Page 131 of Reckless
Mom:Theo, please answer your phone. I’ve tried calling multiple times now.
Rhett:Text me when you’re back safe.
Summer:I’m going to fix this.
* * *
“What?”
I flop back on one of the two queen-sized beds in my sad, boring hotel room, phone held up to my ear, and a towel wrapped around my waist.
“Back safe?” It’s quiet wherever Rhett is. Clearly, he didn’t go out either.
“Yup.” I’m not sure why he’s calling me when we just saw each other and are staying in the same hotel. “What’s up?”
“Just checking on you.”
“I saw the text. You gonna come rub my back to sleep too?”
I hear him huff out a laugh. “I can if you want me to.”
“Nah. I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“No. But I will be.”
“You should call her.”
I groan. “I know.”
“Are you going to?”
“In the morning. I need a sec to get my head straight. From the day I found out about Vivi, I literally dropped everything I was doing and jumped straight in without even thinking twice. I’ve just been in survival mode and today...today fucked me up.”
“Dude. That kid is yours. She’s practically your doppelgänger. I don’t know how none of us put it together.”
“I know. Iknow. But there’s this nagging voice that keeps asking me,What if she’s not?What if there was some mistake? The night we hooked up, she hadn’t given him divorce papers yet, so it’s not like it’s impossible. I wouldn’t judge her. And it wouldn’t make a difference.”
Rhett is silent for a few moments. “If Vivi wasn’t yours you’d still want to be with Winter?”
“Of courseI’d still want to be with Winter. I’ve wanted Winter from the first night I laid eyes on her. I’d still want Vivi too. But I’d be gutted. Winter may have been the one trying to get pregnant for a long time, and I might be the one who stumbled into fatherhood by accident, but I love it, Rhett. I lovethem.”
“Then you should call her and tell her that.”
I feel like I have, but she’s so fucking gun shy it gets me nowhere. I don’t want to rush her, to push her, to wonder if she’s putting up with me to appease some perceived insecurity of mine.
But I don’t share that with Rhett. That feels personal. It’s something that’s unfolding between Winter and I, and no one else needs to be privy to that part of us.
“Yeah, I will,” is what I say instead, having already settled on licking my wounds and having a pity party tonight. Because tonight, when she told me she didn’t want me there for something that concernsmydaughter? It felt like a slap in the face. My mom told me once that acts of service are my love language—how I show I care.
And Winter doesn’t want that from me.
Sometimes I worry that Winter will never love mequitethe way I love her. Or maybe it’s me being greedy. I want to hear her say it so bad it hurts.
“Get some rest, okay? I wanna see you up on the podium tomorrow while Emmett sulks back in the locker room.”
“You got it, coach.”
