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her arms again. “I’m putting her to bed. Thanks for the lift. You don’t have to stay.” Her voice coolly dismissed him.
    He shut the door behind him, and she heard his truck start as she got to the top of the stairs. Then it finally dawned on her that he hadn’t spoken one single word since leaving the hospital.
     
    *
     
    Jason slipped off his white coat and hung it on the hook on the back of his office door. All day at the clinic he’d seen clients and their pets, ordered lab tests, smiled and joked with his staff. He’d eaten a quick ham sandwich in the kitchenette in the basement, then had taken an hour to run the deposit to the bank and make a drop-off at the lab. An ordinary day.
    Every minute of that ten-hour day, he replayed last night’s kiss.
    What had he been thinking, anyway? Molly wasn’t the same Molly he’d fallen in love with as a teenager. He’d known that the minute he’d opened the door to her.
    She was a hotshot lawyer now, making scads of money with a high profile oil and gas company. She’d waltzed back home in expensive clothes and an exclusive attitude. She didn’t realize she’d become snobby, he was sure of it. But the years away had changed her. She acted like being back east was something to be tolerated. Like it was a little behind in terms of progress and sophistication. When she’d left for bigger and better things, she’d made it clear that Fredericton, that Jason , wasn’t good enough for her. She hadn’t wanted the life that he’d planned for them.
    Yet for a moment, when he’d reached around her to unlock her door last night, he had been transported back to nearly a decade before. The smell of her hair, the feel of her body as she’d leaned back against him, just a little. Something they’d done a hundred times before. He’d nuzzled her hair and, carried away with the moment, had pressed a small kiss to her scalp, her ear. He hadn’t expected her to turn and kiss him. He hadn’t expected to kiss her back.
    He hadn’t expected it to feel like she’d never left.
    The staff had all gone home, and it was only Jason and the kenneled animals left in the quiet building. He gave them one last check, then turned off the reception lights and set the alarm. He took out his key and, in the frosty air, turned it to latch the deadbolt. His breath formed clouds and he remembered the feel of her cold lips against his. That feeling, her taste… They were as familiar as if they’d been happening every day for the past six years. Kissing Molly had raised his pulse to a nervous hammering, had opened his heart until something similar to hope had slammed in.
    He hadn’t thought there was any room for hope in there anymore.
    He knew there wasn’t hope in there for Molly.
    He shook his head and started up his truck, letting it warm up before putting it into gear. Kissing Molly had been a terrible mistake. Because hope was the last thing she could give him. And it was the last thing he wanted. She would only hurt him again. He knew that as surely as he knew he’d never truly gotten over her.
    He entered the dark house, feeling a little lonely. He sighed, cursing Molly’s return. For a few short days, it’d been nice to have Sara there with him, her bubbly chatter filling up the empty space and giving him a purpose.
    All those years ago, he’d dreamed of coming home to Molly at night, to a warm, cozy house and their children. It had broken his heart to suddenly realize she didn’t want those things, not the way he did. As time had gone on, he’d nearly forgotten how much he longed for a family of his own until the last few years, living next to Kim and Sara. Sara was a dream child—bright, precocious, darling. As he turned on the light, Bubbles trotted over. The little ball of white fluff was insanely happy to see him. He crouched and ruffled the dog’s curly fur.
    “Hey, you.” He chuckled as the dog pushed her head against his hand. “You hungry?” He stood, filled the