Page 29 of Summer With You

10

A Desperate Man is a Dangerous Man

Ryan

Ace wouldn’t admit this out loud to anyone, but he was panicking. We left my parents’ house and headed straight to his place. He fidgeted most of the short ride, typing away furiously at his phone.

At his house, he sat beside me in silence, looking up at his looming house. “I need to get back to Celine,” he mumbled, dragging a hand down his tired face with a sigh.

“She’s strong. She can last one more day,” I tried to reassure him, but he shook his head.

“No, you don’t understand. I have to be there before that hurricane hits. Fuck, she would kill me if she knew I was telling you this.” He looked down at the glowing screen of his phone. “She still has nightmares about the last hurricane. I need to be there for her, Ryan. You have to help me get back to her.” From the dim streetlight, I could see the panic in his blue eyes.

She still had nightmares? Fuck. I guess time had pushed us apart, and I didn’t know the demons my little sister faced anymore. Guilt slammed into me.

While I had been dealing with my own issues and my wife and kids, my sister was suffering, and she hadn’t confided in me like she used to.

“She told me that she was over it years ago, and I hadn’t thought to ask since then.” Resting my hands on the steering wheel, I let my head fall back. “How bad are they?”

“Whenever she’s pregnant, they get worse. She’s so worried about something happening to hurt the baby. Since we’ve been at the lake house, she hasn’t had any, but I just know this is bringing up bad memories, and I can’t let her get stressed out.” He swallowed thickly, his hands tightening on his phone. “Stress almost killed her last time.”

“Okay, I’ll be here at eight, and then, we can do my house and get our asses back home to them. I know Amber has been worried since we left. I told them to go get supplies today, and apparently, the stores are low on everything. We need to bring some food and flashlights.” Ace nods, looking at a text message that popped up on his screen.

“The sooner we can get home to them, the better. I can’t stand being away from her for so long. See you in the morning, man.” He glances at me from the corner of his eyes before hopping out of the truck, slamming the door closed, and making the short walk up his driveway.

He slides into the house, windows illuminating as he turns the lights on. I reversed back out onto the road and headed for my chaotic mess of a house. We were in the middle of packing to move to something bigger and newer with hurricane glass so I didn’t have to worry about additional damage, but the house wasn’t ready yet, and our closing date was dangerously close to Amber’s due date.

The perks of living in a small town meant everything was nearby, and the drive between Ace’s house and mine was short, so I pulled into my driveway a few minutes later and pulled straight into the empty garage.

Exiting the cab, I closed the garage door and headed into the house, turning on lights as I went, almost stumbling into boxes that were hidden in the dark all full of the kids’ toys.

Somehow, three kids accumulated a lot of toys. Amber had been packing up their things for the last two weeks, and the boxes kept stacking up higher. Our entryway was full of boxes of all different sizes.

I pulled a cold bottle of beer from the fridge before sinking into my armchair, pulling my phone from my pocket. Scrolling through, I ignored the numerous emails coming in and dialed my wife. We were finally in a good place again, and I wasn’t going to let distance ruin us, especially after all the work we had put into our relationship in the last few weeks.

“Hey, handsome,” Amber’s soft voice basically purred on the other end of the line, making my blood heat with need for her. “I miss you.”

The broken whisper sent a pang through my heart. “I miss you, too, baby.” I closed my eyes and took a long pull of the beer.

“How was work?”

“I don’t want to talk about that. Tell me about you, the kids . . . what’s going on there?” She laughed, the sound of dishes clinking together in the background reaching my ears.

“That bad, huh?” I just grunted. “Well, it’s been raining a lot. We couldn’t let the kids swim today, so we watched movies all day downstairs in the theater. We all miss you.”

“Can I talk to them before bed?” I glanced at the clock on the oven, checking to make sure that it wasn’t too late.

“You actually think they’re going to bed without talking to Daddy? When are you coming home to us?” she asked me.

“Tomorrow evening,” I promised. “Ace is worried about Celine, so we’re trying to rush getting everything sorted on this side.”

“I’m worried about her, too. I’ve walked in on her crying a few times over the last few days since you guys left.”

I frowned down at my beer. Ace was right. This shit was taking its toll on my little sister. “Just be strong for her. We’ll be there soon. Call me when they get in bed. I’ll be waiting, baby.”

“Do you still think we can make this work?” She sighed, her voice so soft and broken. I hated myself for putting these doubts in her head. Work had pulled me away from her, and without realizing it, I’d shoved her even further away.

“I sure as hell ain’t letting you go, Amber,” I told her, meaning every word from the depths of my soul. This woman was my one, my soulmate. I needed her. “I can’t live without my Spitfire.”

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