35. Rock, Paper, Scissors
Chapter 35
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Reece could feel the tension rising off of Neve in waves. “Talk about … what?” she ventured.
“A couple things. First I need to clear something up.” He sucked in a breath. “I know I’ve been dodging your question about the money.”
In his peripheral vision, she adjusted in her seat. “It’s been you all along, hasn’t it?”
He gave a slow nod. “For years, I’ve watched you work your ass off and pour your heart and soul into that clinic. Earlier this year, I also noticed how stressed you were over your finances.”
“So I never talked in my sleep, did I? You made that up.”
He lifted his hand off the steering wheel. “Guilty. Do you remember one night when I was working behind the bar and you said you were considering shutting down the clinic?”
“I did ? That must have been a three-margarita night.”
“Four,” he chuckled, “not that I was counting. Anyway, you talked about how all you wanted to do was take care of animals but you were spending more and more of your time trying to figure out how to stay afloat. You were so sad, and I wanted to do something .”
“So you started putting money in my account? Who does that?” She paused to chuckle. “You, apparently. Can you afford it? And how did you get away with setting it up? I thought stuff like that was illegal or at least difficult to pull off.”
“Oh, baby, I can afford it.” He sent her a sidelong wink and nearly laughed out loud when her mouth dropped open. “As for how I was able to set it up, we Hunnicutts have pull. You ought to know that by now.”
“But you’re not the type who uses his ‘pull,’” she sputtered.
“You don’t think so? You’ve got a lot to learn about me. I damn well do when it matters.”
Her mouth opened and closed—and opened again. “Well, I haven’t used much of the money, and I plan to pay back every dime I owe you. I also plan to get your money back for those rings.” She let out a cute little hmph.
“You don’t owe me anything. Colorado is a community property state.”
“I-I don’t follow.”
“Neve, forget about the money. Forget about returning the rings. I don’t want to return them. I don’t want to sell them.” He reached over and tugged her good hand to his thigh, where he interlaced his fingers with hers. “I don’t want to return the marriage either.”
Their lives had become irrevocably enmeshed, entangled, in a short time. Or maybe it had been intertwining for years, like vines growing around each other. How did you pull something like that apart? It had crept up so stealthily; he hadn’t seen it coming. But if he had, would he have stopped it? No. What he had with her was something he wanted more of. He didn’t want it to end. He wanted to nurture it so it could flourish. And he didn’t want that with anyone else. Only Neve .
He squeezed her hand. “Maybe we’re not supposed to be here—Lord knows neither of us planned it—but sometimes things happen for a reason.” His mother’s words echoed in his head: “Many of the best things in life are surprises.” Well, finding himself married to Neve had been the biggest surprise of his life. “If I were to marry anyone, it would be you.”
“But you did marry me,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t in my right mind.” She barked a mirthless laugh. “And maybe that’s what it took to open my eyes.”
“Which brings us right back to the beginning. You’re going away.” Her voice trailed off in a sad lament.
His phone chose that moment to ring. A Vermont area code flashed on his screen. He poked at the red button, but a bump in the road caused him to stab the green icon instead. Shit! He held up a finger to signal Neve to hold that thought. She gave him a slight nod in response.
“This is Reece,” he announced.
“Reece, I’m glad we caught you.” A familiar man’s voice blared through the truck’s speakers. A woman chimed in, and the caller laughed. “Sorry. That was Christie. I should have warned you we’ve got you on speaker. We just wanted to call and wish you Happy Holidays and let you know, once again, how excited we are to have you. The entire crew can’t wait to welcome you into the family.” A few more voices added their greetings.
Christ, was the entire team on this call?
Reece thought of his lone duffel bag back at Neve’s, where nearly everything he owned fit neatly within its confines. His entire life was in that one bag. How sad was that?
But did it have to be that way?
The truth crystallized in his mind, and he slowed the truck, nosed it onto a turnout, and put it in park. While the Stowe crew carried on a cheery conversation he was supposed to be part of, he reflected on the man within him—one whose equilibrium depended on the roots holding him steadfast. Roots he’d taken for granted, that he’d never realized had been planted decades ago.
He was part of Fall River, and Fall River was part of him. Indelibly tattooed on his heart. Why would he rip those roots from the ground?
