Chapter 49
Chapter forty-nine
Everett
I’ve never been the kind of person who wanted to time travel. While my classmates wanted to go back to the sixties and seventies, for the music, or to the roaring twenties, for the moonshine, I was always perfectly content exactly where I was.
But right now, I’d give anything to go back. Just ten minutes—before Bethany showed up, before this whole nightmare took hold.
“Ev?” Ruth’s voice carries on the light breeze, mingling with the gentle rustling of the leaves overhead. She looks like she’s about to say more when Brooks interjects.
“The fuck is she doing here?”
Bethany whirls around to face Brooks, almost losing her balance in the shiny heeled sandals strapped to her feet.
“I’m here to—you know what, Brooks? I don’t owe you an explanation.” She scowls for just a second, then straightens her features. She was always worried about facial expressions giving her wrinkles.
“No, but you owe me one. What are you doing here, Bethany?”
“Jody said—”
“I was with Jody when you spoke to him, and I can tell you for damn certain he said Everett is happy without you, and to leave him the fuck alone.” Brooks’ voice is low, and his words are slow and deliberate as he delivers the last few words.
I can barely hear him over the pounding of my own heartbeat.
I think my heart is in my throat, and my stomach—well, it’s twisted up in knots, that’s for sure.
It might have fallen out of my ass when Brooks and Ruth showed up.
It sounds like Bethany heard him loud and clear, because she scoffs lightly and cants her head toward Ruth as she says “Happy with who? Her? That mousey little thing? Please. Run along, now, little mouse.” She makes a running gesture with her fingers, and I see red.
I slam an open palm against the doorframe, and both women jump. Brooks squares his shoulders.
“You leave my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth,” I snarl. “I don’t want to see you anywhere near this property, you hear me? We were done eight years ago, and we’re still done now.”
“Wha—wife?” Bethany’s eyes widen, almost falling out of her head. Brooks folds his arms across his chest. The wild in Ruth’s eyes seems to calm just a little.
“You heard me,” I say quietly. “She’s my wife. She’s more than you’ve ever been, more than you’ll ever even hope to be. Leave now, Bethany, and we never have to talk about this again.”
Bethany’s shoulders slump, and she picks her way carefully across the gravel, teetering a little in those ridiculous heels. It’s only when she unlocks it that I notice her silver Jeep parked a little way beyond the hedgerow at the front of my house.
The three of us remain silent until we watch her drive away, and then the relief is palpable.
I feel my shoulders drop, and I take three long strides out of the house, towards Ruth.
She’s still as I wrap her in my arms, but as her body collides with mine, she softens, letting out a heavy exhale and clinging to me with all her might.
I lift her and spin her around, a laugh somewhere between joy and hysteria bubbling from my throat.
“What are you doing here, baby girl?”
“You, Ev,” she says. The same thing I said to her a week ago. “I realised when you left—God, this is turning into The Parent Trap.” She slides down my body, dropping to the ground and grabbing both of my hands.
“I realised I don’t want to be in London if you’re not there. I don't want to miss you—I want to be wherever you are. That’s my home. You are my home.”
“And Brooks?”
“You were flying. Brooks answered his phone.”
My best friend is halfway in his truck when I look over, and he offers a grin and a salute.
“Thanks, bro.”
“Next time, don’t leave her behind. You owe me a beer.” He slams the door and the engine roars to life, tyres crunching over the same tracks they made in the gravel when he arrived.
“Think I owe him beer for a year,” I mumble quietly. Ruth laughs. I tip my head to hers and capture her lips in a kiss. She’s warm and sweet, her lips are just as pliant as I remember, and she hums happily against my mouth.
That’s my home.
You are my home.
And Ruth Bevan is mine.