Page 132 of Small Town, Big Storm

A dry laugh.“You think my brother and I talked about our feelings?”

“Is anger not a feeling?”I counter.

He snorts as he picks up the letter, turns it over and over in his hands.“You got me there, Pop.”A sigh.“But I doubt Rain opened his either.Hell, I don’t even know why I kept it.”

I do.

And it’s the same reason I’m not scared anymore.

Because Storm cares—despite all the darkness and bad memories, the hurt and pain, he cares.

I just hope that whatever’s inside the letter won’t hurt him all over again.

“Can I?”

He hesitates, only for a second.

Then he presses the envelope into my hand.

And my heart rolls over for him all over again.

The trust he just put in me…

I carefully take the envelope and tuck it into my nightstand.“It’ll be there,” I tell him softly.“When you’re ready.”

He’s quiet for a long moment.

Then he tucks me into bed, wraps me tightly in his arms…

And I make sure he doesn’t wake up alone.

Thirty-Five

Storm

She’s here.

I know it before I fully open my eyes, before I tighten my arms and draw the warm weight of her body more firmly against mine.

“Storm,” she murmurs drowsily, burying her face in my chest.

“I’m here, Poppyseed.”

A soft sigh, her body pressing closer.

“I missed you.”Her words are still quiet, still sleepy.

“I’ve been here all night, baby.”

“No.I missed you these last years.Wished you were here like this a thousand times.”She laughs and the gentle sound is sunshine and rainbows and happiness and hope.“Okay, well, maybe not when Sully was living with us.”

I grin, kiss the top of her head.“Yeah, as much as my ego doesn’t like it, I think Sully could have taken me.”

Another laugh and then she’s relaxing against me, her fingers tracing absent patterns on my chest.

I like it, like the way it feels to have her in my arms?—

No, I love it.