36. Sawyer
I was metwith deafening chatter as I walked through the front door.
“What just happened?” I asked Mel as she frantically charged me, plummeting down the stairs.
“Where the hell have you been?” she said, a little hushed.
“And why do you have a hammer?” Cherry joined us a second later.
“I was fixing the mailbox, it was wobbly.”
Mel took the hammer from my grip and placed it on the entry table. “Not the point,” she said in a stern voice now. “Lucy backed out of the sale. She’s gone. What I mean is she?—”
I didn’t let her finish her sentence before I pushed past the girls and down the hall. I swiveled my head back for a split second once I reached the back door and that’s when I saw Gus giving me a single nod and a thumbs up.
I stomped down the porch steps, the wood paneling creaking under my boots as I moved down them. There’s only one place she could be. I follow the imprinted footsteps that begin where the grass ends. My jog turned into a full-blown sprint as I hurried through the hillside—I wanted nothing more than to be beside Lucy.
My heavy soles are forced into the dampened soil, but the light at the end of the tunnel is reaching Lucy.
I came to a quick halt as I saw her perched up on the picnic table. The path of trees dispersed as I reached the hill beneath The Hideout. I had a clear shot of her. Lucy’s knees were pulled to her chest and her face was buried into them. I slowly approached her, I observed her. Her body was still, so I don’t think she was crying.
She’s kicked off her white slip-on shoes—they’re covered in leaves and dirt under the bench. Her toes wiggled, dancing to whatever beat she was humming to herself.
“Can I join?” I croaked out.
She turned her head toward me at the speed of light, and kicked her feet down in front of her, letting them hang off the edge.
She wiped away lingering tears on her cheeks and gave me a half smile.
“What were you singing just now?” I said as I climbed up on the picnic table.
“Oh, uh…” she spoke softly, “Bad Reputation by Joan Jett.”
“Interesting. Didn’t take you for a rock music fan.”
The corners of her mouth creased and a faint smile crept across her face. Weaving her fingers into mine, she took my hand that I’d placed on her thigh. She rested her head against my upper shoulder.
“I’m here,” I spoke into the top of her head before placing a kiss on the crown of her head.
“I know.” Looking straight ahead, she focuses on the lake. “Kai must hate me right now,” she said flatly.
“No one knows how to hate you.”
She jumped down off the table with a sigh, slipped her shoes on, and enveloped her hand with mine. “Let’s walk.”
“I can’t believe that on this very lake, I spent summers acting a fool. And you were over here, assumingly with your nose in a book. And we never crossed paths. But now I couldn’t imagine a world that you were not a part of.”
She looked up at the hillside, then pointed ahead at the cottage. “That’s my home.”
“I know, baby.”
“I can’t sell.”
“I know, baby,” I said again, through a kiss on the side of her head.
“You added purpose to my life, Sawyer Banks.” She stopped to face me, her back was parallel with the water. “I slowed down for the first time in years. You showed me the importance of stopping, of taking a break.”
I narrowed my eyes on her. My heart ached for her. It took her twenty-six years to finally breathe, and while I am forever honored that I played a small part in making that happen, I wish it hadn’t taken this long. She deserved more, she deserved everything she wanted.
“I’m scared that by pushing my residency aside, I won”t have a plan for the first time in life.”
“Maybe the new plan is to not have one?”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said into the ground.
I pushed her hair behind her ear, she raised her attention back at me. I rubbed my thumb along her cheekbone. “What is it that you want right now, Lucy Collins? At this very moment? I will make it happen.”
“First, I want you to kiss me.”
I devoured her words with my kiss and did as I was told, pulling her firm against my body.
She pulled away in a haze, “Second, I want you to tell me you love me. Because I can confidently say, without a shadow of a doubt, that I love you so fucking much.”
Her declaration made my head spin in the best way possible.
“I love you, I love you,” I broke my praise up with kisses spread all around her face. She squirmed and squealed. “I love you, Lucy.”
“Wait, wait. One more.”
“What is the third thing I can give to you?”
The corners of her eyes creased and her nose crinkled. “I just really, really want…”
I raised my brows in anticipation. She curled her finger towards herself, enticing me closer. I dropped my ear to her mouth and she whispered, “I want a nice slice of key lime pie.”
I barked out a laugh and flung her over my shoulder. I ran us back towards the cottage, dropping her on the steps of the porch once we reached the backyard.
All of the potential buyers had left, and Mel, Kai, Cherry, and Jet were in a half-circle under the overhang. They offered us a plastic cup of iced tea and I could see the tension leave Lucy’s shoulders.
She furrowed her brows and pouted in Kai’s direction, never once saying a word. Kai stood and took Lucy in their arms. Kai wasn’t the type to hold grudges, and we were all aware of what this cottage meant to her. Even if it took her a little while longer to figure it out for herself.
I clapped my hands, “Alright, let’s go.”
The rest of the group stood.
“Where’re we going?” Gus and Leanne emerged from the house.
Lucy skipped up the stairs to them and squealed as she threw herself in their arms.
Lucy wiggled in place and I led us back through the hillside. I took her under my arm and we all walked together toward The Hideout.
I was once told that Rider was a place for nobodies. But the people I loved lived here and they were somebodies to me.