Page 39 of When You're Home
“Last week of April,” she responded automatically.
He nodded, accepting that the conversation was over. She knew he’d text her sometime next week to get the exact date and time, and she knew he’d be home for the appointment. He had driven her to her very first scans when she was sixteen years old, and he’d been with her for every one since. He knew how the anxiety of each appointment weighed on her, rolling in like the menacing clouds of an afternoon thunderstorm. The week before each round of tests—and the days afterwards as she waited for her results—felt unbearably heavy. He was the bright spot she could count on during what was always a tumultuous few weeks.
She never explicitly asked Rhett to come home for her scans, but she always scheduled the appointments on Friday afternoons or Monday mornings, and he always made a point of conveniently being home in Hampton those same weekends. It was an unspoken promise they shared: A way for him to be there for her without her feeling like she was asking too much. A way for him to love her without her feeling like she was giving him any hope for the future.
Chapter 24
Rhett
“Ohmygosh,itlookslikeMaddieishavingfunat home,” Tori gushed as she reached across the island for another piece of pizza. “Look at these,” she insisted, passing her phone across the counter.
Rhett quickly swiped through several pictures on Instagram of his sister and her teammates posing in their Hampton Lacrosse uniforms in front of their parents’ house. He zoomed in on the last picture: a selfie of Maddie and two of her friends with their Gatorade sports bottles held out.
He shook his head in disapproval and checked the clock on the stove to confirm it was only a little after six p.m. “It looks like they’re starting early tonight. Damn Gatorade bottles,” he muttered under his breath.
“And where do you think she learned that trick, Everhett?” she taunted him. He just shook his head again and smiled at her from across the kitchen island.
“I honestly think you get as much credit for that lesson as I do. You were her babysitter, after all,” he stated matter-of-factly. “And unlike Maddie Girl, we were younger than eighteen when we started helping ourselves to my dad’s bar stash.”
Tori grimaced at his recollection. “We were bad,” she deadpanned.
“We were so bad,” he replied with a flirtatious edge to his voice.
“But I wouldn’t change a thing about it.” Her words carried a level of sincerity that he wasn’t expecting. Sincerity, nostalgia, and a little sadness, too. As much as he loved to reminisce about their high school antics, it was hard to talk about that time without getting into the details of their breakup before college.
Not wanting to taint the moment, he swiftly changed the subject. “I have an idea,” he declared, pulling out his phone to check the Weather app. “If we head out right now, we can make it down to the swing for sunset.”
“Ohhh yes! Good thinking. Let’s go.” Tori bit off one more mouthful of pizza before hopping off the bar stool.
He reached for her hand as they walked out the door. She easily accepted, letting him lead her out of the cabin and down toward the water.
The lakeshore was less than fifty yards away from the cabin. There was a pebble path that led from the house right down to the water of Lake Erie. Thankfully the evening air was warmer than it should be for March in Michigan. He had forgotten to grab a layer in his hurry to get her out of the house.
“Did you come down here on your run?” she asked, dropping his hand so she could link her arm through his as they walked side by side.
“I did. I ran along the lakeshore for almost three miles before cutting through to the trail in the woods and circling back.”
Tori slipped her phone out of her pocket and slowed her pace. They stopped walking so she could take a few pictures of the hazy March clouds hovering low over the lake. He felt the pebbles through the soles of his shoes as he waited for her to line up her shot.
“I’m sort of jealous,” she admitted. “Not about the running, but I wish I would have come down here earlier today. This is one of my favorite places in the world.” She sighed, pulling his arm tighter against hers as they continued down the path.
“We’ll come back down tomorrow morning as soon as we wake up,” Rhett vowed, quick, as always, to try and please her any way he could. She squeezed his bicep in response.
“Do you think I should post this?” She held up her phone to show him one of the pictures she had just taken. The way the clouds reflected in the water during golden hour made the lake look ethereal.
He squinted to look closer at how she had framed the picture. “Yeah, definitely. That’s an awesome shot.”
They veered off the pebble path toward the wooden bench swing that sat just a few feet from the edge of the water. Rhett let Tori sit down first, then he positioned his body at an angle beside her so she could lean back on him. She finished adding a few hashtags to her post, then slid her phone back into the pouch pocket of his hoodie.
“Damn I love it here.” Tori sighed, dropping her head back to peer up at him. Rhett smiled down at her, brushing the hair out of her face. Her eyes stayed locked on him as he continued to play with her hair. Between the familiarity of the bench swing and the sound of the soft swells of water lapping onto the shore, a sense of calm settled around them. This was their spot. And for the first time in a long time, this was them. They weren’t sneaking around. They weren’t holding back. There were no gears turning, no tempering of their chemistry, no roles to play. Rhett felt more present and in his own body than he had in a very long time.
The difference was Tori. She hadn’t made any effort to push him away over the last twenty-four hours. More than that, she had shocked him over and over again by her openness this weekend, by her willingness to connect. For the first time in a long time, she had let him in and let him stay.
“You’re different this weekend, V.” He tried so hard not to put any sort of infliction to his tone.
“I know,” she admitted, gazing up at him. “Ifeeldifferent.” She ran her hand down the side of his jaw. She let one finger caress his lower lip, teasing him. Her touch was tender yet brazen.
“Wait, could I still be drunk from last night?!” she mocked, lightening the mood as quickly as she had intensified it.
