He takes a deep breath, sinking deeper into the chair.
His weathered hand reaches out for me, and I take his hand in mine. “I love you more than you’ll ever know, Kid.”
CHAPTER 36
COOPER
Islept like absolute shit last night, but how could I not have?
Amara laid next to me, her quiet snores soothing my aching chest.
The two of us have kissed before, but nothing like that. That almost went into uncharted territory.
I was able to finally get some sleep early this morning, waking up with Amara on top of me, her leg tossed over my absolutely raging morning wood.
I tried to get up without waking her. I really did. But she opened her eyes right as I was almost in the clear, and I had to rush out of the room, letting her know I had to go take a shower.
A cold one.
It’s been hard not to picture what happened between us last night. It’s been hard not to read into it, too. Especially as she’s curled up in the front seat of my car, her knees tucked into the large t-shirt she’s wearing. Her hair is in French braids, which I haven’t seen her wear yet. Not since one of the last summers she spent here.
But what I do have to do today is pretend like my sister’s carefully plotted plan wasn’t a success.
Okay. Maybe she didn’t orchestrate it. Maybe she really was clearing out the house, just like she told me. But thinking that she did it on purpose makes me feel just a little bit better, so that’s what I’m going with.
We get to the bakery early, and while I was totally fine to wait in the car for my sister to show up, Amara had other ideas, getting out without a word.
Instead of following her, I sit back and watch as she walks down the sidewalk, looking at all the businesses lining the road.
She stops in front of one, wrapping her arms around herself.
She’s cold.
I reach into the back seat, grabbing one of my hoodies. Climbing out of the car, I try not to direct too much attention to myself, but as I come up behind her, she turns.
“What—” she eyes my hoodie as I hold it out to her. “Thank you,” she says softly, tugging it over herself.
“See anything interesting?” I ask.
She bites her lip. “No. It’s just nice here. I miss it.”
There’s something magical about beach towns in general, but especially Rehoboth. Although it’s the fall, there are still people out and about on the beach. Shirtless men on a run, or kids getting an early start to causing chaos.
We used to be those kids. Wild and free, running around like we owned the world.
Like nothing else mattered in the whole planet except for what we were doing in that exact moment. It’s hard not to allow the rough edges we form as we age to think of us as selfish. We were just naive to the hurt that life sometimes brings. Malleable to our surroundings and to trauma.
“Sometimes I wish we could go back in time,” she says suddenly. “Like we could just change things.”
“What would you change?” I’m not sure I should have asked it, but she looks at me thoughtfully.
“I’m not even sure. I just think that I’d have taken advantage of my time with you a little more. I keep thinking of ways I could have made you stay.”
I sigh painfully. “Amara, I need you to know?—”
“Amara!” a high-pitched voice calls behind us. She turns, watching my sister come barreling down the sidewalk toward us, her arms outstretched. “I can’t believe you’re back here!”
Amara smiles, and they hug, my sister rocking her back and forth, her blonde hair tied in a tight bun at the top of her head.
