The Lost Fisherman (Fisherman #2)(21)

Rebirth.

“Hey, Rose. Where’s Rory?” I asked as I set my bag by the entry and slipped off my shoes after work.

Rose glanced back at me from the stove. “She’s having dinner with Fisher. The talk.”

I raised my brows. “Sounds intense.”

“She’s in an awkward position.”

I nodded. Seeing her stirring pasta, I grabbed a jar of sauce and emptied it into a pot. “She should have told his family and even Angie that it’s not her place to tell Fisher what to think or do.”

“Is that your unbiased opinion?” Rose shot me a look.

I smirked. “It’s been five years. I’ve had other boyfriends. Angie asked Fisher to marry her. Why would you think my opinion by this point would be biased?”

“Maybe because you were so easily able to articulate everything that Angie’s feeling. Like you have or are in her shoes. Like you’re in love with a man who doesn’t remember you.”

Keeping my chin down, gaze on the sauce as I stirred it, I shrugged. “Want to know what I think would be incredibly romantic?”

“I don’t know, do I?”

I released a quick laugh. “Probably not, but I’m going to tell you anyway since you’ve managed to keep my and Fisher’s secret all these years.”

“Lucky me. Then do tell. What would be incredibly romantic?”

“A true second-chance romance. Falling in love with the same person twice. Each time, feeling brand new. No memories of the first time. Just … something about that person that makes you fall in love with them. Every. Single. Time.

“That chilling kind of love that maybe does last more than one lifetime. The truest definition of soul mates. If I were Angie, I wouldn’t want to marry Fisher unless he did, in fact, truly fall in love with me again.

“Nothing forced. No timeline. No expectations. Just the butterflies in the stomach and insane giddiness of new love. If Angie loved him the way she claims to love him, she’d see that he’s not the same Fisher. She’d see the subtle changes in his personality. And she’d feel this indescribable excitement at the chance to get to know the new Fisher and fall in love with him all over again.”

Rose turned off the burner and rested her hand on my wrist to stop me from stirring the pasta sauce.

I looked over at her, the lines of concern along her face and the intensity—the concern—in her eyes. “Oh, Reese, you’re going to get hurt.”

On a nervous laugh, I shook my head and continued stirring as her hand dropped to her side. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You didn’t see them. Before his accident, you didn’t see them. They were in love. You can’t be that person, the one who tries to steal another woman’s man.”

“Like you stole my mom?”

She deflated.

I shut off my burner and set the spoon on the small plate as I blew out a long breath. “Rose, I love you. I love you with my mom. And I think things turned out exactly how they were supposed to turn out because you didn’t give up on her. You never thought you were taking something—someone—who wasn’t yours because you knew, you just knew she was, in fact, meant to be with you. What if I know? What if he’s meant to be with me?”

She gave me a sad smile. “What if he’s not?”

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t delusional, just hopeful. “Then he’s not.”

“And you’ll stay out of the way?”

“If he falls in love with her, if he decides to go through with the wedding, then I will stay out of the way.”

“I’m worried you’re going to play unfairly.” Rose frowned.

Coughing on a laugh, I shook my head. “It’s not a game, Rose. It’s real life. I don’t even know how I could play unfairly. I’m not the one living with him. I’m not the one sleeping in his bed. I haven’t told him that we were more than friends, more than employee/employer because I want him to fall in love with me, not a bunch of memories of an eighteen-year-old girl.” There. I said the quiet part aloud. I wanted Fisher Mann to fall in love with me … again.

Angie gave him her whole damn body, a million photos, a million memories and stories of life since they were kids. I was a huge underdog. All I gave him was cruciverbalist. So if that trumped everything Angie gave him, then I thought everyone needed to back the hell off and let the two geeky word peeps have our happily ever after.

If …

I knew it was a big if. An unlikely if. Maybe even an impossible if.

But here was the thing (it was an important thing), if a fifty-micrometer sperm could join with a point-one millimeter egg and result in an entire human being, then two cruciverbalists could fall in love … twice.

“It might be time to tell Rory.”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing to tell. The past is the past. And here in the present, there’s still nothing to tell. But if anything changes and becomes something to tell, I will tell Rory.”

“You promise?”

“Promise. Now, let’s eat. I have to take some crossword puzzles over to Fisher tonight, after Rory gets home, of course.”

“Reese …” Rose shook her head and rolled her eyes.

I grinned and shrugged. “Hey, he asked me to bring him more puzzles. No big deal.”