Page 40 of Always and Forever
What is she on about?
“Umm… you know we can still go on trips together. This isn’t the end of us.”
“It’s definitely not the end of us… it never will be. But you’ll be married. Good luck trying to convince Tiero to let you go for a week or two. Plus soon, peanut will be here, and it will be a long time before you can even think of taking off on your own for a few days. You may even have a second child by then.”
Crap, she’s right.
“I hadn’t thought about it like that.” I turn in my seat to face her fully.
She looks off into the distance as she continues, “We’ve been on so many adventures together. And both our happily ever afters started out after one. You were there when I crashed into Lex in Scotland, and I was there when Tiero stormed into your world in Sicily.”
She lets out a long sigh. Stepping off the sled, she sits down on my lap, winding an arm around my shoulder, and resting her head against mine. I band my arms around her waist, holding her to me.
“It feels like the end of an era,” she says wistfully. “Somehow, we ended up living on opposite sides of the world. I don’t like that. Not one bit.
“And the plans we made for our kids to be friends seem unlikely to happen, not with you being months ahead of me.
“And then there’s the fact that you and Tiero are both technically dead and currently in hiding. So traveling will probably never be straightforward.”
We’re both silent for a long while, both lost in our thoughts. The truth of Rhia’s words is sinking in. I’ve been ignoring the implications of my new life on our friendship and distracted myself with the happiness I’ve found in Tiero’s arms. But she’s right. Nothing will ever be the same from here on out.
“Rhi,” I say softly, my breath coming out in little puffs. “You are my favorite person in the world. No matter what, we have to find a way to be in each other’s lives. I can’t imagine you not being in mine. We have to find a new norm.
“I know this won’t be easy. But I love you! Nothing will ever change that. And what does your mom always say? Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Her eyes connect with mine, and all I see is determination. “Yes, wewillmake it work! We always have, and we always will.”
She pecks my forehead and smiles, shaking off the momentary melancholy. She’s good at that, moving on from things that upset her and leaving them where they belong—in the past.
Getting off me, she resumes her spot as the musher.
“Anyhow, this sled ride is like our last hurrah, our bachelorette party.”
“Minus the booze and the policemen strippers,” I quip.
“Yeah, but I’m sure you’ll get your private strip show tonight! Your husband-to-be is a fine specimen.”
“That he is. And I won’t even tell Lex you said that.”
“Just imagine if you put the two of them next to each other… all naked and yummy. The room would go up in flames!”
“I’m happy picturing Tiero naked… Lex, not so much. That just feels wrong.”
“There’s no harm in looking. It’s all about admiring the masculine form,” she winks. “But there’s only one man for me when it comes to touching and licking and sucki—”
“La la la la la,” I sing to stop her from finishing that sentence.
I really don’t want to have that picture of Rhia in my head. It’s bad enough I walked in on them a few times and heard them plenty more.
“Shall we resume this bachelorette adventure?” I ask.
Rhia beams at me. “Absolutely. Let’s go.”
Then she sings from the top of her lungs Pink’s“Let’s get the party started”while steering the sled into every snow drift to make the white powder fly up in the air.
Laughing, I grip the sides of the sled to stay on.
As we speed down a road, Rhia gestures to an overturned car, and in that split second, she yanks on the reins.
