A gentle squeeze.
It grounded me. The anger ebbed enough for me to take a breath.
“Blue and I went yesterday.” My voice caught. I cleared it, swallowing hard. “It was… surreal. First time I’d seen the damage with my own eyes.”
The room was silent, waiting. But there was nothing more I wanted to say. What could I add that anyone would understand? Being at my childhood home felt like I’d stepped back time. Was it harder than I expected? Maybe. Easier? Maybe that too. I don’t know. But I kept thinking that if I’d gone back sooner, faced it then, maybe I wouldn’t still be tightening up now. Maybe I wouldn’t still want to run every time someone brings it up.
“The magnolia trees were beautiful,” Blue added softly.
Every head turned to her, smiling at her gentleness, but more importantly, it shifted the conversation away from me. She knew I couldn’t give them more than that. She knew when to step in and save me. Her thumb brushed my leg under the table, back and forth, steady. And for the first time, I realized how seamlessly she’d learned to anchor me.
Easton’s shoulders loosened and he nodded, satisfied.
The conversation shifted, the weight lifting, though it lingered like smoke at the edges.
When dinner ended, Blue and I were the first to stand and say our goodbyes. We needed to stop by her house, gather a few things, and by the time we’d get back to the chopper, the others would be gone, Grams and Gramps would be tucked into bed.
Out front, Marshal waited by the SUV. Blue glanced at me in surprise, but I’d already had the truck moved back to the lake house, and Marshal had driven back in from the city to get us where we needed to be.
Blue didn’t fight it. She nodded, satisfied, and slipped easily into the backseat beside me. She leaned into me as we drove down the highway, her head resting against my shoulder.
She didn’t even glance at Fiddlers as we passed.
Her body softened into mine, content. And it hit me like a punch that I might not be able to let her go as easily as I’d planned.
In such a short time, we’d become comfortable. Friends. Lovers. And somewhere in between, she’d become something else entirely. Something that felt way more important than I could fathom.
I still intended to give her the bar. I’d promised. I’d also arranged for her to have everything she wanted. But a darker, selfish part of me was already considering asking for another favor. One that would give us more time. One that would test whether this was just a bubble we were both pretending not to see, or if it was something real.
Something neither of us had expected.
Chapter Forty-Nine
BLUE
When we pulledup to the house, West walked me up to the porch. I hesitated at the door, my hand on the knob, my stomach twisting.
Even after everything we’d been through, I felt self-conscious about letting him inside. There was nothing shiny in this house. No new furniture, no pieces of value. Just a lifetime of secondhand things and memories worn thin.
But then I remembered that I’d never been ashamed of this place before. Not once. It was where my dad had worked his ass off to raise me as a single father since I was six years old. I was never going to be embarrassed by that, and West had never given me a reason to feel like I should be.
So I took a breath, turned the key, and let him follow me inside.
The living room was dim and familiar. The blankets Lisa had used were still draped over the couch, an empty coffee cup abandoned on the end table. I carried it to the sink, rinsed it, and left it there before coming back to where West stood.
He hadn’t moved. Hands in his pockets. Looking like he belonged nowhere and everywhere all at once.
“I’m just going to grab a few things from Dad’s room,” I told him. “Wait here.”
“Of course.” His head tipped slightly. “You need help?”
I shook my head. “I got it. No telling how messy Dad’s room is.”
One corner of his mouth lifted. “You know I don’t care about that. But… let me know if you need me.”
“I won’t be long.”
I slipped down the hall, moving quickly as I gathered the small comfort items Dad would want if he ended up staying longer in Atlanta. When I came back, a bag slung over my shoulder, West was exactly where I’d left him.
