Page 28 of Rhett & Moses
“Everything,” he said simply. “What your life is like in Atlanta. If you’re happy there. What you want going forward.”
Big questions, with no simple answers. I took a moment to gather my thoughts, appreciating that he gave me the space to do so without rushing.
“My life in Atlanta is... good,” I began slowly. “The gin bar is successful, I have friends, and a comfortable routine. But happy? I don’t know if that’s the right word. Content, maybe. Settled.”
“And now? After today?” he prompted when I fell silent.
“Now everything’s up in the air,” I admitted. “Coming back here, seeing you again, finally telling the truth about what happened, it’s like I’ve been sleepwalking through my life for twenty years and suddenly I’m wide awake. Terrified, but awake.”
Rhett’s arm tightened around me. “Terrified of what?”
“Of wanting things I’m not sure I can have,” I said softly. “Of hoping for something that might not be possible, given our lives, our careers, the distance.”
“Boston to Atlanta isn’t so far,” he mused. “Flights every day, video calls in between. And I’ve been thinking about scaling back my practice, anyway, maybe focusing on residential projects instead of commercial. More freedom to work remotely, travel.”
I pushed up onto my elbow to look at him directly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
His expression was open, vulnerable in a way I’d rarely seen from him. “I’m saying that I lost you once because of fear and circumstance. I’m not willing to lose you again because of logistics. If you want this, us, I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to make it work.”
The certainty in his voice, the unwavering commitment in his eyes, stole my breath. Twenty years ago, we had been boys playing at love, uncertain of ourselves and our place in the world. Now, as men who had built lives and careers, who had faced our fears and told our truths, perhaps we were finally ready for what had always existed between us.
“I want this,” I said, the words both terrifying and liberating. “I want us. I don’t know exactly how we make it work with the distance and our careers, but I know I don’t want to walk away from you again.”
The smile that broke across his face was like sunrise after the longest night. He pulled me down into a kiss that felt like a promise, like a future, like coming home.
“Then we’ll figure it out,” he murmured against my lips. “Together.”
And for the first time in twenty years, I truly believed that anything was possible.
CHAPTER 8
RHETT
Morning light filteredthrough the hotel curtains, painting golden stripes across the rumpled sheets of the king-sized bed. I watched Moses sleep beside me; his face relaxed in a way I rarely saw when he was awake. The perpetual furrow between his brows had smoothed out, the guardedness that normally shadowed his eyes replaced by peaceful vulnerability.
Twenty years. We had lost twenty years that could have been spent waking up like this, learning the cadence of each other’s breathing, mapping the subtle changes in each other’s bodies as we aged. The thought should have been bitter, but somehow, in this moment, it wasn’t. Perhaps because for the first time in two decades, I could envision mornings like this stretching into our future.
Moses stirred, his eyes fluttering open. For a second, confusion crossed his features before recognition and memory cleared them. His lips curved into a smile that hit me square in the chest.
“Morning,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep.
“Morning,” I replied, resisting the urge to touch him, to ensure he was real and not some elaborate dream my lonely mind had conjured. “Sleep well?”
He stretched, the sheet slipping down to reveal the smooth expanse of his chest. “Better than I have in years. You?”
“Same,” I admitted, finally giving in to temptation and reaching out to trace the line of his jaw with my fingertips. “Though I didn’t get much actual sleep, thanks to someone.”
Moses caught my hand, pressing a kiss to my palm that sent warmth cascading through me. “I don’t recall hearing any complaints last night.”
“Nor will you,” I assured him, leaning in to replace my fingers with my lips, capturing his mouth in a gentle kiss that quickly deepened, morning breath be damned.
When we finally broke apart, both breathing a little harder, Moses glanced at the bedside clock and groaned. “We should get up. The replica statue unveiling is at ten.”
Reality crashed back in, the reunion, the revelations of yesterday, the uncertain reception we might face today. I sighed, reluctantly pulling away. “Right. Duty calls.”
Moses sat up, running a hand through his sleep-tousled curls. “Are you sure you want to go with me? After yesterday, it might be... uncomfortable.”
I fixed him with a look that brooked no argument. “I told you yesterday, and I meant it, we’re in this together now. I’m not leaving your side for any of the remaining reunion events, especially not the statue unveiling.”
