Page 96 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Our rings.

He kept them.

“I figured since your dad had Damien reach out to me to get you here, he must not know what happened after he contacted Astrid’s lawyer.” Pushing himself closer, Went snags my left hand from my lap and pushes the diamond eternity band he gave me the day we got married onto my ring finger. “Don’t worry, Sunshine,” he says, looking up at me with a sheepish grin. “We’re still taking it slow. I just thought?—”

“I don’t want to take it slow.” Taking his ring from him, I slide it on his finger, my eyes welling up with tears. “You said we’re not going to hide the way we feel. That we’re going to say what we want and I want you. Every day, for the rest of my life.”

“Thank fucking Christ,” he says with a relieved laugh. “Because I’m kinda obsessed. You’re never getting rid of me.”

“If I ever run, you better chase me,” I tell him, choking back a sob.

Cupping his hand against the side of my face, Went brushes his thumb across my cheek, catching an errant tear. “You won’t even make it out the front fuckin’ door,” he promises me with another soft, lingering kiss. Pulling back, he gives me a flat, almost apologetic smile. “You ready to do this?”

Am I ready to do this?

No.

I left my mother and little sister with only a note, telling them goodbye and I left my father with nothing at all. No matter the reason I’m here, I can’t imagine any of them will be too happy to see me.

“Not really,” I answer him honestly. Sitting back with a sigh, I pull my legs into the cab of the truck. “But we better get going anyway. It’s a long drive and I’m sure they’re expecting us.”

Wentand I spend the two and a half hour drive talking about nothing. I told him stories about the trouble Luke used to get into as a kid, like the time he somehow managed to put a pair of our mother’s underwear on the statue of Elias Barrett in the town square and the time he thought he was the Lone Ranger and jumped off the hay loft and tried to land on Two-tone’s back.

For every story I told about my brother, he countered with one about his little sister, Delilah. About how she stole a horse from the stable in Central Park and rode naked through Strawberry Fields or how she went Viral on twitter last year for a video of her dancing topless on her penthouse balcony in Spain.

Before I knew it, we were driving into the valley.

Passing Main street, I crane my neck to look out the window, noting that nothing has changed. It looks the same as it did six years ago. Same buildings. Same businesses. Same people

“Want me to pull over,” Went asks, shooting me a concerned look from his side of the truck. “Get your bearings before we?—”

“No.” Settling back in my seat, I give him a faint smile. “I’m okay.” Reaching for his hand across the console, I look out the window. “I want to get there before dark.”

Lifting my hand to his lips, Went kisses the back of it. “Okay.” Keeping ahold of my hand, he keeps driving down the long, winding dirt road that leads to the Barr TT. Passing under its arched sign, I see the house in the distance. The paddock and stables. The barn and outbuildings. How will my mother andAbbey run this place on their own, once my father’s gone? Even with Damien’s help, it seems like an insurmountable task.

Whatever comes next, Went promised you’d face it together. He’s never lied to you, not once. Trust him.

At the end of the drive, Went turns toward the house and I see my mother standing on the front porch. Abbey and my father aren’t with her. She’s waiting for us alone.

“Someone in town must’ve called ahead and told her about the enormous black truck headed for the ranch,” I say to myself more than to Went. Turning in my seat, I look at Mook over the back of it. “Best behavior, Mook,” I tell him in my stern, dog mom voice. “Got it?”

Mook turns to press his nose against his already hopelessly smudged window with a put-upon sigh.

Rolling the truck to a stop next to my father’s, Went shifts into park and kills the engine. “Ready?”

Nope.

Still not ready.

“As I’ll ever be.” Giving him a queasy smile, I reach for my car door.

“Get your hand off that door handle, Sunshine,” he tells me while popping his own door open. “Your mother’s watching.”

Dropping my hand with a laugh, I watch while he circles the front of the truck to open my door. When my mother gets a look at him, her eyes go wide, either because of the tattoos or the fact that Went is almost as big as the truck he just jumped out of. Still laughing, I turn toward the door as it’s pulled open.

“I think I scared your mom,” he stage whisper while he wraps his hands around my waist to lift me out of the truck.

“She hasn’t fainted yet,” I say while moving to open the door for Mook. “That’s a good sign.”

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