The turning of her head from side to side slows.
“Is he hassling you? Threatening you?”
Again, tight-lipped, she shakes her head.
I now understand her frustration at my grunt responses. “Then what is it?”
“I can’t tell you yet.” At that, she hurries up the stairs.
I toss the dishtowel onto the counter and scrub my hands down my face. “What the heck just happened?” I mutter, but also hope for an answer.
Sonny toddles into the room, dragging his big yellow “Dumper” as he calls his dump truck, which we’ve been using to haul our garden bounty. I pause dinner and give him my full attention while we pretend that we’re cars and the pillow fort is our garage.
When he gets distracted by building a smaller one with blocks for his toy cars, I return to making dinner. Or rather, I pace around the kitchen for a solid ten minutes, preoccupied with the conversation with Everly.
When she comes down to eat, she’s her usual chipper self, but I can’t stop the flurry of questions that burst into my mind like the soapy bubbles she and Sonny blow on the back deck when we’re done cleaning up.
She has a childlike playfulness that made the two of them bond instantly. I have to admit, I don’t mind it either. She helped me lighten up and live again. Everly is a breath of sweet sunshine and fresh air. Yet, I can’t help but sense a wedge growing between us.
Maybe she is having second thoughts about us as a couple. Perhaps she wants to get back with Todd for reasons I’ll never understand. A lightbulb pops in my mind. It could be that her father is pressuring her.
Perhaps she doesn’t like me anymore and it’s not going to work out. She’ll return to Concordia. I’ll rage-play football, and we’ll both pretend it never happened. After all, it seems too good to be true.
Or this could all be in my head and she’s just having a moment. She’s been through a lot, too.
Temptation draws me toward Everly’s phone. I could peek at what she and Todd have been texting about. Maybe we’re going in reverse. We’ve done everything backward, anyway. Marriage first. Relationship second. It would make a twisted kind of sense for us to break up next. Not that I want to lose the love of my life.
The thing is, it was easier not to feel. This would be a good time to talk to my brother. He’d splash me with cold water and tell me not to drift back into the clouds. To be here for Everly and Sonny.
The next day,we close up the cabin and take the seaplane to my mother’s house. She’s excited to have the little guy for a long weekend and he’s eager to go to Mrs. Nelson’s house to pick blueberries.
Everly remains relatively quiet on the flight to Los Angeles. When we land, realization knocks into me like turbulence even though we’re back on the ground.
Maybe she got bad news? Received the results of a test, indicating the cancer is back? I have incredible insurance and, with my connections in football, will get her the best doctors.
“Listen, whatever is going on, I am here for you. Please talk to me.”
“It’s nothing to worry about. It’s going to be fine.” But her smile wilts a little.
“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”
“Seriously. Everything is okay. What should I wear to the ball?”
The plainness of her question and the perkiness in her tone calm my concern...at least temporarily.
“It’s a ball, so we’ll have to get you a gown.”
“Like a princess?” she asks.
A question pricks my awareness. Perhaps this is about my ex. “No, Everly. A gown for a queen.” I take her hand, but she hesitates.
She glances at her chest. “I forgot my scarf at the cabin.”
I run my hands up her arms to her neck and then caress her jaw. “Everly, you are beautiful, how you are. Every part of you. From top to bottom. Inside and out. When I look at you, I see a woman that I’m proud to have married. And if you ever hearTodd’s voice in your ear saying something disparaging, even louder is the sound of my growl telling him to back off. You. Are. Mine.”
Everly’s grin grows, but when I gaze into her eyes, there’s liquid there.
“Thank you. Today, Grey, you occupy all three of my thankfuls.”
