To this, I laugh and flush some more.“Okay, but I want another Mermaid Water.”
Rowan gives me the response he gives anytime I demand something of him: “Whatever you say, Eli.”
At this point in the conversation, Rowan would normally either try to kiss me more or crack some insane joke, but today he’s staring straight ahead, and his lips are set into a firm line as he walks.
“What’s wrong, Row?”
He turns to look down at me, catching my stare.
“Nothing, I—” He pauses, reading something in my eyes that keeps him from brushing off the topic.
We’ve reached his truck, and he sets my bag on the ledge of the bed before he crowds my space, and I find myself pushed against the passenger door.
“What’s bothering you?” I try again.
Rowan’s hands trace my waist as he studies me, and I can see the fear and anxiety swirling in his green eyes. I want to crush it; I want to soothe him with my voice and my hands alone.
“I got a call from my mom today,” he starts, and I nod slowly.
“Okay?”
“My brother… he’s back.”
“What?!” I shout in surprise.
Rowan’s brother, Ramon, has been overseas for almost two and a half years now. He hasn’t heard from him at all, and they weren’t that close even when he was home.
Ramon has a different father than Rowan does, something he tends not to share with most people, so he didn’t grow up in Fort Myers the way Rowan did.
They saw each other on every other holiday growing up, and would sometimes call or text, but after he joined the Army, all communication stopped.
“Yeah,” he sighs. “And apparently, my mom wants everyone to meet up for dinner. They offered to come here, to Fort Myers.”
My fingers trace the sharp line of his jaw, feeling the smooth skin marked with the very beginnings of barely visible stubble. It’s here that I’m starting to notice the dark circles lightly outlining the skin beneath his eyes and the way his lips are slightly chapped.
Rowan is stressed out.
“Are you going to say yes?”I ask him.
Rowan’s eyes search mine again, as if he’s trying to find his own answer inside of me. Seeking some form of comfort and understanding, and I want to provide him with both.
“Should I?” Rowan answers my question with one of his own.
“Well… do you want to see him? Your brother?”
He thinks for a moment, nibbling gently on his dry bottom lip. I pull it free with my fingers, and he sighs again.
“I think so?" he says, but it sounds like a question. "I haven’t seen him in forever. And it’s not like we ever fought or anything. I really liked him, we just… disconnected, I guess.”
“Then say yes,” I say, and I try to make the answer sound easy, simple.
“If I do… would you come?”
Something in my chest squeezes tight at his vulnerability, at the fact that he needs me by his side when tackling something so difficult.
“Of course, Row,” I promise him.
His arms are around me a moment later, his nose buried deeply into the hair on the top of my head. Rowan breathes me in, his hands dipping under my t-shirt to settle over the dimples at the base of my spine.