Shoving a hand through his hair, he pulled in a breath. “Joe, I appreciate all the trouble you guys have gone through for me.” The joking and laughing on the other end grew quiet. It was now or never. As he leaped off the high dive into the unknown, he prayed his landing would be a soft one—and that his dad’s looming lecture wouldn’t blister his ears beyond repair.
He glanced over at Neve, whose stunned eyes fastened on him. “The thing is, I’ve had a change of plan.”
There was a three-second pause while Reece’s words seemed to catch up with Joe’s brain. “Wait. What? Did you just say you’ve changed your mind about joining us?”
Reece cringed. “I did, and I’m really sorry to do this to you. I could tell you my mom’s sick and I need to stay, or that I broke my leg and have to have surgery, or, more unbelievable still, that I got married at Thanksgiving and don’t want to leave my wife.”
“But …” the guy sputtered. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“About the first two? No.” He turned in his seat so he faced Neve. “But that last one, crazy as it sounds, that one’s the truth. I didn’t plan it. It was a wild hair that caught us both by surprise. On a whim, I married my best friend, and I want to stay here. With her.” Reece was vaguely aware of cursing in the background, while his focus zeroed in on Neve’s mouth forming an O that matched the shape of her eyes.
Joe’s voice rose in pitch. “Jesus, can’t you bring her with you?”
“She’s a vet with a growing practice, and I can’t ask her to give that up and move with me. And I’ve decided I won’t move without her.”
It wasn’t long before the call ended. Neve’s expression remained frozen in shock, and Reece gave her hair a gentle tug. “That bonfire you see is the bridge I just burned down.”
She seemed to come out of her daze. “Are you … staying? Are you reconsidering Summit County?”
“No.”
She shook her head as if to shake off her confusion. “Right. You don’t want to be part of the ‘bedazzled’ set.”
“If it takes wearing rhinestone jeans to make you happy, I’m in. I would jump off a cliff without ropes and harness for you. I would cling to the side of a mountain in subzero temperatures for you. When you were lost out there, when I knew someone had you and I couldn’t get to you and I didn’t know if you were okay …” His voice broke. “It all became so fucking clear. ”
She placed a soft finger against his lips. “You don’t have to—”
He kissed it, pressed her hand to his cheek, and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I do. I have some things I’ve got to tell you, so let me get them out.” He fastened his eyes on hers so she could read the truth of what he was about to say. “It might have taken a drunk night in Vegas to open my eyes, but they’re open now, and I want to keep them that way because when I look at you, I’m in awe. I guess I always have been, but I was too stubborn or boneheaded to admit it. For years, I’ve looked at you like you were that skinny-legged kid who used to chase me around, but you’ve grown into a vibrant, strong, sexy woman that any man would be proud to have as his wife. Neve Embry, you take my breath away.”
Once upon a time, he had believed she belonged to Charlie, and he’d erected barriers around himself. Although he knew better now, it didn’t matter anymore. She could have been with Charlie or Shane or all the men in town who saw her for the knockout she was, and he still wanted her. Wanted to stake a real claim on her, to put up red warning flags around her to keep other men away. He wanted her to be his and for the world to know it.
Her eyes filled with tears and spilled down her cheeks. Leaning across the console, he cradled her face in his hands and brushed them away with his thumbs while he searched her eyes. Did she still want what she’d wanted right after they woke up married? Did she still want to end their “mistake”? And how could he stop her if she did?
He rested his forehead against hers. “I want time with you, Neve. I want a chance to prove to you that I can be the man you think I am. I want to be that guy. For you.”
She lowered her lids and sighed. And grew very, very still.
He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Maybe he was pushing too hard after her ordeal. Maybe he was pushing too hard, period—he’d never had any practice fighting for a woman he loved. But the floodgates were open now.
“Neve, I don’t want a divorce. I want to be married to you. I want to make this work with you.”
Still not looking at him, she murmured, “Are you serious?” Her tone conveyed her doubt, and he couldn’t blame her. He’d been one big contradiction .
“Dead serious. You know me well enough to know I don’t glibly throw out comments with that much weight to them.”
“No, I guess not.”
