Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Wyatt
There were worse ways for my daughter to find out I was seeing her friend.
Currently, though, I couldn’t think of a single one.
I gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles were white, and my mind whirled. The only thing I had to offer was the unvarnished truth. I’d wanted to have this talk with her one on one, introduce it gently.
Not have her catch us mid-date and rumpled from fucking out in the woods.
Harper still hadn’t said a damn word, and the silence was deafening. Shit, I should’ve said something to Rory before we left, but we were both heading in the same direction anyway, since Harper needed to get to her car from Alchemy.
“So, I owe you an explanation,” I started. The fact this could go very badly imprinted on my bones. Being a disappointment to my daughter was something I wasn’t sure I could bear. Yet the only way to go was forward. We were in unpredictable territory here.
“You do,” she responded. “And if you try to tell me Rory was just checking your piercing, I’m getting out of the car. Don’t care that it’s moving.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Right. This wasn’t going to go well. My stomach rioted, threatening to upchuck the rum sloshing around there.
“Have I told you I recently figured out I’m bisexual?” I started, which had been my plan from the start.
“This is news to you?” Harper retorted, the first hint of sass peeking through. Her lips twitched a little with the comment, the way she did when she was trying to hold back a snarky comment.
I chewed my lower lip hard enough that I could taste blood. Maybe there was hope. Alchemy wasn’t a far drive from here, but I wanted more time with Harper to have this discussion. I owed it to her. I turned onto a back road, taking a longer route to get there. “Did you have any idea?”
“Dad, you’ve had so many guy crushes over the years,” Harper responded. “It wasn’t exactly hidden.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Okay, but everyone has a crush on Batman.”
“But if you’re going to experiment, you shouldn’t have gone for Rory,” Harper warned, and I swallowed hard.
This was where I expected the anger. He was her friend, after all, and she was justified.
On top of the fact I was far older than him.
“He talks a big game, but he’s more sensitive than he admits.
And he deserves better than to be a hookup all the time. ”
Wait, what?
“Aren’t you mad at me?” I asked, blinking hard as I forced my attention to stay on the road rather than my daughter. “Rory’s your friend, your coworker.”
“It’s weird, Dad,” she said. “But I won’t be working at Alchemy forever, and Rory’s a good person. You are too. I just don’t like the idea of you taking advantage.”
Relief rushed through me in such a euphoric sweep that I almost swerved on the road. A laugh burst from my lips. No damn way. That was her concern? That I wasn’t going to be serious about Rory? “Harps, we were on a date.”
“Wait, I thought Owen was teasing him,” Harper said. “An actual date? You went on a date?”
“Well, the other times we went out didn’t count,” I muttered, coasting down the darkened back roads of Kennett. “I hadn’t realized I was bi yet when we went to the gay bar.”
“Holy shit. Dad, you went to a fucking gay bar?” Harper let out a peal of laughter, and I relaxed even further. “I’d have paid to see that.”
“I’m not the bar or club type, in case that wasn’t clear to you.
So it won’t likely be happening often,” I said.
Though truth be told, if he wanted to go, I wouldn’t say no.
I was weak for that man. The reality smacked me in the face that my daughter and I were sitting here and talking about me dating a man as easily as if we were shooting the shit about a Phillies game.
Giddiness swirled inside me. “You’re really okay with this? ”
“With you dating Rory?” she asked. “It’s weird, no doubt, but not as weird as you’d think. It’s not like your age gap’s that huge. I dated a woman sixteen years older than me, so it’d be a bit judgmental of me to have an issue.”
I wrinkled my nose. Didn’t love hearing that, but at the same time, she was an adult and free to date who she pleased.
“Don’t think I missed that look,” she teased. “Why do you think I didn’t tell you in the first place?”
“Hey, we would’ve accepted whoever you brought home, as long as they treated you well,” I said, with truth behind my words. Susie and I had always operated on that principle with parenting, and I was grateful it paid off now in my daughter’s own acceptance.
“And are you going to bring Rory around?” she asked. “Does Mom know?”
