Chapter 14 #2
“That’s because you are, Scottie.” He winks, bringing his hand under my chin to force me to level with him. He swipes his thumb across my lower lip, and I swear my insides combust on the spot. “You just haven’t caught up yet.”
I swallow hard, stepping back to put some space between us. I cannot let him know the effect his words have on me. I cover my hand over the mic clipped to my shirt. “Jesus, Tucker. Yes, we’re faking this thing between us. But…” I whisper. “Tone it down, Romeo.”
“I’ll try, but I don’t think my charm comes with volume control.”
A throat clears behind me. I turn around to see Andrea behind the camera, pointing at her clipboard. “Back to the cabinets,” she whisper-shouts.
When I turn back to face Tucker, neither of us move. Because Tucker still has his eyes on me. He looks at me like he’s trying not to do something incredibly stupid.
And I’m looking at him like I might let him.
I’ve already fought this off once; if he tries again, I’m not sure I’ll be able to show the same restraint.
Before we can act on it, he steps away from me, clearing his throat as he picks up the cabinet that fell on my foot to toss it into the pile of other broken cabinets off to the side.
For the next half hour, we work in silence.
He removes all the upper cabinets, and I remove all the lower. By the time we finish taking them all off, there’s a pile in the corner of the kitchen that Tucker and his crew begin to take outside to the dumpster sitting at the top of the driveway.
Andrea comes up beside me. “This will be amazing when it’s done. You’re making good time despite the delays we’ve had.”
“I am?”
She nods. “Tucker’s crew has worked well together to get ahead on things in the rest of the house. We might be a day or two behind, but seeing them hustle today, I have no doubt we’ll catch up.”
“I hope you didn’t just jinx it.”
“I hope not either.” She laughs. “We’re going to film some mid-work content here in the kitchen with Tucker’s crew if you want to step out and grab a snack or take a break.”
“Perfect.”
Making my way through the house feels like a full construction zone at every step.
Tools buzz in different rooms that need to be done but won’t be filmed, sawdust piles sit randomly throughout the first floor, and small, handheld tools are scattered everywhere.
I didn’t notice how much had gotten done today because I entered through the side door that leads directly to the kitchen when I got here.
When I step through the open front door, I feel like I can breathe again. The clouds still hide the sun, but I can feel it. I tilt my head back and close my eyes, letting the breeze cool the sweat caked on my skin. My muscles finally relax because out here, there are no cameras.
I open my eyes, exhaling slowly and ready to pull myself back together when something catches my eye to the left. I gasp and my hand flies to my chest. My other hand reaches out when I step closer and I run my fingers along the white wood finish of a swing on the front porch.
It’s the front porch swing I wanted but was told couldn’t happen.
When Tucker and his crew explained it to me, they went into detailed discussion about how the roof over the porch is very old. There was no way for it to support a swing that could hold two people. Lifting my eyes, I notice that the panels are all…new.
I feel tears sting my eyes and I fight back the emotions.
It shouldn’t feel this big. It’s just a porch swing—one small detail in a house full of bigger problems. But standing here staring at it, I realize it isn’t about the swing at all.
It’s about the fact that someone heard me.
I’ve spent so much of my life learning to compromise my vision and shrink my ideas into a box that’s easier to accept.
It’s proof that sometimes, someone will meet me in the middle.
And there’s only one person who could have made this happen.
“Do you like it?” Tucker’s voice behind me forces me to spin around quickly.
I swipe at the tear that escaped and clear my throat. “Yes. Did you…”
He nods. “I know how much you wanted it. Part of my job is ensuring you get exactly what you want.”
“How? When?”
“Levi and I snuck over here a few times this past week when we had a break between the heavy rainstorms. The beams under the panels were a lot worse than I thought and the whole thing needed to be removed,” he says, looking up at the space above us.
“I tried to make it look exactly the same as it was. Once we replaced them and checked that they were secure and safe, we attached it to that and put the panels in around it.”
