Chapter Thirty-Four
Igrab my phone out of my pocket and dial Morgan’s number. On the second ring, she picks up. “Daddio! I told you not to worry! I got this!” she exclaims cheerfully.
“I know, sweetie. I’m sure you do. I have something to ask you, though.”
“Shoot,” she sighs.
“When Colton first arrived at camp, what was that look you gave him all about?”
At first, I thought they were instantly crushing on one another, but now that I’ve just found out what Miranda looked like, I think I know otherwise. She recognized him.
“He looked familiar. I couldn’t really place him,” she replies vaguely. “Why?”
“Were you ever able to figure out why he looked familiar?”
“Umm, Dad? Why are you asking me this? Do you really want to know?”
“It’s from that picture you have of you and your mother, isn’t it?”
Her silence on the other end tells me everything.
When I took Morgan in, she came with few belongings.
One of them was a picture of her and Ryann, standing in the front yard of that green house we passed on the way here.
There were two other people in that picture.
One of those people was Miranda Waters, and the other was a small boy about Morgan’s age.
“You think it’s a sign too, don’t you?” Morgan asks, finally breaking the silence on the other end. “Like Mom sent them to us?” She sniffs.
“Oh, baby,” I coo. “I do, I really do…”
“Do you know how many times I watched The Parent Trap when I was with her there?”
I let out a bubbly half-chuckle. “It was your mother’s favorite movie…”
Morgan emits an equally wet-sounding giggle.
“I think she ‘parent trapped’ you and Evan. You meeting Colt’s dad seems way too coincidental to not be something bigger.
That’s why I’ve been busting my booty all summer to make sure she got her wish.
Do you know how hard it was to have to break it to Uncle Kai that I didn’t think you and he should try dating again? ”
“Wait, so you know about him and me? And you seriously had to have that talk with him?”
“Dad, you’ve been looking out for me since the day I met you.
It was time I returned the favor. You don’t ever stick up for yourself.
And yes, it was painfully obvious you two weren’t just friends,” she mocks.
“How dumb do you think I am? I was there the night you broke up, for crying out loud. I always felt so guilty my presence split you two up.”
“Shoot, Morgan, no. Don’t feel guilty, never feel guilty about that. Okay, sweetie? He and I were all wrong for one another. I know that now. I’m so sorry you felt that way all this time.”
“Ain’t no thang,” she teases, giggling. “You’re happy now, and that’s all that matters. Mom’s happy too; I’m sure of it. Anyway, I need to get back out there. Gran looks like she’s got about ten kids hanging off her right now, someone’s gotta reign ‘em in and keep this ship from running aground.”
“I’ve asked it before, and I’ll ask it again. Where would I be without you?”
“Up dung creek without a paddle!”
“I love you, Morgan.”
“Love you too, Dad.”
When I hang up, I spin to find Evan talking to Miranda’s headstone. I crouch down beside him, rubbing his back as he kisses the tips of his fingers and touches them to the granite. “I can’t thank you enough. I love you,” he whispers to her image, his soft voice cracking with emotion.
When he looks back at me, his eyes are wet with unshed tears.
I sit back and pull him onto my lap, his arms wrapping around me, his face burying in the crook of my neck.
Everything that’s gone on both yesterday and today, even over this entire summer, I think it’s all catching up to him, finally.
He soaks my shirt with his tears, his body heaving with silent shuddering.
I stroke my fingers through his hair, shh-ing softly. “It’s okay, baby. Get it all out,” I coo. While he cries, I attempt to soothe him with the uplifting revelation I just made on the phone with Morgan.
“Miranda knew Ryann and Morgan? From the home she worked at?” he asks me, stunned. He sits up and wipes the wetness from his face.
“Apparently so,” I tell him. “The house looked familiar from the one and only photograph Morgan had in her possession when she was sent to me. Colton and Miranda were in the picture as well.”
“She never told me who, but I knew a few years back, she really bonded with one of the residents there. She wouldn’t ever divulge too much information, but I know she mentioned that the resident had a daughter that was just a few months younger than Colt.
She was always looking out for that mom and daughter duo.
She’d make room for her at the house, no matter how many times they left and came back.
“One time, after the woman and her daughter had been missing for a while, Miranda trusted her gut that something was wrong and alerted authorities, concerned for their wellbeing. She was devastated when she learned of the woman’s passing, and always wondered what became of the daughter."
I give Evan a soft smile, grateful to hear that someone was looking out for them both, even if it wasn’t enough to save Ryann in the end. “I guess now we know,” I tell him.
“That’s who she meant when she said she reunited with an old friend. What are the odds?” Evan hums, squeezing me.
“What are the odds of any of this?” I ask him, stroking up and down his arm.
“Promise me we can make it work, after Colt and I come back here,” he pleads, blinking up at me. “I worry about how the separation, just until the kids graduate, will affect us after being together non-stop all this time.”
“Communication will be a must, Evan,” I tell him, finally able to put my foot down and set some ground rules. “I’m huge on that, you know this.”
