Page 98 of Doc Rock
When she opened the door, looking tired, her hair a wild mass of curls, wearing pink jeans, a black t-shirt, and a tentativesmile on her face, his anger faded a little more. And he realised that with timeit wouldgo completely.
“Hi,”she said shyly and pushed her glasses back up her nose.
His nerves peaked, and he shoved the flowers at her, growling,“For you.”
Sie reflexively grabbed the bunch and blinked at them, then lifted her gorgeous blue eyes up to his, a smile blooming on her face.“Thanks. You didn’t need to do this.”
“Iknow.”The next words slipped out before hecouldstop them.“I never gave you flowers when we first started dating. So I wanted to now.”
Sie’s smile faltered as she asked,“Is this a date?”
Ford didn’t hesitate; he nodded.“Yeah. I mean, I hope so.”Hewatchedher with trepidation and sighed in relief when the smile was back on her face.
“Me too,”Sie whispered, then stepped back and indicated for him to come in.
“Nice front hall,”Ford said expressionlessly, not commenting that the last time they were in that hall, he'd grabbed her and kissed her.“I lost my wedding ring when I was here,”he blurted, still unable to believeit wasgone.
“Your ring?”Sie’s step faltered.
Ford took a couple of deep breaths and admitted,“I always wore it on a necklace. I took it off that night and put it on. I dunno, it’s dumb, once I knewyou were back, I put it on for the first time in forever.It wasin my pocket the night I…”he hesitated.
The night I kissed you.
The night my life clicked back into place after so many years of being incomplete.
“Came over,” he finished.
Sie stopped suddenly and spun back to face him.
“I have it,”she exclaimed.
“What?” He stared at her.She had it?
“Yeah.It wason the floor in the hall. I thought you threw it down in disgust.”
“Shit, no. Never.”Ford stumbled over his words in his rush togetthem out.“It must have fallen out of my pocket.”
Sie pulled a necklace out from under her T-shirt, saying quietly,“I always wore my ring as well.”She showed him their wedding rings sitting side by side on a silver chain. So similar to his.
He reached out and took the rings into his hand, smiling as he remembered their wedding day, and how Sie had bought both rings, woefully misjudging the size of his. He couldn’t remember a day since she left that he'd experienced such pure happiness. He had achieved so much, but it always came with stress. Play the best show hecould. Make the next album a hit. Keep his girlfriend happy, even when he wasn’t sure if they weretherefor him or Midnight Thunder’s frontman.
The day he married Sie was different.It wasabout the two of them. Their hopes and dreams for the future. He had been so sure that she would be by his side, whatever happened with Midnight Thunder.
He wished he hadn’t been wrong.
He still had hold of the rings and was staring into her eyes; he couldn’t look away from her.
“Ford,”Sie whispered.“We’ve got so much to talk about. We need to make it out of my hall.”
He nodded in agreement, but didn’t let go.“Yeah.”
Sie’s mouth quirked up at the corners. Her eyes darted between his and his lips. She wanted to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss her. Ford stepped away and dropped the rings to stop himself from snatching her up into his arms. They needed to talk before the kissing happened.
They held eye contact for a few breathless moments, then Sieturned back around and headed off toward an open door. Calling over her shoulder,“I would give you a tour, but it’s literally an open plan living room and kitchen and a couple of bedrooms upstairs.It wouldtake three minutes and wouldn’t be very interesting.”
Ford’s ears pricked up at the mention of bedrooms; he would be very interested in seeing her bedroom.
They needed totalk, he reminded himself.
