Page 126 of The Long Way Home
“You should take the room,” he says at last.
I frown. “What?”
He jerks his chin toward the hallway. “The bed. It’s yours. I’ll take the pullout.”
“But—”
“No.” He shakes his head, firm. “I think you should take the time to think. To make sure this is what you want. That it feels right for you.” His gaze softens. “This place is special, Sunny. We both know that. Let it pull out that beautiful, wild, brown-eyed girl I know is still in there.”
He steps a little closer. The nearness of him makes my head spin. His voice drops. “Do not mistake my space for lack of want. Because if it were up to me, Sunny, I’d have you in that room with the door locked and no one else within a hundred miles.”
My breath stutters at the implication.
“But I know you,” he continues, his gaze flicking to my mouth for half a second before returning to my eyes. “You need space. You need time to decide that this is what you want. I’m not going to take that from you.”
He releases my hand slowly, his fingers trailing against my skin until there is nothing left between us but air.
“I don’t want you to think I’m pushing you away,” I say, my voice catching.
His jaw flexes as he grins. “Sunny,” he says gently, “you couldn’t push me away if you tried. I’m already yours.”
The back of my throat burns. His words sink, finding something in me I buried a long time ago. He lifts his hand and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch reverent, while the heat in his eyes says everything else he isn’t voicing.
“I’ll be right out here,” he murmurs.
I step into the room and close the door behind me. But I leave it cracked. Just a sliver. Just enough for the light to spill through. Enough for him to know I’m still here.
Chapter Twenty-eight
RHETT
Ihave a habit of waking up early. It’s one of the few parts of my life I can control, and my job has forced me into it. There is something about the mornings out here on the lake, about watching the sun stretch across the water, that makes it worth it. I take a sip of coffee and lean back on the porch stairs, letting the quiet fill the spaces my thoughts usually occupy.
My phone lights up on the deck beside me.Unknown Caller.
I know who it is. I’m not sure what else she could possibly have to say, and I have no desire to hear it. And yet, for some reason I can’t explain, I answer the call.
“Hello.”
“Rhett?”
I close my eyes. “Victoria.”
“Oh, wow.” Her voice pitches higher. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t expect you to answer.” She pauses. “I didn’t think you would want to talk to me.”
“I don’t.” I shift my weight on the deck. “But I have something I need to get off my chest.”
There is a hitch in her breath, but she doesn’t interrupt.
“For a long time, I thought there was something wrong with me. That if my own mother couldn’t stay, then I must not have been worth staying for.” I take a steadying breath. “Up until recently, it shaped every part of my life. I spent years trying to fix myself so people wouldn’t leave. I thought love was conditional, something you earned only by becoming worthy of it.”
“Rhett,” she whispers.
“But I was wrong,” I continue. “I’ve had people in my life who loved me without conditions. My dad. My friends.”
I take a deep breath. “It was right in front of me all along, and I wasted so much time doubting it. But I realized something important. Despite never having been given that love from you the way I should have been, I can love fully. I can love unconditionally. I love her. And that means I was never broken.Youwere.”
She tries to speak, but I force the words out. “I’m not angry anymore. But I’m also not ready to have you back in my life. I need space that isn’t interrupted by explanations, apologies or guilt. And I don’t want you to speak to Rachel. If I find out you go behind my back to talk to her again, we will never have a relationship.”
