“I won’t as long as you don’t tell me we’re justhanging outandhaving fun.”
“You upped the ante,” she said. “I just raised the bet.”
“Let’s not do any more of that either.”
“Sure.” She watched me with cool, steady eyes. “Tell me what else you have on your mind.” She tapped a finger to my forehead. “I can see the gears turning in there.”
“You know what you want. You’ve been out in the world and you’ve figured out what you want from this life.” I ran my hands up her legs, to her waist. It was so good to touch her again. Like being plugged in. “I’ve been out in the world and I never thought to ask what I wanted until you forced me to do it.”
“I don’t think that’s entirely accurate.” She pushed a hand through my hair. “I think you’re being a little tough on yourself. And you might be bleeding internally.”
“Maybe, but the only answer I ever came up with was that my life wasn’t in this town.”
She dropped her gaze, brought her hands to her lap. I felt her exhale.
“My attorney says there’s a plea deal coming for my dad any day,” I said. Jem licked the side of my face and then blew a hot, disgusting puff of dog breath at me. “He’ll have to serve a short sentence, but that’s a lot better than twenty years. Probably a deal for my mom too. It’s a little hairy since she’s technically a fugitive but they’re arranging for her to turn herself in some time in the next few days. She could be home in—I don’t know—a month or two?”
“Really? Beck, that’s incredible!”
I lifted a shoulder. It hurt like hell. Strong possibility that it was actually dislocated. “Yeah. Yeah, it’s great. I had a hard time believing it when Adrian called this morning. I’m still not sure I believe it. I don’t think I will until it all happens and we’re safely on the other side of this shitshow.”
“Don’t do that to yourself,” she said. “Don’t plan to be disappointed.”
“I’m not. I’m being realistic.”
We stared at each other for a moment. “When will you leave?”
I shook my head. “I’m not.”
She tipped her chin. “You’re not—what?”
“I told you I don’t like the idea of leaving you.”
“You also told me your life isn’t in this town. Like, just a second ago.”
“I said my lifewasn’tin this town,” I replied. “I don’t really know where my life is right now or where it will be in six months or a year. Anything could happen and it kills me to not know what comes next but I know I want you.”
She held my gaze like she was looking for proof of this concept in there. “And you’re sure about that?”
I motioned to the tear along the side of my trousers. “Enough to cause my own internal bleeding by climbing through adog doorto see you. Pretty fuckin’ sure, Sunny.”
A smile tugged at her lips, unfurling from each corner until it met in the middle. “I like you too.”
“That’s a fucking relief because I had some real questions about that and I didn’t enjoy any of the answers I came up with on my own.”
The corners of her lips curled up. “Now that I think about it, I might like you a lot, Beckett Loew. I think I’m going to like you for a long time, if you’ll let me.”
“I’d let you throw your moon rocks at me every day for the rest of your life for the honor of draining your bath water.”
“If you’re talking about crystals, then you should know I’d be more likely to hide them in your pockets than throw them at you.”
“That, yes.” I dropped my head to her lap and felt my body unclench for the first time in days. “What do we do now?”
“We’ll take it one day at a time.” She dug her thumbs into my shoulder blades, and the noise I made, well, it wasn’t entirely human. “Unless we’re talking about the Craft Beer and Corgis Festival in September, in which case we should definitely commit to that.”
“Fucking festivals,” I muttered. “I’m profoundly traumatized from the last one. I’m not sure I have the stomach for much more.”
“We’ll pet dogs and drink beer,” she said. “Nothing traumatizing about that.”
