Page 66 of Back in the Country
“Yes,” I say without hesitation.
A deep chuckle falls from his lips, and I almost weep at the sound. It’s easily the most beautiful thing I’ve heard in a long time.
“Come here.” He holds his arms open, and I practically sprint into them. He’s bigger than I remember with huge shoulders and a chest that feels like granite against my cheek—but he’s still my brother. The smells of fabric softener and mint surround us, and I let the tears fall.
Sorren doesn’t say anything, but he holds me tight, his breathing ragged. God, we needed this. A hole the size of the Grand Canyon was left in my heart with each deployment, and it damn near doubled when he was injured.
I know people think that we have an unhealthy dependency on each other, but I don’t care.
Every day he was gone was this constant battle of being so proud and also so terrified I wanted to be sick. The worst hadn’t happened, but the boy who had bought me princess sheets with his own money isn’t the man standing in front of me either.
Like everything in life, we will have to figure it out. Hopefully, we’ll do it together.
“Sorren?”
“Yeah, Marlee girl?”
“Are we going to be okay?” He squeezes me tighter and nods against the top of my head.
“Yeah.” He swallows hard. “I’m proud of you.”
“Proud that I’m staying in Clementine Creek?” He chuckles and pulls back to look me in the eyes.
“Proud that you’ve grown up to be so fucking awesome as you light the world on fire.”
I squint.
“That sounds a lot like you’ve been listening to Beyoncé…”
He shrugs. “Can’t mess with a Queen.”
My laughter is full and free as it fills the kitchen. Sorren smiles and there’s a lightness in his eyes that wasn’t there when he first sat down. My heart swells, and I pull him in for one more hug because he’s home, and for the first time since I got the call that he’d been injured, I knew we were going to be okay.
26
WAYLON
MARLEE:We talked! God, I’m so relieved. We’re going to grab lunch tomorrow!
WAYLON:I’m happy for you, Baby Girl.
MARLEE:I have a ton of work to do today to get ready for this week but there’s this great opportunity I want to tell you about! See you tonight?
WAYLON:Yeah, baby, can’t wait to see you.
Pocketing my phone, I make my way into the barn to catch up on some work of my own. Inside, I find Sorren staining the next batch of signs I need to finish before the weekend. He tips his chin up at me in greeting and then goes back to the task in front of him. There have been small glimpses of my friend here and there but mostly he just seems tired.
We’ve been trying to give him the space he needs while also not allowing him to have too much downtime. Marlee isn’t the only one who did her research before Sorren came home. He survived overseas, and I’ll be damned if I lose him stateside.
“Things go okay with your sister?”
“As well as they could for now,” he says without looking up. “You bringing Marlee to the airport on Thursday?”
The question is so unexpected it takes me a full ten seconds before I can even process what he said.
“What?”
He dips the paintbrush in the can and then paints a nice even stroke with the grain. I’d be proud of his technique if I wasn’t so fucking confused.
