Page 79 of Back in the Country
I also can’t find it in myself to care that my brother probably scared the shit out of my ex. Looking at each other, we share a small smile.
Sorren and I have never been here before. It’s new and it’s uncomfortable, but if he’s willing to let me walk beside him, I know we will make it through better than ever. He was right though, our relationship never transitioned, and that fell on me too.
We’re silent the rest of the ride, which both feels like years and also only seconds until we’re pulling down the drive. My stomach is in knots, and I feel like I’m going to pass out. I have no idea what I’m walking into seeing as I’ve already been ambushed once today.
We park, and as I look up, my heart stops dead in my chest becauseoh sweet baby Jesus…
32
WAYLON
Ican’t tell from Marlee’s expression what she’s thinking, but it’s hovering between shock and disbelief as she looks at me from the other side of the windshield. She doesn’t move and neither does Sorren, and I am starting to sweat, but it’s only partially from the Tennessee heat.
Minutes pass as we stare at each other. I have everything planned out, but I need her to make this first move. I need her to trust me and to give me this chance.
Like the relief of a cool breeze, the passenger door opens and Marlee steps out. She’s wearing another sundress—this one is a pale yellow—and she looks so damn pretty. I smile and she gives me a hesitant one in return.
“Are you tryin’ to get heat stroke?” she says, disbelief in her tone. Her eyes are assessing but also…hungry.
I look down at the navy blue suit that Cheyenne had finished tailoring this morning and then back up at my girl. Rhea had helped me pick it out with the crisp white dress shirt and yellow silk tie.
I wasn’t a tie guy, and I sure as hell wasn’t a suit guy, but I recognized that there was a time and a place for both.
That time was now.
“These are for you,” I say, handing her the bouquet of wildflowers. Yellows and purples and delicate white flowers I picked myself dangle between us. She exhales, her eyes never leaving mine, and accepts them.
“Thank you.” She fingers the burlap bow—my sister showed me how to make it—with a small smile on her lips.
“Marlee?” She looks up, and I have to swallow down my nerves. “I was wrong and I’m so sorry. I let a lot of things get in the way of what’s important. I sabotaged myself and us—everything we’ve been building. But that stops now. You come first. Today and every day forward if you’ll let me, I’ll show you what it means to be a partner, to be in this together.”
Her eyes well with tears, and I want desperately to wipe them away. It doesn’t matter that sweat is dripping down my back or that Sorren is watching and listening to us with his arms draped over the roof of his car.
Only she matters.
“You’re it for me, Baby Girl. You’re home, and wherever you are that’s where I want to be.”
I take a step forward and brush away the tears streaming down her face with my thumb. I cradle her face in my hands and feel my chest expand when she nuzzles against my palm.
“I love you, Marlee.”
Bright eyes filled with love and adoration meet mine. I move until I am a breath away and wait. Her free hand wraps around my wrist, and she tilts her face up to meet mine until I taste the sweetest lips in the world.
I kiss her with complete abandon. I let my lips and tongue say all the things I’ll tell her for the rest of our lives—the things my soul has whispered since that first night we’d been together.
Home.
Forever.
Mine.
“I love you, Way.” The words are whispered against my lips, and I can’t help when they turn up into a smile.
“Can I show you something?”
She pulls back with a puzzled look. “Okay?”
“Oh, thank fuck,” Sorren grumbles from behind her. “This is still weird.” He points between us before stomping off toward my next surprise.
