“No idea.”
“Something beautiful,” he said simply.
I snapped my head in his direction. “What?”
“It’s the way you were holding each other, Kit. I have never seen you look at another person like that, and I’ve seen the way you looked at Cynthia when y’all were still married. Sky told me he’d just talked you out of a spiral, but when I walked in on you, I saw none of that. There was not a stitch of worry on your face or in the way you held him.”
“How was I holding him?”
“Like he was precious to you.” Rowdy’s smile was genuine. “Do you get how special that is? Do you get that, for Skylar, how rare it is to be held like that?”
I bit at the inside of my lip. No fucking way I was going to show any goddamn emotion in front of Rowdy, of all people. Only . . .
I sighed.
“I can’t fucking believe I’m going to admit this to you, but I needed to be held like that by him, too.”
I went back to my first panicked thought—that he was needy, that anything he needed from me was already going to be too much because I was—am—so overwhelmed. But if Rowdy wastelling the truth, then the thing Skylar needed seemed to be the exact same thing I needed.
“So, you don’t think I’m just deluding myself?” I asked, my voice stronger than I felt inside.
Rowdy shook his head. “Not unless I’m delusional, too. Look, I know you’re this well-regarded businessman in the area. I know you have a solid reputation that you’ve built and earned over the years.” He laughed, but it wasn’t mean. “I’m guessing, though, that you don’t enjoy feeling so goddamn unsteady.”
I huffed out a laugh. “I hate it.”
“But some people are worth the uncertainty,” Rowdy insisted. “Some people are worth going through the unsteadiness to get to the other side. I can tell you with absolute certainty that Skylar is one of those people. And if I know my friend at all, then he thinks you’re worth it, too.”
I let out a long breath. So many emotions swamping me all at once, but the biggest one was relief. Maybe I needed someone else to say it out loud to me.
“Thank you for telling me about his family. And for your discretion.”
His expression went serious. “I’m okay with the fact that this might not work for you, but I swear to Jesus if you make him feel like shit for taking a chance with you, you and I will be done.”
Yet another side of Rowdy Lockwood I’d never seen, and I believed every word he said.
“It’s not a matter of this not working for me. It’s a matter—as Skylar would happily tell you—of me removing my head from my ass. I will do everything in my power to make sure he knows how much I accept and appreciate him. I promise.”
“That’s all I ask. And I’ll send you the link to Pacey’s so you can have them deliver fresh feed to you.”
“Thanks, man.”
I walked him back to his truck and watched as he drove away. I needed to make this right. Not only for Skylar, but for me.
I pulled up my phone and started typing.
Me: Rowdy was here and didn’t know that I’d made an ass of myself at Dr. K’s office.
Me: I told him. Pretty sure he wanted to punch me at one point.
Sky: Heh. You’re probably right.
Sky’s response was a little more neutral than I was used to from him, and it made me worry that he’d decided I wasn’t worth it. Unwilling to leave it to the vagaries of texting, I rang his number. He picked up on the first ring.
“You good there, cowboy?”
The light, teasing tone ratcheted down some of the anxiety I was feeling.
“I just wanted to say again how sorry I am for being rude to you and your boss. It was unacceptable.” Before he could wave it off, I continued, “If it means anything, I like you way more than I thought I ever would. I’m not someone who does things casually. Us doing this means something to me.”
