“It’s stupid. I know it’s stupid. It’s just a car, and it’s not the end of the world because Willy can fix it…again….but it’s…”
“Not stupid,” I affirmed, feeling a sharp squeeze around my heart as she dropped her forehead to the center of my chest.
A warm, heavy sigh hit my skin through the soft cotton of my shirt. “I want to be here…with you. I want to stay. But having my freedom ripped away again…even if I don’twantto leave, it makes me feel like I’m still waiting for permission to be in control of my own life.”
My arms went around her, tucking her into my embrace as I gently stroked a hand up and down her spine. “Baby, youarein control of your life,” I said quietly. “This thing with the car? It’sjust a setback. A lousy one, but life’s full of them.” I rested my chin lightly on her hair. “And to be really blunt…it fucking sucks. You finally get your feet under you and say, ‘This ismychoice,’ and a bunch of idiot teenagers go and crash a tow truck into the one thing that made you feel like you could move through the world on your own terms.”
A tight breath escaped her—almost a laugh, but not quite—as she pulled back to look at me.
“This doesn’t take your choice away.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re not trapped. You’re not back where you were.” I lifted a hand and gently ran the backs of my fingers down her cheek. “You’re just dealing with a shitty moment in a life that’s finally yours.”
Time felt like it was standing still as we stood there, locked in each other’s arms in the middle of Willy’s lot and caught in a moment of quiet—not for lack of anything left to say, but because I didn’t want the comfort I was offering to feel like it was an attempt to water down a very real response to a very fucked-up situation.
Moments later, she let out a shaky breath and gave me a sad smile before saying so quietly, “How do you do it?”
“Do what?” I asked.
“Always find a way to make me feel better,” she said, her voice catching a little on the words.
“I don’tmakeyou do anything, Andi,” I said earnestly, holding her gaze as my palm curved around her jaw. “Youletme.”
And as long as she kept letting me, I’d keep finding ways to show her that this—her choice, her life, her freedom—was hers and hers alone. In words. In quiet gestures. In the simplest of touches. I’d do whatever I could to help her realize that this world, as messy as it was, wasn’t holding her back unless she allowed it.
She curled back into me then, pressing her forehead to my chest and wrapping her arms tightly around my waist. And I held her back…because she let me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Zane
I tookAndi back to the cottage and, at her request, left her there to gain some normalcy back to her day.
Did I want to?
Fuck no.
But it was her call. Her choice. And me giving in, even though I really wanted to stay, was all part of showing her howshewas holding the reins on this crazy ride called life.
“I’m okay,” she said, but I didn’t love the wobble in her voice or the way she tilted her chin up like she was trying to convince me she really meant it. It didn’t work. I was nowhere near convinced but I wasn’t about to push her on it. Not today.
“You don’t have to hover, cowboy,” she murmured, brushing her thumb once against my jaw before rising on her toes to press a kiss to my mouth. “We know today’s chaos didn’t stop with the Camaro, so you should probably go check on your aunt and see how her diner fared out.”
I swallowed down the instinct to object and slid my palms along her arms in one slow pass, wrapping my hands around hers and giving them a gentle squeeze before moving them to her hips. “You sure?” I asked, sliding my thumb into one of her belt loops.
She nodded. “Positive. Norah and I have a ton of boxes to unpack. It’ll…” She sucked in a breath. Forced a smile. “Keep my mind occupied.” With a light tug at the front of my shirt, she pulled me down for one more quick kiss and then nudged me toward the door with a soft pat to my side. A foot of space found its way between us, and not because of me. “Go where you’re needed.”
The knot that had formed in the center of my chest twisted, making my heart feel like it was wrapped up in barbed wire.
Iwantedto beneededhere.
Andi must’ve seen those words written all over my face, because her expression softened. “Hey,” she murmured, catching my wrist and letting her thumb trace over my uneven pulse. “I’m not pushing you away. You know that, right?”
I nodded, even though something about all of this made my insides feel raw. “I know.”
“Good,” she added, closing that space and giving me a real smile this time as her head tipped back to meet my gaze. My arms wound around her, plastering her to me. “Now lose the resting cowboy face and go help your aunt.”
I felt my eyebrows snap together as I looked down my nose at her. “Resting cowboy face?”
“That’s what I’m calling this trademark scowl of yours.” She touched her finger to that creased space between my eyebrows. “I promise I’m not kicking you out for good. And, if I were, I definitely wouldn’t be letting you borrow my borrowed truck.”
