Page 22 of While You're There
Lia chimed in once again. “What kind of plans would those be, Tor?”
Tori glared back at her best friend for the dozenth time that hour. “I have to prep eighty canvases for Camp New Hope tonight. I already thinned out the gesso, so I can’t put it off without wasting it,” she explained coolly.
“And who’s helping you with that?” Lia asked without looking up from the envelope she was stuffing. It was a valid question. Her best friend had helped her with this task several times in the past, and Lia knew it was easier as a two-person job.
“You’re welcome to come over and help,” Tori replied, circumventing the question with an offer she knew Lia wouldn’t go for.
Whether she sensed the tension rising between the two women or she was solely focused on checking off her task list, Anne chose that moment to interrupt them.
“No worries, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have sprung all this on you. I’ll send you an itinerary for the next two weeks so we don’t mix up our schedules again. The next big to-do will be dress shopping. I have an appointment scheduled for all of us on Monday afternoon, if that works for you girls?” She was looking at Lia and Maddie now, who both nodded without looking up from their tasks. “Perfect. I have a seamstress coming with us so we can make alterations at the same time.”
Tori felt a slight tenseness in her chest, right over her heart. As much as she loved Rhett’s mom, the idea of picking out her wedding dress next week without her own mom there felt bittersweet. She inhaled deeply, steadying herself as the reminder of why her mother wasn’t around reared its ugly head in the corners of her mind.
“It sounds like you’ve thought of everything,” Tori marveled.
“Oh no,” Anne countered, her hands both raised up for emphasis. “I’m just the task master. This is all Everhett.”
Chapter nine
Tori
Fieldinglookedupfromhis canvas and gave her a megawatt smile. “I feel like I’m exceptionally good at this. If being a rich prick doesn’t work out for me in the long run, I just might have a future in canvas prepping.”
She watched as he carefully smoothed gesso over the wrapped edges of one of the last canvases, his forearm a chiseled display of lean muscle and tanned skin as he gripped the sponge and focused on making long, even strokes like she taught him a few hours ago.
Tori shook her head and laughed. “You’re such an ass. That, or you’ve been inhaling too many paint fumes. Want to get some fresh air?”
She didn’t wait for his reply before she made her way to the opposite end of the garage and pulled two camping chairs down from a shelf.
“Good thinking.”
“Let’s sit outside,” she suggested, already walking over to hit the garage button and fully open the door. She watched as Fielding ducked under the still-rising garage door, opening his camp chair and unfolding it with ease. Instead of sitting down, he turned and took the chair she was carrying out of her arms so he could open it for her. He set her chair down next to his own, close enough that the armrests almost overlapped.
“Was Dempsey in a better mood after I left the Valet House?” she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. She didn’t want to pry, but she’d been thinking about the waffle incident on and off all day.
“Yeah, he’s good now. It’s been a stressful week with our mom. I ended up crashing at Jake’s last night, so he stayed with her overnight and probably didn’t sleep much.” Fielding didn’t glance over or meet her gaze, instead resting his head against the low backrest of the camp chair and gazing up at the night sky. Tori focused on his profile as he stared up at the stars. The sky was clear tonight, and the air was cool with a slight breeze—the ideal temperature for sleeping with the windows open.It was a perfect late spring night in Ohio.
“Is your mom sick?”
Fielding blew out a long sigh. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to bring it up to Dem? Or to anyone, really?” She felt like she knew where this conversation was headed, but she resisted jumping to conclusions. This was a big enough deal that Fielding actually looked nervous, an entirely new look for him, and one she’d never seen before.
“I promise.” She reached the short distance between their chairs to squeeze his hand. He glanced down at their hands for a moment and smiled before lifting his eyes to meet hers. The intensity in his gaze registered as a pinprick of warning.Too far,she thought to herself as soon as she realized she was toeing the fine line of friendship. She feigned a yawn, pulling her hand away from Fielding’s so she could cover her mouth. She smiled back at him before settling both her hands in her lap.
“Second request,” he continued. “Please don’t think differently of me because of what I’m about to tell you. You can’t worry about me or act weird when we’re at Clinton’s. I swear, Tori, I’m always in control and aware of how much I’m drinking, and Dem and I do a good job of keeping each other in line. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it. Sometimes I’ll go a month or two without having a single drink just to prove to myself that I could do it if I wanted to. Or needed to.”
“I would never judge you,” she assured him. A single beat of silence lulled between them before Fielding spoke again.
“My mom is an alcoholic.” He said the words slowly and evenly, not letting any emotion inflict his tone. “And not like, a ‘sloppy drunk’ type of alcoholic. More like a ‘black out from alcohol poisoning and pill mixing a few times a month and have to be hospitalized’ alcoholic.”
Tori nodded her understanding but remained quiet, waiting for him to continue.
“It’s bad. It’s really bad. I don’t even know how it got so bad. She rarely drank when we were little. She might have had a glass of wine at dinner, but other than that, I don’t ever remember her with a drink in her hand. Fuck,” he muttered, scrubbing a hand through the mass of blonde curls on top of his head. He left his arm lifted, resting his hand on the back of his neck. “It’s crazy to think about that now that I say it out loud. Anyways, things got bad when my dad left, then things got worse when Dem and I went away for school. That’s why we both came back to Hampton after college. Well, that’s why I came back, and that’s why Dem followed.”
“What do you mean?” Tori cut in, her curiously getting the better of her.
“After winter break of our senior year of college, I decided I would move back here after I graduated. She’s a mess, but I know how to handle her, and at least then we would both know she was safe. I was prepared to do it alone. I could fucking handle it myself if he would just trust me… but Dempsey refused to let me move home by myself. He gave up a huge job opportunity to move back here with me. Then as soon as we got back into town, his fiancée called things off between them.”
“Dempsey was engaged?” Tori hush-whispered as she sat up straighter in her chair. She knew she shouldn’t interrupt him again, but she couldn’t help it.
