When 20-year-old Kara Bennett moves to Boston to escape her post-high school drama with her daughter, she didn't expect to fall straight into it in the form of Austin Mayer.
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All Kara Bennett...
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WHEN WE ARRIVED AT THE PARK, AUSTIN WAS SITTING ON A BENCH WITH MAX.
I gripped Sophie tighter at the sight and my stomach clenched in alarm. I was playing with fire. I should have stayed away from Austin Mayer, yet I invited him today to meet Sophie. My morals were messed up but my guard went down whenever he looked at me the way he did—hopeful, dorky and with those shiny pair of eyes.
His eyes resembled Mila's. They were the same shade but they were shining with different lights. I took a deep breath as I wrapped Daisy's leash around my wrist and approached them. Sophie was eyeing around until her gaze landed on Austin and her lips broke into a smile.
I lagged behind after putting Sophie down and watched her fall into Austin's embrace with a cheerful squeak. I flinched as I unconsciously dug my nails into my skin. I tended to do that a lot when I was a teen, to the point when it became an unhealthy obsession and my arms were full of nail marks. Funny enough, Mila was the person who made me stop it—not because she gave me a motivation talk but when she cringed at my arms, I felt too embarrassed to do it again.
When Austin gaze landed on mine, I realized I thought too much of Mila when he was around. This wasn't healthy because with her, old me was crawling back, too. How could someone who looked like her make me feel so different? He offered me a smile and stood up with Sophie. "Hey."
Daisy yanked me forward to sniff Max. No, Daisy, you have to keep me on my feet. "Hi," I said. Then, we stood like that for a stretching moment, and I wanted to break the tension but didn't know how to start. We hadn't really talked before. It was either me mad at him or vice versa.
"Daisy likes Max."
Sophie's innocent comment came to our rescue. "Yeah," Austin said with a chuckle. "Max seems to like her back." He dropped her and Sophie walked to the dogs and started playing with them. When the attention was back on me, I decided to sit on a bench.
Austin sat beside me with a safe distance and looked ahead. "So, how have you been?"
"Floating."
"Floating? I like that." After years of drowning, I liked that as well. "Thanks." I shot a glance at him in surprise. "For this. For agreeing to this. I can see how difficult it is for you—you're stiff." I loosened my shoulders that I didn't even realize were stiff. That made him laugh. "I want to know you," he said next, taking me by surprise. "You, plural. Sophie is brilliant; she's just...so smart and full of life. She gives me a spirit." I smiled. "And you,"—he looked at me intensely—"I think we could be good friends."
I was more into the way he looked at me than what he said. I blinked away to tear my gaze and let out a fake laugh to hide my shock. His eyes passed through me—got under my skin. "Yeah," I said. "I mean, we could, and Sophie likes you. That's a good thing in my book." I glanced at him to find him watching me. "Since our best friends are dating, it's also more convenient for them that we are getting along. Sarah is kicking my ass whenever I'm mad at you."
