Six #5
“It’s one or the other,” Thomas said solemnly. “Which is it, Jory?”
“Jory?” Regina prodded me.
“I just—it’s, like, a minute old, ya know? He just comes storming back into my life and… I need a minute to breathe. I can’t promise you anything right this second.”
They were all staring up at me, and I felt terrible. Here they were, ready to welcome me with open arms, and I was on the fence.
“What the hell’s going on?” Sam growled behind me.
“Listen,” Thomas said quickly, standing up in front of me and pulling me into his arms in one fluid motion.
I was crushed against him as he whispered into my hair.
“He needs you and you need him. Don’t let something as insignificant as time change your heart.
When it’s right, you know, and I think you do. ”
I trembled in his arms, and he rubbed the back of my head like I’d seen him do with his grandchildren.
“Seriously, what the hell is going on? Why’re you cryin’, Mom?”
“I’m so happy Jory’s home.”
“Mike?”
“What?” he snapped at Sam.
“Are you crying?”
“In your dreams, asswipe.”
“Mikey, don’t curse in your parents’ home.”
“Sorry, Bev,” Michael said. “I meant to say asshole.”
“Mikey!” Beverly yelled.
“Michael!” Regina yelled.
“Sorry, Mom. Sorry, babe,” he apologized to both of them.
“Oh.” Regina clapped her hands. “I’m so happy.”
“Christ.”
“Samuel Thomas Kage!”
He groaned.
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain!” Thomas bellowed at his son, finally letting me go. “You stay with us, Jory. This family needs you,” he said sincerely, his eyes all soft and liquid.
“That’s such a nice thing to say.”
“I know,” he said arrogantly. “Now, this Sunday we’re having deer for dinner. My brother Joe will be back from his hunting trip.”
Eating Bambi. I felt my stomach roll. That was never going to happen. “Great.”
He patted my face.
“Jory, dear, come help me in the kitchen.” Regina smiled, getting up off the couch. “Who wants cake?”
I turned and looked down at Sam. I couldn’t stop smiling. What a weird twenty-four hours this had been.
“Baby, I’m sorry,” he said worriedly, standing up in front of me. “We can go slow and—”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Yeah. What’s the point?”
He was searching my face. “But you’ve been such a basket case about me coming back into—”
“And I’m still worried, Sam, but what am I gonna do, just live in fear that something’s gonna go wrong?
I mean, c’mon—something will always go wrong, we just gotta roll with it this time.
I don’t know if you feel it, but… And maybe it’s as simple as we’re both older, I dunno, I just…
” I took a steadying breath. “I’m at the job I’m gonna keep, ya know?
And I have Dylan and Chris and friends that have stuck around, and of course Dane and now his wife, Aja, and…
I just didn’t have you, and now you’re here, so…
And I’ve got your family’s blessing…so I figure”—I shrugged—“I’m good to go. ”
He gave me a crooked grin. “So you’re saying what? You’ll move in with me?”
“No.” I shook my head. “That part we do need to take slow.”
“Then what?”
“We can date.”
He scowled at me. “I don’t wanna date you, I wanna live with you.”
“Well, you get to date me.” I smiled at him. “You gotta start somewhere.”
“I want you to move in with me.”
“Let me explain something to you,” I began. “You can keep saying that, but it’s not gonna change anything.”
Just the very corner of his lips curved. “Oh no?”
“Let’s see how it goes, Sam.”
He nodded. “It’s gonna go so great. You’re gonna be begging me to move in.”
“We’ll see.”
“But you won’t see anyone else.” He was clarifying, making sure. “I’m the only one you’re sleeping with from now on, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll take it. It’s a start.”
I just looked at him. He’d take it, like he had a choice… The man was hilarious. Of course he’d take it; it was all he was going to get right now.
He put his hands on my face. “You mean it, right? There’s only gonna be me?”
Did I mean it? I searched my heart just to make sure nothing felt weird.
I purposefully tried to think of our worst times, but all that came to mind was us having breakfast in the middle of the afternoon.
Just the two of us together in his apartment, sitting and eating, being together and talking about the events of the night.
It felt comfortable and right. There was only good stuff, nothing bad.
“Yeah, I mean it,” I told him. “And God help you when Dane gets back from his honeymoon.”
“I will work on Dane Harcourt because he’s your brother and you love him.” He grabbed me roughly, and his arms went around me as he lifted me off my feet. “But so you know, you’re the most important thing, J. I’m gonna make you so happy this time, I swear to God.”
I smiled, wrapping my arms around him, holding him tight. “What? You love me?”
“I do,” he said, and I felt the shiver run through his huge frame. “You know I do.”
“Yeah?”
“Fuck yeah.”
I really needed to work on the swearing. “Yeah, well, I love you too.” I sighed in his arms. “It’s exhausting, but I do.”
“I know, baby. I know.”