Page 13 of When Forever Stays

His words hit their mark, and I find myself believing them despite my freshly built defenses. This isn’t the time or place for this, and there’s too much to process. I’m exhausted, and he needs rest to recover.

“I’m not ready to talk about it yet.” The words are true but still choke me up.

He nods. “I understand. But just know I will make it up to you. Whatever it is.”

“What’s done is done. It’s in the past.”

“Then I will focus on our future.” He takes my hand and presses a kiss to my palm.

The breath catches in my throat. These small kisses feel so natural as if this is how life is meant to be. It makes it impossible for me to push him away. My head tells me I have to, but my heart begs me to drink him in deeper and deeper until I am drowning. Never mind. Bad analogy.

This isn’t the real Rhett. This is the Rhett who doesn’t even know who he is.

“Let’s just focus on the now where we work on getting you healed up and your memories back.” I pull my hand away, face forward, and put my car in gear to head home.

We drive in uncomfortable silence. Probably because the man who ghosted me is my newest house guest and I have no idea for how long.

I slow down as we drive past The Golden Sands where Rhett used to work.

“Does this spark anything?” I ask, glancing over at him with an encouraging smile before I focus back on the road.

From the corner of my eye, I can see him shake his head. “Maybe? Or maybe it’s just my mind conjuring up memories to try and brush off this amnesia.” His jaw tightens and he closes his eyes as if he’s trying to force the memories to the surface. His tension tangibly increases.

I reach across the space between us and gently pat his leg. “It will come back to you.”

“I hope so,” he says in a dejected tone.

Thankfully, it’s not long before we arrive at my cottage, and the discomfort of the short trip dissipates as I park.

After turning off my car, I turn and face him. “Let’s get you to bed.”

His lips slowly lift up at the corners. “Get me in bed, huh?”

My mouth drops open. “Inappropriate, Rhett. You know what I meant.” Before he can say anymore or cause the heat in my cheeks to totally ignite, I get out of the car and make my way to his door.

He swings his legs out and I help him stand. I grab his arm and drape it over my shoulders.

“I can walk on my own, but I much prefer this.” He pulls me in, and I too easily melt into him. His breath is a soft whisper against my ear, and I can’t mask the shiver of delight that courses over me.

I clear my wandering thoughts and arm my heart’s walls–this time with something a little bit stronger than tissue paper. “This is just so you don’t overexert yourself. Don’t get any funny ideas, Stryker.”

His responding chuckle comes straight from his chest and flows through me. “I wouldn’t dream of it, little siren.” I bite back my smile at his unique term of endearment for me.

As we step onto the porch, my phone vibrates, notifying me of a text. I remove my arm from around Rhett and take a step away.

I pull out my phone and see a text from Crew.

“Who’s that?” Rhett asks, a hint of something I can’t quite decipher in his voice. Then he shakes his head. “None of my business. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Just a friend.” I type out my response to Crew and then unlock my door.

I flip on the light and then cringe, remembering why I left him on the porch earlier today. Organized chaos fills my living room. Bibles, pens, notebooks, and highlighters are scattered around the space.

“What’s going on here?” Rhett asks as I lock the door behind us.

“I’m leading the youth group girl’s retreat.”

“And you bought all this stuff for the kids? There’s a whole bookstore’s worth of Bibles here.”

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