Page 83 of Every Now and Then
After coming back to Brentwood and getting back into the swing of our normal routines of work and school, I miss those peaceful days at the ranch with Hayes and my daughters. It felt a lot like what I had always dreamed a family would feel like. Watching Hayes interact with the girls warmed my heart. He’s so good with them, and they just eat up every morsel of attention he bestows upon them.
As my arms slacken around Hayes’ body, I realize he feels hard. Wooden. Not relaxed like he usually is. I step back and eye him with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s not so much that something is wrong, but...” He sighs, running a hand down his face. He seems agitated. “Let’s go sit down. We need to talk about something.”
Dread unfurls in my stomach. Nothing good has ever followed the wordswe need to talk.
Silently, I follow him into the living room and take a seat on the couch.
“You remember us talking about the music video? The one forRoom 112?”
A furrow forms between my eyes. “Umm, yeah.”How could I forget that embarrassing conversation?
“Today, we had the meeting with the music video director, and we auditioned actresses to play the love interest.Mylove interest,” he amends. “The director’s vision for the video is to reenact the lyrics, which, of course, mirror what happened the night we met.” Hayes pauses, flexing his fingers and avoiding my eyes. “Basically, the story of a drunken one-night stand.”
“Okay, so… what’s the problem, Hayes? Spit it out.”
“Christ, Annabelle. The problem is that I hate it!” He stands, agitated. Then he kneels in front of me, grabbing my hands. “I could hardly sit through the auditions. It made me so uncomfortable to even think about kissing and touching someone else. Shit, it felt so wrong, Yankee.”
I lean back, the knot of fear slowly unraveling inside me. “Hayes, it’s okay.” I reach out, gently stroking his cheek. He catches my hand and presses a kiss to my palm. “Honestly, I love that it makes you uncomfortable. That probably sounds twisted, but your discomfort reassures me. It shows how much you care. It tells me that this isn’t casual for you. It tells me I matter.”
“Baby, you matter to me more than anything, and there is nothing casual about you and me. I love you.”
“I know. And I love you too, Ruston Hayes.” Placing a sweet kiss on his lips, I murmur, “So, where do we go from here?”
“To bed?”
I chuckle at the hope in Hayes’ voice. “I meant, what can we do to make the video shoot easier for you?”
“Would you consider coming with me to the shoot? I don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, and I don’t want to hide anything from you.”
I comb my fingers through his shaggy curls and agree. “Yeah, I can do that.”
Coming to his feet, Hayes takes his seat on the couch next to me again. “I was hoping you’d agree, so I asked Bailey if she’d watch the girls overnight because it’s an all-night shoot.”
And it’s the little things like this that make me fall even more in love with Hayes.
Long before Kyle passed away, I’d carried the mental load of our family. Kyle made the money and paid the bills, and I did everything else. Knowing that Hayes realized that if I was to accompany him to the video shoot, then I’d need to find childcare blows me away. It’s a small gesture, but he identified a problem and offered me a solution.
It makes me feel less alone. It makes me feel like we’re a team.
And for that, I am so grateful.
“Hey, I got good news today. I accepted an above-asking offer on my house.”
Hayes sweeps his thumb across my bottom lip as he smiles at me. “Congratulations. That must be a relief.”
“It is, and it isn’t.” I grimace. “I’m a little stressed out about finding our next place. But I talked to Laura about it this morning, and wecame up with a Plan B in case I can’t find my dream house within the next few weeks.”
“Which is?”
“Dave, one of our co-workers, offered to rent his house to me on a month-to-month basis, which would be convenient. Without being locked into a year-long lease, I’d have the freedom to move whenever I find the right house.”
Hayes nods, leaning back against the cushions of the couch, spreading his legs until his knee hits mine. Draping his arm around my back, he scrapes his fingers across my shoulder. Relaxing, I curl up, burrowing into his side. “That could work.”
“Could?”
“You could always just move in with me.”
