Page 79 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
“Two minutes, honey,” I said, and he lifted the window back up again. I turned to Rhett. “Your timing could use some work,” I noted, but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “What are we going to tell everyone at work?”
Rhett opened his mouth, but Alec’s voice interrupted him. “Mom!” my youngest screamed. “Nate says he’s going to turn the lights on when we decorate the tree, but he did it last year! You said it would be my turn!”
How my six-year-old remembered these things, I would never know. “It is your turn,” I said. “We’ll decorate it together, and then you can plug them in.” I turned to Rhett. “I have to go, or a war will start back there. Come over for dinner?”
“I’d love to,” he said, just as someone called his name. Rhett turned, and I saw one of the women who ran the Christmas tree market moving toward us with a red volunteer vest dangling in her hands. “Gotta go,” he said, and there was a slight pause as we both hesitated. There were people all around, and we hadn’t exactly been open about our relationship.
I thought he might lean in and kiss me, but I could feel the boys’ gazes on my back like two pairs of laser beams. I didn’twant that to be the way I told them I was dating someone, so I gave Rhett a big smile and ducked into the car. “Dinner at six thirty!” I said, and closed the door.
He nodded, waited for me to drive away, and then walked toward the volunteer who had called his name. I watched him don the red volunteer’s vest in my rearview mirror and turned in the direction of home. The windows made an uncomfortablewhomp-whomp-whompnoise as I got on the freeway that bisected the town, but the boys laughed excitedly and pointed at the tree branches visible from their seats. I could feel the way the wind hit the car and the tree, and I clung to the steering wheel a little tighter, making a mental note to thank Rhett once more for the winter tires he’d organized for my old car.
We slowed as we entered the heart of town, and I took the turn onto Lovers Lane. We climbed the winding road, the tree scraping against the roof of the car with every turn. The boys were in heaven. I laughed, thankful that I didn’t have to rely on my own knots to keep the tree in place.
Finally, we made it home. And it was home—truly. The little house with the pitched roof greeted us, surrounding pine trees waving in the winter wind, the driveway I’d cleared this morning dusted with a fine layer of snow. Rhett and I hadn’t managed to paint the front door yet, but the new curtains framed the living room window, and a glimpse of the fireplace inside gave the place a welcoming feel.
I could stay here, I realized. Rhett had as much as promised it. I could make a real home for myself and the boys, finally stop spinning my wheels—and just stop. Settle. Rest.
I’d won half a house, but Rhett had gifted me a home. Iwondered if he knew just how much it meant to me and the boys.
Old worries tried to well up inside me—worries that spoke of giving a man power over my employment, my housing, my life. Jacob had cornered me, maliciously or not, and made sure he had the leverage to keep me where it was most convenient for him.
Rhett was still my boss, and he owned half this house. Could I trust him?
I wanted to. I wanted to trust the man who’d driven us to the hospital in the middle of a battle over this house. The man who donated time and money to the town he loved. The man who saved a stray cat, even when the cat annoyed the hell out of him. The man I’d already fallen in love with.
Our first impression had been rocky. I’d thought he was pretending to be good, that it was all an act. Now, I knew I’d been wrong.
It was only my own scars that gave me pause and stopped me from fully enjoying my new reality. How good would it feel to finally heal? What if I could live in this home, watch the boys grow up, and pursue all the dreams I’d resigned myself to leaving behind?
I’d gotten that business certificate; what if I took the leap and started my own company?
I parked the car in the driveway and clicked the garage fob that I’d clipped to the visor. “We’ll bring the tree in through the front door,” I told the boys.
“Will it fit?” Alec asked.
I reached for my purse in the passenger seat and eyed the porch. “I hope so.”
The boys cackled, and I smiled as I glanced at my phone. Frowning at the four missed calls from Jacob, I tuned out the boys’ chatter and unlocked the screen.
I navigated to my voicemail and pinned the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I got out of the car and started loosening the sailor-worthy knots Rhett had made in the rope. Wind bit at my neck and cheeks, ruffling the speaker as I listened.
“Hey, Piper,” Jacob said in my ear. “Got some unexpected time off at work, and I thought I’d surprise the boys for the weekend. I just got to the hotel?—”
The voicemail was overlaid with another voice—one coming from the bottom of the driveway. “Piper!”
Time slowed. I turned, facing the wind that blew my hair free of my face, and I saw my ex-husband exiting a gleaming luxury SUV. He lifted a leather-gloved hand to wave at me, a broad smile on his face. He wore a jacket that was way too thin for the weather, and he shivered dramatically. The knot came loose in my hands just as I lifted my head. My phone went tumbling to the concrete driveway, my ex-husband’s message becoming faint and unintelligible as the screen shattered.
Both back doors flew open. “Dad!” Nate and Alec screamed.
Jacob laughed and crouched down, spreading his arms wide. My sons went sprinting down the snow-sprinkled driveway and crashed against their father, who lifted them both up in a giant bear hug. Between their heads, his eyes met mine. He flashed me another winning smile as my stomach knotted withdread.
“Dad! Mom won a house! We have Hot Wheels blankets!” Alec took his father’s hand as soon as his feet were back on the ground, tugging Jacob toward me.
My ex-husband approached, but I remained glued to the spot on the driveway, chilled to the bone by the wind and his presence. He bent over and picked up my shattered phone where it had landed by the back wheel of my car. Handing it over to me, he gave me a half smile. “Surprise!”
THIRTY-TWO
RHETT