“She knows I’m bi and going on dates with a younger guy,” I said, blowing out a breath. “As for bringing Rory around, if he wants a relationship, I’m all in. We just haven’t had the discussion yet.”
“This is actually cute,” Harper said, a teasing note in her voice. “You seem so nervous, Dad.”
Heat flushed my cheeks. “Is it better that you know now? I’m not sure.”
Harper laughed, the musical sound offering another shot of relief. God, I’d been worrying over this for weeks, and the weight lifted off my shoulders had me sagging forward. Joy rushed through me fast and fierce as I wound down another back road, taking the long way to Alchemy Ink.
“The boy is stubborn, but he’s the best,” she said. “Might run his mouth a lot, but he’s loyal, and he’ll show up when it counts.”
“I can already tell,” I said. “When Owen called, he was ready to help at once.”
“Maybe you’re more alike than you think,” she said. “At least where it matters.”
My eyes heated up. Damn. Harps was hitting me right in the heart tonight, in the way only my kid could. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
“No thanks needed. I said I wanted you to get back out there. But you should lock that shit up with Rory. He might not act like it, but he can get a bit insecure about where he stands with people.”
“Right,” I said, squeezing the steering wheel. “Let’s get you to Alchemy Ink, then, so you can pick up your car.”
“And so you can finish your date?” she asked.
“Yeah, that too,” I said. My heart thumped a little harder. Once I got Rory to my house, we’d have the talk. I’d make sure he knew where I stood—right by his side.
The sign for Alchemy Ink glowed at the end of the street, and I slowed as I neared the entrance. After so long in a marriage that was just a comfortable friendship, the chance for something more, for the sparks and the fireworks I’d always longed for fizzed through my bloodstream.
I pulled into the parking lot, but only two cars were there, neither of them Rory’s.
“Do you think he got held up?” I asked, glancing around.
We’d taken the long way, so I’d figured he’d have been waiting for us by the time we arrived.
My gut sank. Unless…had he thought I’d left him?
I’d gone off with Harper, so focused on explaining the situation to her, that I hadn’t said goodbye.
Could he have believed the worst?
The answer settled uncomfortably in my gut.
“I can run in and ask August if he stopped by,” Harper said, cracking the door open. Before I could respond, she hopped out and raced to the door. I glanced at the screen of my phone, but no messages awaited.
Shit.
In focusing so hard on fixing things with Harper, I’d fucked things up with Rory. He’d just opened up about what kept him away from relationships too, and he was understandably skittish. I’d figured early on in knowing him that he felt and he felt deeply.
And I didn’t want to be the cause of pain for him. Not now, not ever.
I tipped my head back and sucked in a breath, even though I wanted to get out of the car and run. Where to, I wasn’t sure, but the urge to move, to fix things, to do something pulsed through my veins.
Harper rapped at my window, and I rolled it down. Her dark eyes looked concerned, which set off my warning bells. “August said he already dropped off the supplies. That he was heading back to their house.”
“Dammit.” My stomach sank. Of course Rory had bolted.
Harper crossed her arms and gave me an arched brow look. “You know what you have to do. Go after him.”
I shook my head, a slow grin rising to my lips. My daughter’s determination fueled me even more. “I’m lucky you’re my kid.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t be sappy. Just go lock that shit up. Love you, though.”
“Love you too,” I said. “Get home safe.” With that, I rolled up the window and started the engine again.
The last text Rory had sent was all I needed to get me where I was supposed to be.
By his side.
I pulled up out front of a house right outside of Kennett proper.
The lights glowed from the window, and Rory’s car sat in the driveway, which calmed my nerves at once.
Maybe I should be panicking, but a serene peace settled over me in the wake of Harper giving us her blessing.
Rory might’ve run scared, but I could handle that.
He’d brought so much light into my life over the past month, and I wasn’t ready to let him go.
And if he was scared, there was hope the feelings that bubbled within me resounded in him too.
All he had to do was let me in.
I turned off my engine and hopped out of my truck, my heart thumping hard in anticipation.
God, I needed to see him, craved him like my next breath. We might’ve just fucked in the woods, but already I was insatiable. I couldn’t get enough of his cries, his sweet surrender as he melted against me.
