Chapter 23
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
Jory
Rain pelts the windows, coming down in angled sheets. Thunder rips through the air as lightning cracks across the sky. Gus stands at the living room window watching Mother Nature like she’s putting on a show just for him.
“I’ve never seen it do this before,” he says in awe. “The sky looks like puke. It’s green.” He looks at me over his shoulder. “How long can it do this?”
“I’ve seen it rain for a week straight.” I press the first few notes of the bridal chorus on the small keyboard I found at a thrift store beside Miller’s Market today. It’s been a few years since I played anything, but it’s coming back to me like riding a bike. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“Yeah.” He turns back to the window. “I saw it rain a couple of times when we visited Papa Ernie in Ohio, but it wasn’t like this.”
My fingers come to a rest against the keys. “Did you talk to your mom today?”
He nods.
Deidre texted me yesterday and said she was flying to Ohio because her dad was sick.
She didn’t want to worry Gus but wanted me to know what was happening.
I woke up to another message this morning.
They’d ruled out a heart attack, which was her biggest concern, and she thought it was going to be okay.
I haven’t brought it up to Gus, as she requested, but I’m not sure if she’s said anything to him or not.
“What’s she been up to?” I ask, trying to prod some information out of him to see what he knows.
“Nothing. We didn’t talk long because she was gonna take a nap. She just wanted to make sure I was doing that math packet.” He snorts. “I assured her that you were taking my math homework very seriously.”
I grin, shaking my head, and go back to the keyboard.
“We should come back here next summer,” he says, flopping into the recliner by the fireplace. “Don’t ya think?”
“Sure.”
“That’s not a very convincing sure, Dad.”
I chuckle, wishing he wasn’t quite old enough to read me so well. He wasn’t this good at it even last year.
My gaze doesn’t lift, and I keep focused on working out the right notes for Audrey’s wedding.
There’s not a good way to explain to an eleven-year-old that next year won’t look anything like this year.
That, by next year, his friends here will have moved on and that he’ll have new friends and routines and maybe even sports in Nevada.
Markie will have forgotten about us.
And I’ll be across the country with Gus.
I draw in a breath, feeling the air squeeze its way into my lungs. Thinking about how things might look next year just reminds me of the changes headed my way, and that one of them is walking away alone from this special couple of months in Sugar Creek.
I’ve been fixated on what happens when I leave the Royals next year. I never imagined that I’d be dealing with that theme much sooner. This small town was supposed to be a quiet stopover, a place for Gus and me to get to know each other. It wasn’t intended to be … this.
“Well, Gus, I think coming back here would be great, but I’m just not sure it’ll be feasible.” I shrug. “You never know, though.”
“You need to think about it. Why wouldn’t we come back? We know people here. We can fish—or I can. You probably suck at it.”
I fire him a look that makes him laugh.
“And I can walk all around town with my friends,” he says. “I could never do that back home. I could get a bike next time, and it’d be fun.” He squirms in his seat. “You like it here, too, yeah? I mean, you have Markie here. You’re welcome for that, by the way.”
“I’m not sure that has anything to do with you.”
“Oh, come on. I baited the hook and cast the line. You barely managed to reel her in.”
My laughter is quick and easy this time. “Fishing references, huh?”
“I’m an angler. It’s in my blood.”
We turn toward the entryway as the door creaks open. The rain grows louder before the click of the door closes. Markie comes around the corner with a pizza and a tote bag.
“You’re soaked,” Gus says.
Markie’s eyes find mine, and I smirk, making her blush.
“It’s pretty wet out there,” she says, shaking her head and placing the pizza on the table. “Are you hungry for some pizza, Gus?”
“Yup.”
He hops to his feet and races into the kitchen for a plate, passing Markie on her way to me.
I pout as she grows closer. “You didn’t ask me if I’m hungry.”
“Because you aren’t eating pizza if I have any say in it,” she says, nipping my protruding lip with her teeth.
I growl, making her giggle. “Keep it up …”
“Where’d you get that?” she asks, pointing at the keyboard on my lap.
“I believe it’s called Goode’s or something. It’s next to Miller’s. I didn’t even know it was there until I drove around the parking lot today and saw it tucked back in the trees.”
She makes her way back to the kitchen. “I didn’t even realize that place was still open. Do you want some pizza?”
“Yeah, I’m coming.”
I move the keyboard to the floor and join Gus and Markie at the pizza boxes.
