Page 125 of Delivery After Dark
“Ah, I see,” he said with a satisfied grin.
“You want to go with me?” The question was asked before she took two seconds to ponder whether it was far too soon to take him home to meet the family. Of course it was, but the thought of him powering through Christmas alone after losing his last remaining family member was unbearable to her.
“Oh, um, well… You won’t want me underfoot when you’re going to spend time with your dad and cousins.”
“I do want you underfoot, or I wouldn’t have invited you.”
“What will your dad say if you show up with some random dude for Christmas?”
“A, you’re not random. B, I’d prepare him in advance. C, he wants me to be happy, and if I tell him that being with Morgan makes me happy, he’ll welcome you with open arms.”
“Does being with Morgan make you happy?”
She gave him her best withering look. “Duh.”
“That’s very profound, Sierra. Thank you for being so articulate.”
“Ask a dumb question, get a dumb answer.”
Oh, how she loved what laughter did to his handsome face. It took years off, lightened him and seemed to relieve some of the terrible burden he carried. She vowed to make him laugh as often as she could.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I like how laughter looks on you.”
“Feels good to laugh. It’s been a minute since I had anything to laugh about.”
“I hope you don’t feel guilty for enjoying yourself. I had a hard time with that after my mom died. I thought, what’s wrong with me to be laughing and having fun when she’s gone forever?”
“I know that feeling all too well. Went through it after each loss and felt the same way. But what I’ve learned is that life marches on, and you have no choice but to pick yourself up and get back to it. What else can you do? Being a sad sack for the rest of your life isn’t going to bring back the person you lost, and it’s only going to waste the gift of time you have left.”
“Waste the gift of time. That’s well said.”
“Time is all we have, and you never know when you’re going to run out of it, so you have to make every day count. Billy and I talked a lot about that, especially after we lost our sister so suddenly. Her time here was cut far too short, so we made a vow to live fully in her honor, and we really tried to do that. I’ve thought a few times… maybe that was why Billy was on his boat in a storm. He thought it would be a story he could tell for the rest of his life.”
“How do you feel about that possibility?”
“It makes far more sense than him recklessly risking his life for no good reason. I just hope they were drunk as skunks during the worst of it.”
“Yeah, for sure.” She shivered, thinking about what they must’ve gone through.
“Do yourself a favor and don’t try to imagine it. It’ll give you nightmares.”
“Have you had them?”
“Yeah, which is why I try not to think about it.”
“Let’s go back to talking about you going home with me for Christmas.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She reached across the table for his hand.
He met her halfway and curled his hand around hers.
“I’m sure.”
Chapter 26
