Ezra.

Lara's P.O.V

On the drive home, thoughts about Tanner flooded my mind. I hardly kept up with the conversation. That guy, Ezra, looked so much like him yet different in some ways. Eyes that used to resemble the ocean were replaced with a green shade, where Tanner had light brown hair that hung like a curtain. Ezra had black hair still curtain-shaped but so much shorter.

His smile was slightly crooked and Ezra had a beautiful trimmed beard. He walked with a slight limp, and he didn't even give me the time of day; no smile, no hello, nothing. After Jacky dropped Riley and me off at our apartment, she promised to be there in the morning bright and early and that my new car would be arriving in the next week. I thanked her and headed up.

"So, how do you like my new job?"

I asked Riley, once we were seated at the dinner table. I made something light... Riley can be one hell of a picky eater.

"I love your job. Do I have to start school? I don't think I need school to become a racer."

He whispered. The thought of Riley mounting a bike one day gripped my windpipe.

"Yes you do, and there are better jobs for you out there than racing."

"But I love motorcycles, you never let me do anything fun."

"Oh buddy, it's just that I don't want to see you get hurt."

He mumbled something I didn't quite catch under his breath. The accidents I have seen over the past years, Tanner's accident. I didn't ever think that one day my son would take such a keen liking to the deadly thing.

Tracey: Hey babe, how was your first day?

Lara: Jacky just took me to the club to show me around. I start tomorrow.

To say that Tracey took our move to New York City lightly would be an understatement... she threw a f*****g hissy fit about it, but after a few hours she simmered down and made me promise to keep a room for her when I finally bought a house here.

Tracey: Oh. any lookers?

Lara: A few, but you know I'm not ready for that, yet Riley is still so young, and I haven't even told him about Tanner yet.

Riley was now safely tucked into his bed and already off to dream land.

Tracey: Girl, that boy is old enough! Stop using him as an excuse to not get back into the dating world. He needs a father figure, someone that will show him the ropes, and I'm not saying that you can't do that. You grew up wonderfully without a father, but he is a boy. Someday there will be something you won't be able to explain to him. 

Lara: Not yet, okay, I'm not giving up on the dating world. I just want someone that will want to be there for Riley and me.

Tracey: Listen for now, get your juices going. If the opportunity arises, go for it. You don't have to introduce Riley to anyone you don't want to. I'm surprised your joints down there are still working. They haven't been oiled in so loooong. You know how car motors seize up when you haven't oiled them?

She says dragging out the word and I roll my eyes. She never makes me forget about my motor, which hasn't been oiled again after Riley.

Lara: My joints are working just fine down there. Thank you, I'll call you tomorrow after work. Love you.

Tracey: Yeah, yeah, says the 6-year-old almost virgin again. I love you too, and give Riley a kiss for me.

That night, I went to bed with a head full of thoughts from my past, the things I had to endure without him, raising Riley as a single parent, the constant daydreams about how things would have been had Tanner been in our lives, the nights we spent together... and I wondered did he even think of me? Did he gain back his memory enough to remember the times we shared?

Then I end up crying myself to sleep. He used me for his own personal gain. He was engaged during the time that he was seeing me and when he was f*****g me. I could go through all the notions about how come I never picked up on the fact that he was with someone other than me, or how I could have been so stupid, but I gave up on torturing myself that way.

All it did was leave me feeling even more broken and confused, and my baby needed me. Riley wasn't an easy baby to begin with either. He drove me nuts with all his crying. Yes, I had help. My mother and Tracey were always around, but they had their own lives to live too, so at night when I was alone, raising a colic baby was tough.

Most of the time, it made me feel like I was doing something wrong, like the kid just didn't like me plain and simple, but some nights when he was calm and asleep, I found the joys in motherhood woman spoke about... counted his little fingers and toes over and over, tried to spot myself in him.

Ezra's P.O.V

The woman I saw walking out with Jacky intrigued me so much I ended up going to see her in her office because of old injuries. I needed to know more about her. As I made my way to her doctor's office just a few doors down from the gym at the club, I thought about the woman I had at home.

I'm engaged to Jasmin Orlando, a strikingly beautiful red-headed woman. Any man would praise the ground she walks on until they get to know what kind of woman she is. That doesn't mean I don't like her. She helped me through my recovery and has been there every day, but I wasn't in love with her.

And every day that past I couldn't understand what the old me saw in her. What about her made me want to marry her in the first place? Or was she at home? She loved to shop, but Jasmin didn't intrigue me as much as this woman did. Her name was engraved on the door. Dr Lara Huston, I knocked once and her soft voice told me to enter.

"Ezra James."

I said with my hand stretched out to her once I entered the room.

"Lara Huston, how can I help you today?"

Small sparks shot up the palm of my hand when she touched me.

"I was hoping you could check out my neck. I had an accident some years back, and it has been bothering me ever since."

She squinted her eyes at me, then rose from her seat.

"Do you mind if I have a look?"

"Of course."

"Of course you mind or, of course I can have a look?"

She asked me, smiling.

"Of course, you may have a look."

I stood up and sat down on the bed. She pointed out to me. She napped on some gloves and I felt slightly disappointed. I wanted to feel her bare hands on me again.

"Shirt"

She whispered and, if I'm not mistaken, she blushed a little.

She went ahead and checked my shoulder, asking me questions about my accident, but because of my short-term memory loss there wasn't much I could tell her about the accident, so I told her the story Jasmin and my mom told me.

"Car accident. I was drunk and lost control of my vehicle on my way home from a pub. Don't worry, no one got hurt but me. I drove into a tree."

"You're lucky, most don't make it out alive. Some more therapy and regular massages will help relieve your pain. I can prescribe some pain meds too."

She looked at me and the urge I had to kiss this woman right here right now almost got the best of me.