Theo
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
My body goes tight. “Why?”
“We’re going out with your cousin, and I need clothes for it.” She cocks her hips against the doorjamb.
“What’s wrong with the clothes you have?” I look at the shorts and tank top she wore to work.
“Theo,” she says my name in sort of a warning, “I could have just left while you were in here and gone to my house.” I glare at her. “So if it’s not too much trouble, I would like to go get a change of clothes.”
“Will you pack more than one outfit?” I ask her as I slip my T-shirt on. “You should pack enough clothes for the week.”
“We’ll see,” she replies.
“That means no. My father would always say, ‘We’ll see,’ but it’s code for no.” She laughs, and I walk to her, wrapping my arm around her waist and kissing her.
“Let’s go, or we’ll be late,” I urge, but I don’t release her, staying in the same spot.
“You need to let me go,” she says softly. I feel a twinge in my chest with the words. I look into her eyes, seeing a lightness in them I didn’t see when we first got together. I don’t think I will ever let her go.
“Not a chance in hell.” I hope she gets the meaning. I don’t know when it happened, or how it happened, but there isn’t a day in my life that I remember or want to remember with her not in it.
“Theo . . .”
“Don’t say my name like that, or else I’m going to call my cousin and cancel the fucking thing and we’ll eat dinner in bed,” I warn her. She looks down, and I can see her blush. “Save that thought. I want to take you out.” I slide a hand in hers as we walk to my truck.
We make our way to her house. Caleb and I were here this morning to take a look at her box, and it is plain as day that the wires were cut. I pull into her driveway. “Why don’t you go ahead without me?” she suggests, putting her hand on the handle. “And I’ll meet you there.”
“No,” I reply, not willing to leave her here alone when I can’t see her. I get out of the truck and look around for Claire. Every single time I arrive somewhere or leave, the first thing I do is scan the area. “If anything, we can come and get your car tomorrow after work.”
“Am I going to get any say in this?”
“I’m compromising by coming back here tomorrow.”
She looks over her shoulder as she opens her door. “So kind of you,” she deadpans. “Stay out here, it’s too hot for you in my house. You might melt since you’re sugar and all that.”
“I’m all that with some spice thrown in there.” She snorts as she walks toward her bedroom.
I take a look around to see if maybe someone tried to break in while she was gone.
When I walk into her room, she’s slipping on a sundress that hits her mid-thigh.
It’s a light-yellow color and has thin straps that are taunting me.
The bra area is tight with an elastic material that is under her breasts, and it flares off a bit, then it ruffles around her legs.
“You look beautiful.”
She looks over at me, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Thank you.” She avoids looking at me as she takes some clothes from the dresser. I don’t push her about taking more clothes, knowing we are coming back here tomorrow. I also don’t want her to just say no to staying at my place.
“Okay”—she picks up her bag—“I’m good to go.”
“Where are we going?” she asks from beside me as I drive down Main Street.
“Thatcher’s,” I tell her, and she looks out the window. “Is that okay?”
“Um,” she hesitates, “it’s fine. It’s just—”
“Hey, you want to leave, you tell me, and we leave.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about,” she mumbles as I pull into a parking space. “It’s people pointing at you and then feeling sorry for you.” She doesn’t give me a chance to answer before she gets out of the truck.
I walk around, joining her on the sidewalk and slipping my hand in hers, even though hers is stiff. I hate that she walks down the street with her head down.
When we enter Thatcher’s, she tries to let my hand go, but I won’t let her.
My jaw clenches, and anger fills me as I look around.
I spot Caleb and Sierra in the corner, sitting together side by side.
Their heads are close to each other as he looks into her eyes.
I make my way around the table toward them.
“Hey,” I say, as we stop in front of the table.
“Hey,” Caleb greets, getting up. “This must be Collins.” He smiles big and hugs her. I can see the surprise on her face, mixed with something else I don’t understand. “It’s so nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to see you too,” she replies, and I can see she’s holding her breath.
