WHEN WE TOUCH Excerpt

★★★ EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT ★★★
WHEN WE TOUCH
By Tia Louise
© TLM Productions LLC, 2017
Everywhere, Sept. 5, 2017

~ Ember ~

Last night he was in my bed, in my dreams. He’s only ever been in my dreams—for more than ten years. Now he’s standing in front of me, flesh and bone, in the middle of my store.

Like he can just walk back into my life…
Out of the past…
Just like that.

He doesn’t move. He only blinks at me, seeming stunned. He reaches up and slowly pulls the cap off his head. He cut his hair.

All of these things happen so fast, until my daughter’s words break the spell.

“Can I play, Mommy?”

Jackson’s blue eyes move down to her and up to me again, down and up as if putting us together.

“Yes,” I say softly.

She scoops up the plastic bucket, marching to the large table like nothing is happening, like I’m not spiraling through space.

In my peripheral vision, I see Tabby’s hand cover her mouth, but my brain still hasn’t recovered from the lightning strike. It takes a few more breaths before I’m able to speak.

We both speak at once. “What are you doing here?”

His voice adds a depth to my softer one. It’s a vibration that echoes in my core. My breath comes in pants, but from somewhere inside me rises a strength I didn’t know I possessed. I take a step to the center of the room, in his direction.

“I never left.” An edge is in my voice.

He shakes his head his eyes never leaving mine. “No. That’s not right.”

He looks to my daughter, who has climbed onto the long bench by the window pulling her pretend baking dough out of the bags. Tabby twists her long brunette curls into a cute little bun on her head, and she starts to sing one of her made-up songs as she pats the dough in her small hands.

She’s pretending to be me. She’s always pretending to be me, and I watch as his expression turns slowly to confusion and then anger.

My teeth clench and all the past is consumed in a tidal wave of protective rage rolling through my chest.

“It’s time for you to go.” My voice is level, and his eyes are back on mine. I’m not smiling. “I don’t know why you’re in Oceanside, but there’s nothing for you here. Not anymore.”

The words twist pain in my stomach, and I watch as he passes a large hand over his mouth. The muscle in his jaw flexes, and he puts the cap back on his head, going to the door.

* * *
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