Page 25 of When You're Home
“What’s going to happen between you guys once you move to Virginia?”
Rhett knew exactly what was going to happen. Tori had made that abundantly clear. When he moved, they were done for good. That was it. That was the end. It would be over—all versions of everything they ever shared. It was part of the original arrangement, and after this weekend’s showdown, he knew she would stand firmly in her decision to walk away. He didn’t know how he would let her go. Not in a few months. Not ever. But he couldn’t think about the inevitable. Not when there was still time to try and convince her otherwise.
“Hell if I know,” Rhett lied, turning into the school and heading toward the doors closest to the weight room. “Where am I supposed to park?”
Maddie pointed straight ahead.
“Look. I know you’re just being protective, and that’s sweet, but you don’t have to worry about Tori. Her and I… we’re solid. She tries to push me away sometimes, and we fight like an old married couple, but for me, it’s always been her.”
Maddie was quiet for a moment. She took a long sip of her drink before nodding.
“I know that, but that’s what scares me. She has a lot of power over you, Rhett.”
Rhett grimaced, silently agreeing with her acute assessment of his life. Sometimes he forgot she was only eighteen, then other times, like now, he couldn’t believe she was only eighteen. Maddie was wise beyond her years when she wanted to be. He was glad he had stayed home to see her this morning.
Rhett finally broke the silence by pulling her in for a hug. “I love you, sis. Here, take your keys and have a good day at school.” He hopped out of the car and made his way around to the trunk to fetch her bag.
“Thanks for the ride. And the coffee. And for staying home for me this morning.” She grinned back at him, accepting the gym bag before heading toward the weight room doors.
Rhett took a minute to stretch out his hamstrings, using the car for balance. She was right—it was really cold this morning—but he knew he wouldn’t feel it by the end of the first mile. He set off on the course he knew by heart, ready to lose himself on his run and be done thinking for now.
Chapter 16
Tori
5 Weeks Later
“Getyourcutelittlebuttuphere,birthdaygirl!!”
Tori smiled as she closed her car door. She had turned off the headlights as soon as she pulled into Perry Farm, not wanting to disturb Lia’s sleeping parents or the cows out in the pasture. She walked along the gravel driveway toward the first outbuilding. She knew without calling out to them that was where she would find her two best friends.
“I’m twenty-four years old today, you guys,” she called up as she approached the ladder on the side of the pole barn. “At what age are we officially too old for this?”
Tori and Lia had been climbing up to sit on the overhang of the machine storage building since they were teenagers. The pole barn faced east, with the overhang extending away from the main house. They figured out in middle school that they could say they were going to check on the animals and disappear for at least a few hours without anyone coming out here to look for them. Many, many memories had been made over the years on the Perry Farm, a lot of them on this very roof.
“We’ll never be too old to par-tayyyyy!” Cory shouted. Tori heard Lia shush him before dissolving into a fit of giggles. All three of them had left work at the same time tonight, but Tori wanted to go home and change before coming over. She hadn’t realized her best friends would already be three sheets to the wind by the time she arrived.
She reached the top rung of the ladder and hoisted herself up onto the roof.Seriously.We’regetting way too old for this.She didn’t want to verbalize her concerns in front of Lia again. They each had their own hang ups about getting older. With each passing year, Tori got closer to the age her mom was when she was first diagnosed with cancer, and Lia got closer to her parents’ retirement and her inevitable future of taking over for them.
The Perrys’ cattle farm had been a fixture in Hampton for three generations. Lia would make it four. She was an only child, like Tori, held in place in a small town by the weight of her parents’ expectations. Lia hadn’t bothered going to college, much to the chagrin of the guidance counselors at Hampton High. She proudly skewed their post-graduation data. But what was the point, she always argued, when she knew her final destination would be right back where she started?
“Hey!” Cory greeted her excitedly. “How was your day, birthday girl?”
He shifted over a few feet to make room for her. Cory had been a surprise to both of them, a fast friend and the missing link they didn’t know they were missing. He was the sunshine to Lia’s misery and Tori’s skepticism. It may have been Tori and Lia in high school, but it was the trio of Tori, Cory, and Lia now.
“Meh? Birthdays aren’t really my fave,” she reminded him, pulling her knees close to her chest as she settled in between her friends. The steel grooves of the pole barn’s roof felt particularly cold through her leggings tonight. They usually didn’t come up onto the roof until at least May.
“Okay fine, but that cake Mike ordered, you gotta admit that was incredible. Plus shots!! I’ve worked at Clinton’s for two years, and Mike has never given me free booze!” Cory was clearly tipsy, but this level of enthusiasm wasn’t out of character for him. He really was this excited about everything, always.
Lia smirked but stayed quiet, sipping on the can of beer in her hand. No one offered Tori a drink, but she wasn’t offended. They knew better than to waste their breath. She so rarely drank, and she had already turned down booze once earlier that night.
Cory was right: Mike didn’t go all out for anyone else’s birthday, yet for some reason, she was supposed to believe he had ordered her favorite cake from a bakery in Cascade Falls. They had all gathered around the bar and demolished the thing at the end of the night. Mike gave Jake the go-ahead to pour everyone a birthday shot (and then Jake took Tori’s for her, because he was good to her like that and didn’t want to put her in an awkward situation). The whole night was fun and celebratory, which she appreciated. It still didn’t change the fact that she was another year older, another year closer to twenty-eight.
She let out an involuntary sigh. Lia wrapped an arm around her in unspoken understanding.
“What’d your dad get you for your birthday?”
“New tires.” She smiled at her best friend through the darkness.
