Page 35 of Infinite as They Come
He nodded. “I can do it if you’re there. Will you come with me?”
“Of course I’ll come with you. I’ll be there if you want me there, Sawyer.”
“I want you there. I want you everywhere.”
Eyes a little wet, I gave him a smile. It was a small one. Barely there. But it was the only one I could manage in that moment. “I want you everywhere too.”
Chapter 10
Holly
Me and Sawyer had been sitting in the truck for almost ten minutes now trying to distract ourselves. We played I spy and very quickly ran out of things to spy. We went through the glovebox and looked at some receipts Sawyer had kept over the years. We used my pen to draw stuff on the back of said receipts and tried to get the other person to guess what it was. I drew a pig, and Sawyer thought it was “that fucking weird green thing fromGhostbusters”. We had officially run out of things to do.
“This is gonna be so fucking awkward,” Sawyer muttered. “It was awkward last time. It’s gonna be even more awkward this time.”
“It’ll be strange,” I said, reaching over to rest my hand on his thigh. “Strange and hard and uncomfortable, but…”
“But I need to do this. Iwantto do this. I have to.” And then he looked over at me. “And I can do it if you’re with me.”
Smiling, I gave his thigh a squeeze, the muscle hard underneath my fingers, even through the thick material of his jeans. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Sawyer grabbed my hand, held it to his lips, and gave it a soft kiss. We hopped out of the car after that, hand in hand as the sun beamed down on us. It was a nice day out: not too hot, not too cold, with just the right amount of breeze surrounding us for it all to feel perfectly comfortable. I could see Linda on the bench as we walked. She spotted us too and stood up fast, a smile spreading across her face as she crossed over our way.
“You guys came!” she said, her voice bright, but I could hear a hint of reliefin her words. “Thank you for coming. I… I wasn’t sure if you’d come…”
My chest felt all sore when she said that. I could see the regret in her eyes as they glistened for a tiny second. She blinked hard, like she was forcing the possibility of tears away, and I could hear Sawyer let out a sharp breath next to me. My hand squeezed his tight.
“We said we would, right?” Sawyer said, looking over at me, and I offered him a nod. “We wanted to come. The both of us.”
“Well, I’m so glad you did.” She clasped her hands together. “Spencer wouldn’t stop talking about seeing you. Again. You really are his hero, Sawyer.”
“Oh,” Sawyer said, giving his throat a clear. “Cool. Uh, where is he?”
“Over there in the corner.” She pointed to the left side of the park. “That’s where all the garden beds are for the flowers. Spencer’s in there every weekend planting stuff. Spencer, Sawyer and Holly are here!”
I could see his little head pop up suddenly. He pushed his glasses up his nose and stood up, making a slow walk over toward us. He was a lot smaller than I remembered, with little hands that he used to wipe on the fabric of his shorts as he stood by his mom.
“Say hi,” she said.
“Hi,” Spencer said, voice so soft.
“Hey, Spencer,” Sawyer said lowly.
The sweetest, tiniest smile spread across Spencer’s face. It showed up quickly and disappeared just as fast. He was too cute. All dark, messy hair that was a little on the longer side. Just like Sawyer’s.
“Spencer’s working on some flowers today,” Linda said, running a hand across the top of his head. “Aren’t you, honey?”
“I’m planting new ones. Do…” He tugged at the hem of his T-shirt. “Do you want to see them, Sawyer? We’re planting bluebonnets.”
I looked over at Sawyer, and I could see his eyes soften. “Yeah, I’ll come see them,” he said.
Spencer’s fingers fidgeted together as he moved towards the back of the park with Sawyer. From where I was standing, I could see Kurt there on his knees as he shot me a smile, giving me a wave with his gloved hand.
“Spencer’s been looking forward to this all week,” Linda said.
I smiled, hoping it didn’t look too unsure. “He’s really sweet.”
“He takes after his father. I love that about him. That he’s so gentle,” she said, her tone all wistful and tender as she took a seat on the bench. “Some people like to take advantage of that.”
