35. Merritt
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
MERRITT
I’m completely unprepared for how nervous I am right now.
My heart is pounding in my chest, a restless type of energy buzzing beneath my skin that makes me want to pace around the room.
Like doing so will somehow help the adrenaline and anticipation coursing through me.
But that’s kind of hard to do when I’m sitting in the dark.
A car door slams outside, and I jump. Okay… this is go time.
Nothing about tonight has gone as planned, literally not a single thing, but I still believe that it’ll work out and be what I’m hoping it will be.
There’s an incessant flip in my stomach when I hear the sound of keys jingling, followed by the sound of metal on metal, the key being shoved into the lock.
My fingers rest on the light switch, waiting, air caught in my lungs because I’m scared to breathe in fear of messing this up somehow when we’ve already come so far.
The front door slowly swings open, and a tall, broad silhouette fills the doorway, going completely still.
I flick the light on and scream, “SUUUURPRISEEEEEE!”
The words are echoed by the other three people standing in the now brightly lit room with me.
Bennett’s jaw falls open, his eyes widening on me. “Merritt?”
He wasn’t expecting me to be here, especially not in the dark, screaming surprise.
I smile, and then it’s like he suddenly realizes I’m not alone. He glances to the right of me, and pure shock flits across his face.
“Mom? Dad?” His voice has gone breathless. “Brie?”
He still hasn’t moved from the doorway, completely frozen in shock. “W-what are you doing here? How are you here right now?”
Kathy, his mom, rushes over to him framing his face in her small hands, gazing up at him with so much love. But… it’s how he’s looking back at her that has the hot, fresh tears welling in my eyes, emotion thickening in my throat.
Because along with the shock and disbelief clear on his face, his piercing eyes are soft, his expression that of a man who just… needs his mama. Needs his family.
I reach up and rub my palm along my sternum because my heart is aching. I hate that I didn’t realize just how much he needed this until right now.
“We wanted to surprise you and come to the game tonight,” Kathy says quietly, her eyes flickering with disappointment.
She looks over at his father, Luke, who’s now standing beside her, then back at Bennett.
“We tried to be there, but our flight was delayed twice because of weather. And by the time we landed and deboarded, we couldn’t find a rental car.
So, it was Merritt’s idea for us to wait for you here and surprise you since we’d be missing the game by the time she picked us up from the airport. ”
Bennett’s eyes snap to mine, his blond brows furrowing tightly as he shoots me a look. “But how?” He looks back at his parents. “How? When did this happen? Wh—” He’s sputtering, and his dad chuckles, reaching over to pull him into a tight hug, slapping his palm along his shoulder.
Bennett’s hockey bag falls to the floor by his feet, forgotten.
“Well, son. I think you… you should thank your girl for that. All of this was her idea.”
I swallow roughly, dragging in one uneven breath after another, each rattling in my lungs.
I wasn’t expecting this to be so emotional.
I just… I wanted to do this for Bennett. I wanted to make him happy. His sister, Brie, appears by my side, looping her arm in mine, and she drags me against her.
She’s the female version of Bennett, only slightly older, definitely more funny, and immediately someone who I knew I could be friends with.
“Merritt found me on Instagram and slid into my DMs and suggested that we plan something. The rest is history. Here we are, albeit with many blips along the way and a travel day from actual hell. We are here for you, baby brother.”
I can’t pull my eyes off Bennett, watching as his throat works. A silence settles between us, and even with distance between us, I can tell that he’s struggling with his emotions right now.
His eyes are red-rimmed, and his nostrils are flaring, his surprised gaze bouncing between all of us. He’s still trying to wrap his head around the fact that his family is here, standing in his living room, and he had no idea. No hint that this was coming.
And that’s because I am the world’s best secret keeper and surprise planner, obviously.
That’s an extreme exaggeration. I have no idea how I even pulled it off, actually.
But after family weekend, when his friends came in and I saw how happy he was, how full he felt being surrounded by his people, I wanted to make sure that his family was here for a game this year and that they understood how important this is to him.
Imagine how surprised I was to find out that they didn’t even know it was family weekend.
That for whatever reason, Bennett didn’t tell them. I was worried that I might have overstepped when I discovered that, but I just… I knew that he would want them there.
