Page 48 of Come Back To Me
“Okay.” My lips press into an easy smile. “Now go back to your fiancé before he honks and pisses off my next-door neighbor, Mr. Mendez.”
“Ugh. That guy’s still alive? What is he, eighty?”
“No.” I lower my eyes at him. “Fifty-something. It was on those balloons his sister brought him for his last birthday.”
“Well, he looks eighty, but they do say being an asshole ages people.”
“Oh, is that why you’re getting so many wrinkles lately?”
He glares, shoving at my shoulder as he turns away. “That’s from being your friend.” His eyes stay forward as he returns to the car, flipping me off.
I make a soft sound and smile as I enter my house. It’s quiet and the lights are all off. I flip the switch in the living room, and my steps come to a halt when I spot a stuffed pumpkin sitting in the center of the couch. My lips stretch wider as I sit next to it and I squeeze it to my chest.
“I knew you needed it the moment I saw it in the barn.”
“You bought it.”
“I did.” He sits on the other side of the pumpkin, lifting up the tag. “How about I read you something?”
My heart squeezes and I scoot closer to give him a better view of the small words.
“Okay.”
He leans in, tugging at the tag and lowering his face. “This is Gil. Gil could use a new friend and a new home to grow in.”
“I like Gil.”
“More than me?” His knee knocks against mine.
“I like him because of you.”
“And I like you because of you.” He kisses my nose. “Did you feel me?”
“Yes.”
“Before the messages?”
“I felt you the moment I stepped out into that pumpkin patch.”
“And now you get to feel a lot more of me.” His lips brush mine and the pumpkin falls from my hands as he carries me to the bed I’ll never have to sleep alone in ever again.
Fourteen
Riley
“What is that even supposed to be?” I lift my face over Gareth’s shoulder as he adds more gray paint to his pumpkin.
“You’ll see once I’m done.”
“Then I’ll know for sure if it’ll be an outdoor or indoor decoration.”
He laughs, reaching for the black paint. “I think you’ll love it. So much that you’ll ask me to paint one for every room.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“Oh, but I am. Very, very sure.” He kisses my cheek, his lips dry and cracking.
“Someone needs some ChapStick.”
