Steal My Heart (Bachelors & Bridesmaids) by Barbara Freethy

school events. He usually left that to my mom."
    "I do remember your mother. She always made those caramel apples for Halloween."
    "She still does—every year. She's a great cook. At least you'll have a good dinner tonight."
    "That's something." As he stopped at a light, he glanced around the familiar intersection, which was just a few blocks from the high school. He would have turned right to go to his old house. On impulse, he did just that.
    "This isn't the way," Liz said.
    "Do you mind? I want to see my old house."
    He drove down the quiet suburban streets with big, shady oak trees and bits of his past flashed through his mind. He'd only lived in Palo Alto for four years, but they'd been happy years. He'd actually been able to start and finish high school at the same school. And his family had been happy then, at least until graduation.
    He pulled over in front of his former house, a two-story three-bedroom home. The yard looked the same. He could still remember popping his skateboard down the three steps off the front porch.
    "That's it," he said.
    "I know," Liz replied.
    "Did you ever come over?" he asked quizzically.
    "Of course not. I was not invited to your parties."
    "I don't think anyone was invited," he said with a laugh. "People just showed up."
    "The cool kids."
    He tipped his head. "Probably true. So how did you know where I live?"
    "My friends and I threw toilet paper at your house one night."
    "That happened about a hundred times," he said with a laugh. "You'll have to be more specific."
    "I think it was after one of the dances. In fact, I think there might have already been toilet paper in the trees when we arrived. You were very popular."
    "It wasn't fun. I had to clean it up."
    "The price you had to pay for being so loved."
    "You really hated me, didn't you?"
    "I don't know about hate. You just irritated me—a lot."
    "I know it looked like I had everything in high school. But that was part of my act. I changed schools a lot and I learned quickly how to make friends and blend in. By the time I got to high school, I was a pro. But it was harder than it looked to come into a new school." He paused. "I used to think the only person who had any idea there was more to me than met the eye was you."
    "Me?" She looked at him searchingly. "Why would you think that?"
    "Because you didn't look up to me the way the other kids did, and when I ran against you for president of the science club you actually asked me about my views on evolution." He smiled at the memory. "Nobody else thought I could even spell the word, much less explain it. But you actually spoke to me like I had a brain in my head."
    "I probably wanted to make sure you were qualified," she replied, offering him a rueful grin. "Or I just asked you that to try and show you up."
    "But it didn't work."
    "No, it didn't," she agreed. "You actually came up with a credible answer, and I thought good-looking and smart, too. It just wasn't fair."
    "So you thought I was good-looking?"
    "Fishing for compliments, Michael? That's beneath you. You have a mirror. You know what you look like."
    He laughed at her bluntness. "You are one of a kind, Lizzie."
    "Because I don't pander to your ego?"
    "Because you actually use words like pander ," he retorted. "Your intelligence is a little intimidating."
    "Good. I need every advantage I can get."
    Her words reminded him they were in a competition, and he was taking quite a detour into the past, but as he gazed back at the house, he could still see himself walking through those doors, yelling out he was home, flopping on the couch next to his mom while she watched whatever murder mystery movie was on the television.
    "Things were good here," he muttered. "I felt close to my parents in this house. My sister was already in college the last three years, so a lot of times it was just the three of us or just my mom and me. After graduation, everything went to hell. I found out that my parents had wanted a divorce for a while, but