“I…” My voice trails off, looking at the swing again. “I can’t believe you did this for me.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” he says softly. “I did it because it matters to you.”
Dammit. My heart flips on itself, and everything I’ve tried to keep down settles on the surface.
I don’t know what to say, because thank you doesn’t feel enough when he’s given me proof that my voice didn’t disappear into the air like it usually does.
Proof that someone listened to what I wanted and acted when I wasn’t looking.
“You don’t have to believe it yet,” he continues.
“But if you want something, and it’s safe, I’ll figure out how to make it happen.
Seeing you disappointed over something like that?
” His jaw tightens, and he looks away from me to the swing.
His expression shifts to something I can’t make out.
“Some things don’t get a second chance and not everything can be saved.
” He exhales, looking back to me. “This wasn’t one of them. ”
I move without restraint, wrapping my arms around his waist. He’s momentarily startled by the contact, but his body relaxes at the same time he wraps his arms around my neck, pulling me into him.
My fingers curl tighter into his shirt and for a second, I’m painfully aware of how easily this could turn into something else.
Some things don’t get a second chance.
I feel the truth of it in the way his arms tighten and in the careful breath he takes like he’s holding more than just me. Whatever he’s lost, whatever he couldn’t save, it still lives in him and shapes the way he moves through life.
I can tell now, Tucker fixes things he can before it slips away.
“Thank you, Tucker,” I say into his chest. Pulling back, I look up at him, arms still around each other. “It—it means everything.”
My emotions are all over the place as a tear slips down my cheek.
He catches it with the back of his finger.
I feel the shift before I see it. For a heartbeat, I think he might close the distance and kiss me.
The air is thick and charged with all the unspoken words we both want to say.
Instead, he unwraps his arms and steps back.
“And look…I’m sorry,” he says quietly, voice rougher as he looks down at his hands. “About earlier…the sage green? I wasn’t trying to shoot you down.”
My throat tightens. “I know.”
“I’m not used to bright and colorful,” he admits. “Color, beautiful chaos, all that stuff. It wasn’t really something I grew up with.”
This is the first time Tucker has given me a piece of himself, a real one.
“I’m not used to…safe,” I say before I can swallow the truth back down. “And I’m not used to people having my back like this. I learned how to make things look fine long before they actually felt that way.”
His eyes flicker to me again. Something dark and understanding passes through them. Suddenly, we’re both standing here on a porch we built together, carrying wounds neither of us have confessed to.
It’s in this moment that something between us shifts.
He notices.
I notice.
Anyone with a pulse would notice.
“Scottie,” he whispers to the ground between his legs. “I’ve never wanted to kiss someone I shouldn’t so damn badly.”
My heartbeat launches into a sprint. “Tucker—”
“I won’t do it.” He shakes his head. “I won’t cross the line, even though it’s been tempting me since driving you home from the bar that night. Hell, since you arrived here in Bluestone Lakes.”
The problem—the terrifying, exhilarating problem—is that I want him to cross the line now.
I didn’t then because I wasn’t sure, but now, I’ve never been more sure.
I know this isn’t the time and place, though.
Not when emotions are so high over the incredible gesture from Tucker and cameras could come back outside at any minute.
“We should get back inside,” I settle on.
The muscle in his jaw ticks as he looks far into the distance, avoiding making any eye contact with me. It stings when I know I have no right to allow it to sting.
“Fine,” he says. “I’ll have my crew bring in the new doors.” He finally faces me, a smirk forming—dangerous. “And then we can get to work painting them that sage green.”
I try my hardest not to smile, but fail miserably.
“I’m ready if you are, Tucker.”
He reaches out, circling his hand around my wrist to pull me closer to him. My eyes widen, but only for a second, because the smile on his face when he looks down at me is enough to melt me on the spot.
“Careful, Scottie. The way you say my name…like that? It’ll ruin me.”
I’m unraveling, piece by careful piece.
And the worst part?
He’s the only reason I haven’t fallen apart already, and the reason I know I eventually will.