“Just let me take care of you. Please.”
His words soak into my skin and into my heart.
“Okay,” I tell him, and he lets out a breath, kissing my forehead.
“Let’s go before you fall and hurt yourself or do something else crazy.”
I let him walk me out the door, but I don’t tell him my thoughts.
He’s afraid of me falling and hurting myself.
Silly man.
I think I already fell.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
DUTTON
“You made it!”Wren beams as I walk through the glass doors of Lovers Lodge’s bar and onto the patio. Today is a nice September day. It’s perfect for the dinner my mom is having for Wren.
“Of course I did. I’d never miss it.” I wrap her in a hug as I glance around the patio, noting that all the warmers are on. Even though we are fully into the cooler season, you would never know with how warm we keep it out here.
Tonight it’s blocked off for a special event. Wren’s twenty-fifth birthday. I see some of her friends from college, who clearly rode back with her, in one corner and our family in another. Grace is making her way to Wren’s friends; she hates when everything gets divided like this. Grace is definitely the best Richford to make time for every guest at events like this.
But I can't blame the friends. Henry has always been hard on Wren, and from their perspective, he’s a complete and total dick.
They aren't wrong.
What they do seem to fail to notice is that Henry is not here yet.
Truth be told, Wren might not even care if he shows up, but I will. It’s one thing to cheat on your wife and continuously do so even when the wife knows, but to not be there for your kids?
Fucking pathetic.
Wren hugs me for all of a second before she squeals and pushes me away so that she can talk to Brooke.
“Hi!” Wren’s smile is so big, you’d think she was meeting a celebrity. “I can’t believe you’re dating my brother.”
“Hey,” I say, pretending to take offense, but honestly, each morning I wake up with Brooke in my bed, I think the exact same thing.
Brooke laughs and hugs my sister. “Happy Birthday.”
“My birthday isn’t actually for a couple more weeks, but this weekend worked best for all my friends to make it here. I wanted to show them where I grew up.”
“Then this is the best weekend to have it.”
“Hi, dear,” my mother greets me as she approaches. She leans in for a hug from me and then one from Wren. I’m sure they’ve been together most of the day, but I don’t see my mother nearly as much as I should, considering we live in the same town.
I work a lot, and she avoids the lodge when she can.
I can’t blame her.
“Mom, you remember Brooke,” I say and pull her closer to my side.
“Of course. It’s been a while since I've been to the bakery, but I’m very well aware of it and of you dear. I mean, look at this son of mine. He’s been more himself the past few weeks than I’ve seen in years.”