I was just crossing my fingers and praying to the universe that everything would align. Even if I wasn’t able to pull it off, I just knew that I had to try.
There were a couple of times, especially tonight, that I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make it happen.
So many things were out of my control. The weather, flights, a stupid overbooked rental car place.
And I was a little worried that Bennett would be upset that I orchestrated this without telling him.
But thank God that I did, because seeing his face right now makes it a thousand times worth what it took to get here.
“I’m sorry that we didn’t make it to the game tonight, but there’s always tomorrow,” Kathy says with a smile, patting his cheek. She steps back and slips her arm around her husband’s waist, leaning into him.
I have so much to talk with Bennett about.
So many things that I need to say that I’ve been holding in.
After witnessing his parents together tonight, the way that his dad offers quiet reassurance to his mom in the softest ways, it made me realize things.
Their love isn’t loud or over-the-top, but it’s evident. Strong and secure.
And now I truly understand Bennett in a way I never did before now.
About the way that he shows up for people, the way that he shows up for me, how he shows how much he cares about me.
In the quiet ways.
In the ways that other people don’t pay attention to. Things that might get missed.
The substantial but small ones that, when with the right person, mean everything.
To be seen is to be loved.
And there is no one that I see more clearly than Bennett.
Kathy reaches out and smooths her hand over the lapel of his suit, and Bennett shakes his head, exhaling. “I’m just… I can’t even believe that you’re here.”
His gaze shifts to his dad, his expression morphing to confusion. “What about work? Yo—”
His dad shakes his head. “Took a few days off. I had some vacation time, so I used it. They’ll be fine without me for a few days, and if they can’t… well, then they can figure it out, because I need to be here for my son.”
God, Bennett looks like he might cry, and my own chin trembles.
This big, sweet, soft-hearted, emotional man.
He nods, and his dad lowers his voice. “Something I should have done a long time ago, Bennett. I’m sorry about that.”
Feeling the emotion surrounding the moment, I gently unhook my arm from Brie’s and say, “I’m going to grab a drink and give you guys a few minutes.”
This feels like a big moment for them, and the last thing I want to do is intrude.
I walk into the kitchen, resting my hands at my hips when I see the disaster staring back.
Clearly, my boyfriend wasn’t the last one in here, or it would be spotless.
I’m going to assume this insanity of a mess is from Zach or Tyler.
I might as well start picking it all up, keeping myself busy. I start by throwing away the trash and gathering all the random shit on the counter. And after a few minutes, I honestly lose myself in the task.
The monotony gives my brain something to fixate on.
The next thing I know, I hear Brie’s voice calling from the living room, “We’re going to run to Jack’s to get pizza.
We’ll be back in a little bit. Like at least thirty minutes.
Maybe even more.” I shake my head, laughing.
“Might even be an hour if I can convince Mom and Dad to get ice cream. ’Kay, bye!
” I hear the quiet murmur of voices and then the front door closing as I lean against the kitchen counter.
A few seconds later, Bennett strolls through the doorway. His gaze snags on mine, and he makes a beeline toward me, each step alight with measured purpose.
He collides into me, framing my face in his rough hands and hauling me against him, sealing his lips over mine, robbing the breath out of me.
His mouth works insistently against mine, his tongue tracing my lips, immediately slipping through when I part mine.
It’s a kind of kiss that we’ve never shared, a kind of desperation that makes my heart hammer behind my ribs.
He’s holding me in his hands with such tenderness, but yet… still reverent, like he’s worried it was going to be the last time.
A beat passes, and he tears his mouth away, staring down at me. His blue eyes flicker with emotion, raw and exposed. “I love you.”
My breath hitches.
“There are so many things that I want to say right now. About my parents, about you bringing them here, about us. But I can’t go another fucking second, Merritt, without you knowing that I love you.
” He sweeps his thumb slowly across my cheek.
“I just spent the entire night thinking that I was going to lose you. And it was fucking agony, baby, like I have never experienced. The kind that I felt in my bones. I told myself that no matter what happened tonight, no matter what the outcome is, that I was still going to tell you that I’m in love with you.
The soul-deep kind of love that we just wrote an entire goddamn book about, the fated in the stars kind of love I never knew existed until you blew into my life and knocked me on my ass. ”