Even more than that, I longed for his presence, the bright energy he brought with him wherever he went. After so many years of going through the motions, I needed that more than ever.
I stopped in front of his door, lifted my hand, and knocked.
The silence on the other side was agonizing, my adrenaline rushing faster, harder.
The thump of footsteps reached my ears, and I sucked in a sharp breath.
The door creaked open, and Rory stood in the doorway.
His eyes bled caution, but he looked as fucking delicious as before, his dark hair rumpled, those lush lips purely kissable. The urge to close the distance and claim them rose in a real way, but the guardedness in his shoulders held me back.
“Come to deliver a singing telegram?” Rory joked, even though the delivery was flat. “Fling was great, had one date, now that itch is sate…ed. Okay, so I’m not the best at rhyming.”
My chest squeezed tight, and I clutched the doorframe, my foot halfway inside. “What made you think this was a fling?”
“Please,” Rory said, attempting to be blasé. Except I caught the tremble of his arms.
That had me closing the distance between us. I wrapped my arms around him and crushed him to my chest. “Baby, you were never a fling for me.”
Rory’s whole body shook, and the slightest bit of wetness imprinted on my shirt, but I didn’t say anything, not wanting to scare him away. He clearly felt more intensely than most, and I found that fucking beautiful.
Since he was processing, I took the time to continue, even if we stood in the middle of his entryway, the cold air dumping into the house.
“Harper being there threw me for a curveball, and I was so focused on clarifying the situation with her that I didn’t realize how that might’ve come across.
She knows now, though, and she’s not upset. ”
Rory let out a shaky breath and pushed back from me. His eyes were glossy and reddened, and my heart hurt that he’d believed the worst. “She’s not?”
A grin stretched my lips unbidden. “How about we take this inside and shut the door?”
“You mean you don’t want the neighbors to peep in on this mess?” His lips tilted into a slight smirk, some of his usual tease returning, and I loved to see it.
“Nah, this mess is mine,” I said, tugging on his hand to lead him inside. I snagged the door and dragged it shut behind me.
“Yours, huh?” he asked, his blue eyes sparkling. “Do I get a say in that?”
“Obviously,” I responded. “But you’ve got to know by now that I’m crazy about you. My only hesitation was how Harper would react, but even if she’d been upset, I would’ve found a way to make this work.”
Rory opened his mouth and then shut it. I turned to face him, right in the middle of the foyer, and tilted his chin up with my finger.
“This is the sort of connection I’ve dreamed of, Rory. The sort I figured I’d never have. I thought my life was mostly over, but when I’m around you, I feel like it’s just begun.”
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion.
“Dammit, stop making me feel things.” His eyes glossed up again.
“I’ve been afraid to try again. The other guys I’ve hooked up with were happy to let me keep them at a distance, but…
that distance never existed with you. From the moment you strolled into the shop, you seemed to understand me in a way no one ever has before. ”
“Does that mean you’ll be my boyfriend?” I asked, my heart lodged in my throat.
I would never have believed I’d be starting my life over after having raised a kid, but Rory didn’t make me feel like I was in my late thirties.
He made me feel like all the potential in the world existed before me, waiting to be snatched up.
“It means I’ll be yours,” he said.
That one word, “yours,” was all I needed.
I closed the distance and claimed his lips.
We’d crashed together, but already it felt like days had passed rather than only an hour.
I needed to taste him, to draw his body against mine.
Pure, exultant joy rose inside me, growing by the second as his response spread through my awareness, like a drop of ink in a bowl of water, diffusing through my whole system.
The urge to claim him, to make him mine all over again rose inside me.
We’d just crashed together earlier in the night, but it wasn’t enough. It’d never be enough.
I pulled away, a little breathless. His eyes sparkled, the same euphoria reflected back at me.
“Want to show me your bedroom?” I asked.
“Only if you want to punish me for running off,” Rory teased.
My blood roared hot, and I scooped him up off his feet. He let out a yelp as I started up the steps.
“Hell yes.”