing was more important to him than having Garrett’s back. Which isn’t to say he didn’t feel he had a duty to country, but I don’t think it would have been strong enough to make him enlist on his own.”

“Did you resent Garrett for that?”

“No. He didn’t make Ty choose.”

“He could have chosen to try to make it work.”

“We wouldn’t have made it. Ty understood that before I did. He made the