“Hi.” Sierra pushes Caleb away. “It’s so nice to meet you. Officially.” She hugs her, and Collins lets out a breath. “I wanted to come and see you before to thank you for helping that day I was—”
“Shot,” Caleb finishes, making us all laugh. “That was fun, we should do that again, never.” He goes back to his chair to sit down, and Sierra walks by him, and the two of them share a word.
“Let’s sit.” I pull out a chair for Collins and wait for her to sit before I take my seat.
“You okay?” I ask quietly.
She moves her head to murmur in my ear. “I thought I was going to vomit on Caleb. His cologne is not good. The baby does not like it at all.”
I can’t help but laugh. Then, in the middle of the bar with probably all eyes on us, I lean in and kiss her lips softly before going back to whisper in her ear: “It’s a good thing other men make you sick.”
“I didn’t say other men make me sick. I said the smell of his cologne makes me sick.”
I look into her eyes, a huge smile on my face. “Same thing.” I kiss her again, and she rolls her eyes.
“Well then,” Caleb says, “I guess that answers most of my questions.” He takes a pull of his beer.
“I’m afraid to ask what questions,” Sierra says. “And whatever the questions were, it’s none of your business.” She turns to Collins. “So I hear congratulations are in order.”
“Um.” Collins reflexively puts her hand on her stomach. “Thank you.”
“How are you feeling?” Sierra asks.
“Good. A little tired at times, but other than that, I’ve only been sick a couple of times, and the first trimester is over, so that is a good thing.”
“Hey.” We look over to see Brady, one of the bar’s owners, coming to us. “Collins, this is a surprise. You rarely ever come in here.”
She looks down and then looks back up at him, the shield up. “I know,” she replies.
“It’s nice to have you,” he says, and her mouth opens a bit in shock.
“It’s nice to be here.” She looks at me, and I can’t help but smile at her.
I lean in to kiss her again. “What do you want to eat?” I ask her.
Brady has his own shocked look, which he quickly covers with a huge smile. If anyone knows how I’ve been, it’s Brady, since this used to be my go-to to pick up women.
“I guess this is why we haven’t seen you around.” He motions with his chin to me. “This is better.”
“Don’t I know it.” I put my arm around Collins’s shoulders and pull her to me, kissing the side of her head.
“I don’t know if that’s code or anything,” Collins says, “but thanks.”
She makes us all laugh, and I feel her guard go down as I order food. She orders the same thing.
The meal is quick, and when I see it’s almost eight, I push away from the table. “This was fun”—I look at Caleb—“but Collins works at three in the morning, and she has to get to bed by nine.”
“That’s in an hour,” Caleb teases me.
“Yeah, well, we have things to do before.” A gasp flies out of Collins’s mouth at the same time Sierra throws her head back and laughs.
“Don’t feel bad,” Sierra says. “When I was in the hospital, he climbed into the bed with me and refused to move when the doctor came in.”
“He wasn’t a doctor,” Caleb tries to defend himself.
“He was a resident,” Sierra clarifies, “and you made sure he knew I was spoken for.”
“Fucking right.” Caleb folds his arms over his chest. “He was giving you googly eyes every single time he came to ‘check up on you.’” He uses quotation marks for the last part of the sentence. “You were fine.”
“We have to do this again soon,” Sierra suggests, “but at our house, so it’s quieter.”
“I would love that.” Collins gets up. “I’m off this weekend again.”
“That’s good to know,” I interject, slipping my hand in hers as we say goodbye and walk out of the restaurant.
“Aren’t you going to pay?” she asks me, and I shake my head.
“Caleb will get it.” She looks over her shoulder toward Caleb, who now has his hand in Sierra’s as he kisses her fingers and tosses his card down. “So you’re off this weekend?”
“Yeah, I traded with someone else who needed next weekend off.”
“So we get the whole weekend?” I look at her sideways. “The whole weekend where we can lock the doors and just be together.”
She throws her head back and bursts out laughing, making me stop in the middle of the street.
I turn to her and wrap my free hand around her neck.
“Will you stay with me at my house this weekend?” I ask her softly, taking our joined hands and wrapping them around her waist. “Just this weekend, and then after you can decide.”
Her free hand comes up and she rubs my lips with her thumb. “Fine, we’ll spend the weekend at your place.”