Page 14 of Willow Vale

“Of course, kiddo.” He patted my shoulder the way he used to when I was a kid.

This time I was the one to throw my arms around Desmond’s middle, thankful he didn’t give me the cold shoulder when he had every right to do so. His chest rumbled with a chuckle before giving me a hug right back.

Such a simple gesture, and yet it brought tears to my eyes. Tears I had to fight off.

I was so used to doing everything on my own for so long that it felt weird to accept help for once. To ask for it. It feltgood to have it offered every now and then, even if it would be temporary. It made me feel a little less alone.

I might have been stretching all the rules I’d set for myself since agreeing to work at The Rusty Pint—seeing Travis again, and now his dad—but I told myself this was for River. He needed to be taken care of no matter what. Even if that meant I had to see Travis more than I wanted to.

CHAPTER 7

Travis

I stoodon the back porch of the main house of Silver Hill, watching the fields slowly get bathed in red by the setting sun. Nothing had ever made me falter the way the beauty of Silver Hill did at this hour, when everything was still. The ranch going quiet for a bit, except for the neighing of the horses coming from the stables.

But today, my thoughts were fixed solely on Delilah North. As they had been ever since she walked into my bar. I hadn’t been able to stop my thoughts from wandering to the past since then.

To us.

Back to the long nights we spent together.

“Isn’tit a little late to be driving out here?” Delilah asked me for the second time since we started our drive out to the willow tree.

“You scared something’s gonna come out and get you?” I grinned as I pulled up to our usual spot and put my dad’s old pick-up truck into park.

The moon was high in the sky, casting a bright glow around us where the branches hung low, leaves shifting in the faint wind.

“I’m never watching another horror movie with you guys again,” Delilah muttered under her breath.

“It didn’t take much to convince you to watch them with us. Besides, if you should blame anyone for your nightmares, it’s my siblings. Now, get out of the truck, Delilah.”

She rolled her eyes but hopped out of the truck with me. I noticed she stared up at the tree adoringly as she often did when we’d come here. Not as often as we did when we were kids, now that we’d been gone for school.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been back here,” I told her, walking up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her waist, tugging her against my chest. She turned in my arms to face me, her brown eyes meeting mine as a small smile touched her lips. A shy expression passing over her delicate features when I bent down to kiss her.

I chuckled. “No one is going to follow us out here, Delilah. Relax.”

Ever since that first kiss we shared on the back porch of Desi’s house on her birthday, I’d found it harder and harder to not kiss her whenever the urge struck. That night had been on my mind for weeks. One second, we were sitting together and laughing, and the next we were admitting to each other how much we’d missed being together. The kiss was awkward at first, both of us highly aware that we were toeing a line friends didn’t tend to consider crossing at all.

But then…everything shifted into place.

As if we were two lost pieces of a puzzle connected from the very beginning. No need to search to find the right one when it was already meant to be.

Delilah stared up at me, the full moon illuminating theflush on her cheeks. I ran my thumbs over them as she went up onto her tiptoes, her finger hooking onto the collar of my shirt to tug me toward her.

“You’re beautiful.”

She smiled, “You said that earlier.”

“It’s still true.”

When our lips met, it was soft and searching at first. My lips barely pressed into hers, but I knew I’d never get enough of her. I was starting to think it was impossible to ever get enough of Delilah North.

I tooka long swig of the cold beer currently clutched in my hand, feeling the droplets of condensation against my palm.

I didn’t have time to drown myself in the bittersweet taste or anymore memories of that summer when someone bumped my shoulder.

“What crawled up your ass on this lovely day, dear?” my brother, Finn, asked as he leaned against the railing with a shit eating grin. “I think you got more wrinkles since the last time I saw you. You should try to learn how to smile, it’d be good for you.”

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