He nods. “I know.”
“Grand gestures and planning thoughtful dates are all well and good, and I appreciate them very much, but they’re not what’s going to be able to get us through something long distance—especially if both of us get busy and can’t make it to one another on weekends and such.
That will be the true test of our durability, being able to share things with each other virtually.
Things that aren’t just surface level conversations with one another. ”
“Like back when we were emailing back and forth about Colt back in May, and you couldn’t make heads or tails of the tone in my messages…”
I grin, knowing he’s gotten so much insight into his own self and how he comes off now. There’s so much depth to Evan, but he only knew the extent of it, because he kept it all bottled up. “Exactly like that, babe.”
He rises to his knees, pushing himself up to a stand.
He extends his hand down to me, helping me up.
When I get my footing, he doesn’t let me go.
He tugs me over to the bike, and I lean back on it.
He presses into me, his thigh slotting between my legs, his lips seeking mine.
When they find each other, he gives me a passionate kiss, pouring all his worries—all his pent-up emotions—into it.
“Just for the record, I hate the thought of leaving more than anything, but I can’t ask Colton to uproot everything for this—us—either.
I want you to know that,” he explains. “And I know I’m not techy or anything, but I’ll have him teach me how to video chat or whatever.
” He caresses my cheek. “I can’t imagine not seeing this gorgeous face every day. ”
I feel my face flame under his palm. “You know, yours looks much better without that perma-scowl you wore for the first few days at camp,” I tease, grinning and raking my fingers through his coarse facial hair.
“But maybe we shouldn’t video chat. It’s going to be sooo dang uncomfortable seeing this beard, knowing what it feels like between my cheeks, when you eat out my pussy. ”
I feel a rumbling groan rattle from his chest. “You and that dirty fuckin’ mouth of yours, Brooks.
The only thing I love more than hearing the filthy shit that comes out of it, is the way my dick looks in it.
” He swipes his thumb along my bottom lip.
“These pretty lips.” Kiss. “That hot fuckin’ tongue.
” Kiss. “You peeking up at me with that sultry look in these green eyes.”
“Evan,” I whimper, “it feels wrong doing this in a cemetery.”
He grins, chuckling. “Yeah, it is kind-of morbid, isn’t it? Let’s get out of here.”
Who knows where this upcoming year will take us—but I’m certain that together we’ll be able to navigate it.
I know that I will need to carve out time to allow us to grow, because I need it for my own happiness—and craving my own happiness isn’t selfish, it’s necessary.
Being with Evan has been such a fulfilling experience these past few weeks—so much more than I even bargained for—so I can’t fall into old habits of letting my day-to-day duties get in the way of this.
“I can’t pick,” he murmurs, pulling away from me and dutifully passing me the helmet.
“Can’t pick what?”
“Whether or not to finish giving you the tour and taking you out to dinner, or if I want to drag you back to my place and let you sit on my face,” he replies, a smirk gracing his face.
I situate myself on the bike, and then he slips his smokes out and pulls one out of the pack between his lips.
“I mean, I guess I should have said I do know what I want to do, but I also want you to decide.”
I eye the action of him lighting up his cigarette dubiously. “I’d rather you quit those, before I continue to sit on your face.”
He puffs out a thick cloud of smoke and holds it out. “I know. I need to. It’s just so fuckin’ hard to quit.”
“You’ve done harder things,” I remind him.
He nods, tossing it to the ground and stubbing the half-smoked butt out with his boot. “For you, I’ll try.”
I grin. “Don’t do it for me; do it for yourself. Do it to live a longer life, to enjoy the beauty of it all for longer. Do it so I get more time with you,” I suggest, winking at him.
He chuckles. “Do they make sexy Depends? Because, if so, I’ll never pick up another pack of smokes. I’ll want to see you in our bed in the nursing home, rocking the fuck out of an adult diaper.”
“Pfft,” I scoff, “you’d hardly find me attractive when I’m all old and wrinkly.”
“The fuck I won’t!” He snickers. “We’ll play strip bingo together, and I’ll still be drooling all over you.”
“Jeesh, our geriatric years sound like so much fun,” I drawl sarcastically.
His expression morphs from playful to something more serious. “Grow old with me, Brooks. I’ve made it thirty-four years without knowing what true love could be. I want to spend at least that many more knowing what it is. No expiration dates.”
I nod, reaching for his hand and pulling him onto the bike.
Wrapping my arms around his torso, and pressing my cheek to his back, I murmur, “I promise you, Evan. But how about, instead of strip bingo, we take rides out to go get ice cream with one another? Even if it’s on one of those Harley trikes, instead of a bike. ”
“I like the sound of that,” he replies, reminding me to put the helmet on.
I stuff it right back in the saddlebag, shaking my head. “Feeling a little reckless today,” I tell him, trusting this man with my whole heart to get me wherever we’re going safely. “Think I’ll skip it. Also, as delightful as sitting on your face sounds, I’m actually starving. Can we go out to eat?”
“A date it is, then.”