“No guessing about it. You know it’s true.” Desperation flared inside him. “You’ve been asking why I never got serious with anyone before. Well, I finally figured out the answer. It’s because none of them was you.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “Hey, look at me.”
She raised her gaze to his.
“Neve, I am in love with you. Head over ass. I have been for a long time—maybe even since we were five—but it only hit me recently, and when it hit, it was like a rockfall. I know I’ve been an idiot, refusing to see what was in front of me, but sweetheart, my eyes are wide open now, and I can’t take them off you. I want you, Neve, and I’m not talking about sex.” He paused a moment to wag his head back and forth. “Well, I’m not planning to leave that out either, but seriously, I’m talking about the sharing and the taking care of each other and the talks and the tears and the cooking dinner together. I want all of that. And I want kids with you. I want little Neves with bouncy blond hair trying to knock their dad down on the ice. I don’t want that with anyone else. Ever. It’s only you.”
She began crying in earnest now, but a whisper of a smile danced across her lips, and his achy heart dared to bump against his chest wall.
Neve froze inside, not believing her ears, not daring to hope, not trusting what she might blurt out. So she said nothing. But God, this man! He had the ability to take her solid, beating heart and turn it into a squishy blob of Silly Putty she couldn’t hold in the palm of her hand. But did he truly know what he was asking? Did he mean it, deep down, where the truth might lay hidden from view? It was what she’d wanted her entire life, but was it the little girl inside her or the woman she’d become who held that flame of hope? Did grown-up Neve want to stay married to grown-up Reece and try to turn what started as a mistake into something real? And did it stand a lasting chance?
She needed a beat to process the unexpected twist. So much was at stake. Or was she overthinking?
“I tell you what,” she choked out.
He continued to cup her face, his touch gentle and warm. His eyes were right there , question marks floating in them. One eyebrow lifted.
“Let’s throw for it. Rock, paper, scissors.”
His second eyebrow joined the first and smacked his hairline. “Seriously?” Letting his hands slip from her face, he drew back. He was obviously biting back his thoughts, which would have gone something like, “You want to take a risk on the rest of your life with a game of rock, paper, scissors?” And who could blame him? But she needed this. And for once in her life, she was counting on him winning the contest.
He didn’t. Though she urged him on mentally, he faltered for the first time she could ever remember and threw paper to her scissors. And now his eyebrows were scrunched together in a confused glower. He chuffed in frustration, so damn cute she wanted to kiss him.
She tried not to giggle. “I’m still pretty loopy, so I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll extend the same courtesy you did a few weeks back. How about one more throw, and winner takes all?”
He blew out another exasperated breath.
“Ready? Get your fist up.” The seriousness of this game she was playing hit her full force, and she tried not to think that the limb she’d just shinnied out on would break. She could have won an Oscar for the act she put on, masking her nervousness with fake gleefulness. “Ready? One, two, three!”
They both hesitated for one agonizing heartbeat … then he threw down a rock. Without blinking, she let her fingers fly and form scissors.
A smug smile spread over his handsome face. “I win.”
“You know I cheated, right?” He answered by broadening his smirk. “Are you going to let me get away with it?”
“Oh, you bet your sweet ass I am!” He reached for her, careful not to bump her arm, and she stretched across the console to get to him. Then he kissed her so stupid she forgot the last twenty-four hours of terror, her aching body, and her name—both of them.
“Game over,” he whispered in her ear before pulling back and grinning at her. “And just so we’re clear, the victory I’m talking about has absolutely nothing to do with rock, paper, scissors.” He tapped the end of her nose. “You’re mine, Doctor Embry.”
She drank in the hope and the want and the need in his eyes, powerful emotions she hadn’t believed existed inside him one short month ago, much less that would be directed her way in this lifetime. Her dreams and longing for some thirty years culminated in one burst that made her soar inside. This was heady stuff, and she wanted to savor the moment.
She also struggled to turn the jumble of words inside her head into a coherent sentence. “I think you’re a little confused there, Mr. Hunnicutt.”
His smile faded. “How so?”
“The name is Doctor Hunnicutt .”
His smile returned, and it dazzled in its brilliance. “So it is. Let’s go home, Doc Hunnicutt.”