We pile a few slices on the paper plates Gus grabbed from the cabinet, then grab our drinks and return to the living room.
It’s not something I let Gus do all the time, but every now and then, eating in front of the television won’t hurt him.
I hope.
Markie clears her throat. “So, this might seem a little weird, but I have to ask.” She grimaces.
“Will you boys go with me to Lolly’s for dinner on Sunday?
” She takes a bite. “I go to my grandma’s almost every Sunday unless she’s out gallivanting around the country with her girlfriends.
But she left me a voicemail this afternoon that she heard from someone that you exist,” she says, looking at me.
“And she expects you to show up with me this week.”
“And me?” Gus asks, his eyes bright.
“Of course, and you. Are you kidding me?”
“I mean, I figured …” he says like he’s the star of the show everywhere he goes. He kind of is, which makes my heart stutter as pride washes through me. This kid.
Markie laughs.
I put my pizza on the plate and rest it against my leg. Meeting a woman’s family has never ranked high on my to-do list, and I’ve avoided almost every interaction possible. I have a kid with Deidre, and I met her parents once last summer.
A part of me, the logical one, wants to say no. The more embedded that I get in Markie’s life, the harder it’s going to be to leave. I have to leave—that’s not a choice—and her life is here. But the other part of me, the one growing more attracted to this woman every single day, wants to say yes.
The look in her eye is the tiebreaker.
“Of course, we’ll go,” I say, rubbing her shoulder.
She tucks her legs beneath her and curls up beside me. “Great. Thanks. It’ll make my life a lot easier.”
We eat quietly, Gus asking random questions about the weather here and there. I don’t know if he thinks we’re meteorologists or what, but I have no clue what makes thunder. I do, however, love having the two of them here with me.
Markie takes out her phone and studies the screen, her brows pulled together.
It reminds me of how she looked earlier at the park when she got off the phone with Miles.
I still don’t know what that shit was all about, and she asked me not to press, but something tells me she’s reading a text from him and that it’s in the same vein as whatever they discussed this afternoon.
I was hopeful she’d talk to me when we got back to the house, but Gus was wild and gave us no privacy.
And then she had to go to Mira’s about Audrey’s wedding for a while.
This is the first time I’m seeing her since then.
She glances up at me and mouths, “Miles,” before turning back to her phone with a clenched jaw.
I want to rip the phone out of her hand and read what he’s saying to her.
But that’s a massive overstep and an invasion of her privacy, no matter what my intentions are.
So, I place a hand on her thigh to let her know she’s not alone.
And maybe to remind her that I could break his face if required.
Sure, Miles is one of my best friends, but even best friends don’t just get a pass for being an asshole.
“Do you guys want to watch a movie? There’s nothing else to do since it’s raining,” she says.
“Have you ever seen The Goonies?” Gus asks. “The guys were talking about it at the park the other day, and I’ve never seen it.”
Markie gasps, tossing her phone beside her. “You’ve never seen The Goonies? How is that possible?”
“I have failed you, my boy.” I reach for the remote. “My apologies.”
I find the movie on a streaming service, and the three of us settle in.
I’ve seen The Goonies a million times over the years. It was one of my favorites as a kid. I always thought it would be so cool to go on an adventure like that with my friends.
As Markie’s breathing levels beside me with her head on my shoulder, and Gus’s fidgeting stops as he becomes engrossed in the plot, I learn something that I’d never considered before, but it's glaringly obvious now.
It was never about the adventure or the gold, because they have the treasure from the start.
They had each other.
Kinda like I do right now.
I sigh, stroking Markie’s shoulder.
You were right, Drake. I’m fucked.
“I’ve never slept that well a day in my life, let alone on the floor,” I say, pressing a kiss to the top of Markie’s head.
Gus is sprawled beside the coffee table, where he moved about halfway through the movie, sleeping so soundly he’s snoring.
“If I even tried to lie on the floor, I wouldn’t be able to get up in the morning. ”
“He looks so peaceful.” Markie looks up at me. “Should you carry him to bed?”
I consider it for about half a second. “Well, if I try, he’ll wake up, and then I’ll never get time alone with you tonight.
So, the answer is no.” I stand, pulling Markie to her feet behind me.
“I am going to grab a blanket and cover him, though.” Leaning close, just in case Gus is faking sleep, I whisper in her ear.
“Go ahead into my room and be naked when I get there.”