Lightenmyload?Really? This is our family, and he’s making it sound like he’s magnanimous and is doing me a favor. Resentment bubbles up. I work hard to push it back down.
Stop being petty, Jayne. He’s doing what you want. Give him grace. Give yourself grace.
“Thank you, Rhys.” The words taste like ash in my mouth, uncomfortably bitter.
Why am I thanking him? This is his family, too, isn’t it?
“You’re most welcome,” he replies.
I drink my coffee so as not to say something that will tip this boat we’re on, because the winds around us are stormy enough.
“I am sorry for what you heard me say to Tory.” Hetakes my free hand in his. “I…if I heard you talk about me that way with Iris, I’d be devastated.”
Hope soars. He’s thought about things. He’s being patient and understanding.
“So, you’re not attracted to her?” I can’t help it. I know we’ve talked about this before, but….
“God no!”He plays with my fingers. “Jesus, Jayne, I fucked up that night when I brought her up. Baby, Tory is inconsequential. Hell, I’m closer to Paul.”
I smile. “Tory is better looking than Paul.”
“Everyone is better looking than Paul.”
We laugh, our hearts lighter. The joy that’s always been buried somewhere under the noise and exhaustion stirs, rising to the surface like it’s been waiting for permission.
His thumb brushes over my fingers. “I love you, Jayne.”
I turn my hand in his and lace our fingers together. “I know.”
After a while, I say, “Come back to bed.”
He glances at me, searching my face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you, Jayne.”
Now, I feel like an idiot for making such a big deal out of how he phrased his offer of help. He’s being sincere, and I’m being…bitter and resentful?
That night, he slips into bed beside me, and his arm finds my waist like it never forgot the way. I meltinto him.
The distance we’ve been holding is collapsing in on itself—soft as breath, inevitable as gravity.
He presses a kiss to my temple.
I close my eyes and let myself savor it. Savor him. Savor us, finally on the same wavelength again.
I fall asleep in his arms.
It’s the best night I have after a long stretch of terrible ones.
CHAPTER 14
Rhys
It’s Tuesday, and I’m on Finn’s pickup duty. It’s the first time I’m going to be doing it since our conversation. I’m determined not to fuck it up.
I leave Camden at 4:15, feeling almost smug. Finn’s practice ends at five. That gives me forty-five minutes—plenty of time to cross downtown, swing through Roland Park, and maybe even grab him a smoothie on the way home.Easy.
