Page 68 of Forty and Fighting Dirty
The conversation rattled me, and all I could do was pretend it didn’t. As far as these women knew, Rhett was a self-important jerk who had tried to push me around.
It felt wrong to deny our connection now, in front of all these people. But how could I turn around after complaining to Georgia for weeks and tell her that actually, the man I thought was arrogant and conceited and fake was actually the best man I’d ever met, and I might actually be a little bit in love with him?
I couldn’t do it. Not right now, when everything was hectic, when the boys were with me with their ears that heard everything and their eyes that saw too much.
Besides, a part of me still wondered if it was real. My romance with Rhett was a secret whirlwind. We weren’t out in the open. We couldn’t be.
So how could I trust that it would last? And if it didn’t, how could I face the humiliation of another failed relationship—this one so much more reckless and embarrassing than my marriage?
Simone gave me a nod. “Atta girl,” she said approvingly, and shame burned deep in my gut. Her husband, Wes, had his arm around the back of her chair, his focus on his food. Every time they were together, they touched each other constantly. Thesight of them made me yearn for the same thing, the kind of companionship that didn’t need to yell to be enduring and strong. I wanted to sit in a restaurant with Rhett’s arm around my chair. I wanted to lean into him—lean on him—just because I could.
But we hadn’t talked about it. We’d just stolen what moments we could as we drove both the lodge and the house toward completion.
I settled the boys into chairs and ordered food for them, then sat beside them. My sister was on my other side.
“You’re hiding something,” Georgia whispered.
“I’m not,” I protested, which was a lie.
“How’s the house going?” I’d told Georgia about the house, but I’d asked her not to share the news with her friends.
“Progress has slowed,” I said, hoping Georgia wouldn’t see the guilt in my expression. Progress had slowed because I was too busy screwing my boss every chance I got.
“Well, I’m still happy to watch the boys for a night if you want to work on it this weekend.”
“We can have a sleepover, Aunt Georgia?” Alec asked from three chairs down, proving that my children had ears with very keen selective hearing.
“We sure can.” My sister smiled, then gave me a look like she’d demand answers.
I used the holiday weekend as a shield between us. We were invited to Thanksgiving at a local resident’s house, which was a gorgeous, huge property partway up the mountain. Mia, a barber in Heart’s Cove, had gotten us the invitation through her landlord, Des. Something was going on between them, I couldtell, but I focused on eating good food, watching my boys, and participating in the ridiculous family traditions that Des’s family kept.
I’d learnedthat in Lovers Peak, the Friday after Thanksgiving was a very important day. The whole town would descend on Main Street as night fell, and the annual lighting of the Christmas tree would happen. I worked a half day, as usual, picked the boys up from their friend’s house, fed the three of us, then bundled us all up and waited for Georgia’s fiancé, Sebastian, who would pick us up to save us from the crazy traffic near Main Street during the event. Sebastian and Georgia would be using my car for the weekend, and then I’d return my rental car and go back to the little rusty hatchback that had been my daily driver.
Nate and Alec were their usual chatty selves, and I sat in the front seat next to Sebastian, trying to get used to the thought of my sister’s high school boyfriend being a part of her life again.
“Nice town you’ve found here,” he said, the familiar Texas twang warming his words. It made a little homesickness squeeze my chest, but it was only a shadow of what I used to feel about leaving the state.
As I glanced out the window, listening to the familiar rattle of my old car’s engine, I realized that this cozy mountain town had carved out a place in my heart. I didn’t want to go back; I wanted to stay right here. “It’s so beautiful here,” I agreed. “Everyone has been so great. I can’t wait to see it in summer.”
“Georgia told me you’ve been having issues with your boss.”
I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. Sebastian slowed the car as we approached the center of town. There were people and cars everywhere. “He’s…yeah. He pushed back against a lot of my ideas at first,” I hedged.
Sebastian hummed in response, and I directed him down a side street where I knew there was free street parking. We climbed out, and I focused on herding the boys toward Main Street and said nothing more about the boss I was meant to hate.
It wasn’t quite five o’clock yet, but the sun was going down. The western rock face of Lovers Peak Mountain caught the fading light of the sun, and even after seeing the view nearly every day for three months, it didn’t fail to make my breath catch. We found the gang at Rita’s. The boys got hot chocolates, and Rita herself came out to say hello. I sat beside Georgia, who turned her face up to accept a kiss from Sebastian before nudging me with her shoulder.
“What are you going to do with your free night?” She’d agreed to watch the boys tonight.
“Paint the hallway at the house and hopefully get a second coat on in the kitchen,” I said. “Then I’ll take a long bath and sleep as long as I can.” But with Rhett meeting me at the house to finish the painting, sleep might be delayed. Not that I wanted to tell Georgia that.
Georgia smiled. “Good.”
We finished up at Rita’s and wandered onto Main Street. It was a long, sloping street with shops and businesses lining either side. At the bottom, a gigantic Christmas tree had been set up and decorated. Night crept across the sky, and the anticipationin the crowd grew. It reminded me of the raffle night, with laughter and conversation filling the air. Puffs of white breath lifted into the sky, and a sprinkling of snow began dancing down to land on our shoulders and heads.
Darkness fell. The entire town took a breath, all eyes turning to the huge tree at the end of the street. In a blaze of twinkling lights, the huge evergreen tree came alive. I gasped, laughing, my blood fizzing with happiness and holiday cheer.
And it wasn’t just the tree. Lights had been strung up on all the vintage-style streetlights, with their curlicues and wrought-iron details. They framed all the shopfronts and decorated all the bare trees. The entire town glowed and twinkled and glittered.
