“I’m fine,” I said.
“You were crying.”
“Barely,” I whispered, wiping the last stray tear away.
“Then that’s not okay,” he said.
“It is, though. Your family is so sweet. I shouldn’t have expected anything else, since they raised you after all, but still. I can’t believe how welcoming they are. I’m tearing up because I can’t remember the last time I felt so at home. The love is like, literally palpable here. I’m just happy to be a part of it, even if it’s only for one night.”
Reid let out a slow breath and gave a curt nod, like myanswer had satisfied him—at least enough to stop him from storming back into the kitchen to scold his family.
“You can come next week, too.” Reid reached out and laced his fingers through mine. His thumb rubbed the back of my hand. “And the week after.”
I laughed. “Watch it, or I might take you up on that offer.”
“I hope you do.” The corner of his lip lifted before it fell. His eyes searched mine before he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. My chest nearly exploded.
When he pulled away, he lingered close, forehead pressed to mine.
“I’ve been thinking about doing that all day,” he whispered. And just like that, a dam burst. Relief gushed through me. It hadn’t just been me replaying our kiss a million times in my mind.
“Why did you wait?” I asked.
“I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of you when you’re all vulnerable. Especially since you’re staying at my house.”
A nervous laugh escaped me. “Reid?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, butpleasetake advantage of me.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Hazel
After dinnerwe retired to the living room to play a rowdy game of dominos. Well, rowdy if you were Regan and Mrs. Mitchell. They got way too into it, while Reid repeatedly apologized for their competitiveness.
Even though he acted like he didn’t care, Reid won every time, to the point where I started accusing him of cheating. Regan was more than happy to join in on that accusation.
We laughed so hard my stomach ached.
His dad insisted I try his barrel-aged, something something—whiskey he’d imported. We all had tumblers with a thimble-full in them. The sip warmed my entire soul. I hardly drank, mostly because I knew what vices had done to my mother. But a sip of whiskey every once in a while was pleasant. Certainly on a night like tonight.
We were all lounging around the living room, chatting aimlessly, when Reid’s mother pulled away the curtain to assess the weather outside.
“Okay, there is no way you two are driving anywhere tonight. I don’t care how close Reid’s house is.”
“We’ll be fine,” Reid said, but as soon as he stood to lookout the window, he brought his hand to his face, rubbing it along his jaw. “Shit. It’s a mess out there.”
The snow was basically blowing sideways by the bucketful. The roads weren’t even visible.
“It’s not worth it,” his dad said. “You can take your old room downstairs.”
“I have sweats you can borrow, Hazel,” Regan offered.
“That would be great.” I wasn’t at all eager to leave the comfort of this house. A little sleepover sounded nice.
Reid’s mom pushed herself off the couch. “I’ll go throw clean sheets on the bed. Regan, why don’t you take Hazel to your room?”
