“I love you too, honey.” She held me, rubbing my back, soothing me when it should have been me soothing her at this moment. “You brought me to life again. Having you was the best thing that has ever happened to me. You brought both your father and me so much joy and happiness. You’re everything, my sweet girl. Everything.”
I nodded, wiping at my own tears. “I probably look like death.” I sniffed, wiping at my eyes. “I’m going to take a shower.” I threaded her fingers in mine, locking our gazes. “Thank you for telling me.”
She smiled weakly, nodding once before turning back to her teacup and away from me. I sucked in a breath of air, walking down the hallway as I processed the millions of emotions chugging through my body. I went through the movements as I flipped on the water in the shower, making it first searing hot to wake myself up, before easing the water to a comfortable temperature as I leaned back against the wall and let my mind wander.
I thought about my mom and Monica, young and innocent, life crashing in on them in different ways. Their reactions couldn’t be more different. The conversation Kyler and I had had this morning about Cathy versus Jane came to mind. I smiled when I thought of him, half-wishing he was here now just for the pleasant distraction.
Mom had seemed to imply earlier that Monica and Edward had more of a shotgun marriage than a true love story. I wondered if Kyler had sensed that pain, even as a young child, and that caused him to act out. Just then, a flashback came to my mind of a moment a few years ago when mom was digging through old photo albums and thrust a picture at me, announcing the first dinner they’d ever made in the new house before I was born. I remembered it because Dad had cleverly remembered to throw a newspaper on the table with the date forever cemented in our personal family history.
They’d moved into the house months and months before I was born. Nearly nine, the more I thought about it. Bile rose in my throat. Kyler was only eleven months older than me. The timeline made me sick to the bottom of my stomach. I pushed through the motions, refusing to allow my swirling thoughts get the best of me as I washed my hair and body, eager to get dressed and ready for my date with Kyler. By the time I’d turned off the spray and was wrapping up in a towel, Mom announced that Kyler was here.
My half-groan when I looked at the wet reflection in the mirror turned to a hopeless smile. Kyler, here, now, meant that he couldn't wait to see me until later. I ran a brush through my hair and pulled on the nearest skirt and top I could find before hustling straight back into the arms of Kyler Sinclair.
Chapter 26
“When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.” ― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Kyler
“So...are you ashamed to be seen in public with me?” she offered, gesturing to the bags of Italian takeout stacked between us on the picnic blanket as if in explanation.
“I don’t really like to be around people.”
“You don’t say?” She hummed, licking her fingers adorably after stealing another garlic breadstick from the dwindling pile. We were only a few miles out of town, but a million miles away. Just short of the Devil’s Tooth, a treacherous pass that connected two mountain peaks, we’d found a secluded spot at the shoreline of Devil’s Bluff Lake. “Your anti-social attitude is charming. In a Heathcliff kinda way.”
“Don’t even start with that shit again.” I laughed, thinking there were a helluva lot worse things she could call me than her version of always-grumpy Heathcliff. “Ya know why I like you, mouse. You’re the kind of girl that finds romance in darkness. There aren’t many of us; it’s good we stick together.”
“Because picnics by hidden lakes aren’t romantic at all.” She grinned as I peppered kisses down her jawline. I felt her shiver against me, the breeze coming off of the water warmer than usual, which made me glad to know that she had the same sort of visceral reaction to me that I did her.
“Mm.” I made my way down her torso, nipping softly at the outline of her breast before slipping my head quickly under her skirt and nipping at the edge of her elastic panties. “Little mouse, romance never tasted as good as when it’s on your lips.”
She squealed as I licked through her cotton panties, her bucking hips meeting my mouth as I held her against me, licking, nipping, and pulling away. Not enough to get her too stirred up, but just enough to see that sweet cherry blush warm up her cheeks. “Not here, Kyler.”
I whispered against her tender pussy. “Yes, here. This place is abandoned.”
Her fingers threaded into my hair, a tiny groan falling off her lips. “Kyler, but really, this place is busy all the time in the summer.”
“I know, I know,” I husked, placing one last kiss at the top of her sweet warmth before patting her skirt back into place. “There, all put back together again.”
I grinned back at her, feeling pulses of stubborn happiness push through my veins. I threw myself back on the blanket beneath us, crossing my ankles and tucking my hands behind my head. Clouds passed in marshmallow puffs and birds sang so loudly it sounded like we’d been plopped in a fairytale.
“This
