Now and Then Read Online Free Page A

for that light flush on her ivory cheeks.
    “Hi. I love this pla ce, I’m glad you picked it.” He had been to the sports bar once, and he didn’t remember what he’d eaten.
    “They have great chicken strips,” she said, piling a bulky canvas bag and her purse into an extra chair. He glanced over at the seat silently.
    “Drawing supplies,” she said, grinning. “Sometimes I walk down to the park on lunch and draw.”
    “Can I see something you’ve done?”
    “Sure,” she said, reaching into the bag. Cole admired her pride in her work. He couldn’t believe this was the same woman who had been unable to say hello to him as a girl.
    “This is a man I see in the park a lot,” she said, flipping the pages of the spiral bound book to a soft pencil drawing of an older man with a sad, lined face.
    “That’s beautiful, Em,” Co le said, awed by the life she’d infused into the drawing. “I had no idea you could do that.”
    “I couldn’t have done anything like this before art school.” She smiled as she closed the book.
    “How was that, living in Paris?” he asked.
    “I loved it. It took some getting used to, since I didn’t speak the language, but it’s an amazing place. I took train trips to Italy, England, Germany…”
    “Were you anxious to get back here when you finished school?”
    “I had mixed feelings about it. I considered staying, but my parents really wanted me to come back here. I missed them and Layla. A friend of mine in Paris, Andrew, lost his mother during our last year of school, and I realized then that nothing lasts forever.”
    “Yeah, you’re right.”
    “How do you like being close to your family again?” Emma asked, skimming the menu.
    “ It’s nice to be close, but not too close.” He smiled.
    “Y ou live downtown?”
    “Yeah, i n a high-rise a couple miles from here.”
    A blonde waitress strolled up to the table.
    “Know what you want?” she asked.
    “Why am I even looking at this?” Emma said, laughing and closing the menu. “I want the chicken strips.”
    “Me, too,” Cole said, passing his menu to the waitress. When she left, he looked at Emma intently.
    “Are you seeing anyone?” he asked, holding his breath as he waited for her answer.
    “Oh, no. No, I keep pretty busy with work and painting. How about you?”
    “No, I’m single. I work a lot.”
    “Well, you always had someone on your arm in high school. I don’t imagine you’ll be single for long.”
    From her, the words were a sweet compliment. Cole tried to banish the mental image of her on his arm. Emma Carson wasn’t even an option. A break-up would create awkwardness between their families, and the Carsons were his parents’ closest friends.
    The thought d idn’t keep him from noticing Emma’s alluring habit of toying with the curl at the end of a strand of her long hair, or from feeling a flicker of excitement every time her light brown eyes met his. The lunch passed quickly, and he was sorry when she said she had to get back to work.
    “It was great seeing you again ,” she said as they parted ways outside the restaurant. “I know Layla was glad to see you Saturday.”
    “Sure,” he said, unable to fe ign enthusiasm. Layla wasn’t the Carson sister who would be on his mind all afternoon.
     
    Then – 11 years ago
    Emma rolled her eyes when she looked down. One of her tennis shoes had stuck in a caramel colored stain on the concrete floor just as she was about to reach the gap of sunshine between the bleachers above her. She pulled her sole off the sticky spot and went the last couple of steps, staring into the slice of open space. The grass of the football field was an even brighter shade of green from this angle.
    “Eww … I stepped in gum,” Dani muttered with a frown.
    “Shh!” Emma warned, turning toward her. A janitor had caught them under the bleachers the last time they’d hidden there to watch football practice, and she didn’t want it to happen