Her parents dropped them off in front of his house, and Calum swallowed against the selfish heat in his chest as she followedhim inside. She was choosing him over her parents, and that had to mean something.
She curled up on his bed, watching him as he grabbed a clean pair of shorts and boxers, then sighed. “Cal?”
“Rett?”
“D’you think we can do this?”
“Do what?”
“Make us work while I’m gone.”
Calum froze; the clothes fell from his hand as he turned toward Rett. On her face was the ghost of the doubts he himself felt, but it hurt worse to see it so clearly in her expression. He could handle his own doubts, but hers?
Hers were a knife to the heart.
“Rett,” he breathed as he sat beside her. Her hand found his without hesitation, and he squeezed gently. “I think we have a damn good shot at making us work. We both want this, right?”
“More’n anythin’,” she whispered; her gray eyes shined wetly, and he brushed away the dampness that slipped free.
“Then we can do this. No questions.”
“No doubts?”
“None.”
The lie slipped too easily from his tongue, but it tasted true enough. It tastedright. So he kept the truth behind his teeth and pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. Promising to be right back, he stood and headed for the bathroom, grabbing up his clothes on the way.
She was asleep by the time Calum finished showering and entered his room once more. He laughed quietly and turned off the light before lying down by her side; as if instinct, she curled in against him and let out a sigh. He ran a gentle hand over her dark hair, carefully pulled her glasses free, and set them on the windowsill. Then, with an arm over her waist and her hair tickling his nose, Calum fell asleep.
Though he tried his best, he couldn’t stop thinking about Rett’s acceptance into college. He was proud of her for her accomplishment—God, was he proud of her—but he was also selfish. Saying goodbye to her after he’d found her only seven months prior… It didn’t seem fair. He’d chosen to stay in Oak Creek for her. Yet she was leaving.
He said not a word of it. Instead, he avoided the subject of college entirely. When Rett asked about his plans for higher education, he only shrugged and said he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. It was true; he’d never really learned how to plan for the future. All he ever worried about was helping his mother with the kids and releasing the tension brought on by responsibilities unfairly put upon his shoulders. Meeting Rett had changed his priorities to loving her. He didn’t care what the future brought as long as it was with her.
With her leaving, the thought of him going off to college seemed like an absolutely horrible idea. It was going to be difficult enough with him staying in Oak Creek while she was off in Ohio. No, it was best he stayed where he was so she had something to come home to.
April burst into May in an explosion of heat and a flurry of activity. Calum stared down at the paper in his hand and swallowed thickly.I did it, he thought as he read and rereadYou are invited to attend Oak Creek High’s 2011 Graduation Ceremony!He made it. He was graduating, something his mother hoped would happen. Something he’d forced himself to care about until Rett made it easy.
Carefully placing the paper between the pages of his history book, Calum made his way out of the school. Rett had left already; she had a doctor’s appointment and then would be spending the afternoon making sure she had everything for college. He had plans to continue working on the trailer.
They’d nearly finished the living room. Calum had tacked the last inch of the new carpet just the day before. All that was left was to decorate and paint the walls—a task Rett volunteered to do. Rather vehemently, really, and who was Calum to deny her anything? He knew she wasn’t as excited about the prospect of the trailer in the beginning. It had taken her a few weeks to warm up to the idea of renovating their first home, but she had come around. He would do well to reward that.
Calum stopped by the house long enough to drop his backpack to the floor in his room, then he set off toward the trailer. As he walked, he made a mental list of all the things that still needed to be done. The bathroom was next in terms of priority, mostly because it annoyed Rett to either pee in the woods or drive into town just to use a toilet. It would be the most work so far, but it would be worth all the effort to make her happy.
The face masks hung on a hook by the front door, and Calum grabbed the nearest one. Donning it quickly, he pulled on a pair of work gloves, tucked a utility knife into his back pocket, and made his way to the bathroom. The shower stall still leaned precariously across the room, and he cracked his knuckles before pulling out the knife to cut away the remaining caulk. Hauling the stall out of the trailer ten minutes later was harder than he expected, but he succeeded. The plastic casing cracked upon impact with the ground. Panting shallowly, he rested his shoulder against the doorframe, tugged the mask down, and stared out at the trees.
He wasn’t sure how it happened, how Oak Creek became home. It had never been meant for more than a pit-stop in the course of his life. He was only supposed to graduate from the high school then be in Las Vegas once more. Instead, he’d fallen in love and gotten married. He was building a home—afuture—with someone he never dreamed of finding. But Rett… She’d come into his life at just the right time. His mother would sayit was fate that brought them together. Or maybe his mother would say nothing at all, considering Rett was what was keeping him from moving back to Nevada.
“What does she know?” he muttered before turning to go inside again.
Unfortunately, time didn’t slow down. It seemed, in fact, to go faster. The graduation ceremony came and went. Though he celebrated with his aunt and uncle and cousin, Calum couldn’t help but wish his mother could have been there. That she could have seen what he’d accomplished. That she would have been proud of what he achieved. He knew Georgie and Charles were proud, that Rett was. Hell, even her parents were proud of him. But it wasn’t the same as having his mother there to applaud him for all the hard work and the way he’d changed throughout the school year.
He became the kid she said she wanted, the young man he thought would be enough.
But she hadn’t come. She’d stayed in Las Vegas while he walked across the stage to get his diploma in the crowd of eighty-one other students and their families. Calum knew, he truly did, that she had no money to fly to Tennessee, nor could she afford a babysitter for his siblings. It still hurt, however, that she wasn’t there to cheer him on.
Rett woke him before dawn a week later. He knew before she even said anything that it was time. Tugging her down to lie beside him, Calum closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of coconut body wash and cherry lip balm. His chest ached, and burning erupted behind his eyes. He held his wife closer, pressed a kiss to her forehead with trembling lips, and bit back his pleas for her to stay. It would be too selfish, too cruel, to beg her to give up her dreams.
“We’ll be fine, won’t we?” she whispered, hands clinging to him as she shook in his arms.
