Page 6 of Don't Let Your Mind Go There

“But, Dad—”

“Stop, Tate.

He was upsetting me. What was his problem? I thought he wanted this too. Hell, I knew he wanted this. Why was he being like this now?

I crossed my arms and looked at his feet. “Sorry.”

I heard him sigh again, and when he took a step forward, I lifted my head to meet his eyes. He looked defeated, but he was trying to keep it together. His hands came up to cup my face, and with his thumbs, he caressed my cheeks gently while keeping his eyes on mine.

“I don’t mean to push you away, Tate. But we can’t go there. You can’t let your mind go there. Not just yet.” His voice was low, and it sent shivers down my spine.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s too early.”

He expected me to simply accept and understand what he said, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to, and I didn’t want to wait.

“But…we can be careful,” I suggested.

“No, Tate. You know that won’t work.”

“We’re not back home.”

“I know we’re not.” He studied me, letting his eyes wander all over my face, with his gaze lingering a little too long on my lips. “But you know how dangerous it was back home. I don’t want to risk things.”

“We’ll be careful. I know we can be,” I assured him, placing both my hands on his stomach.

Dad shook his head, and before I could protest, he moved away from me. “Stop thinking about it.”

He didn’t say anything else. Instead, he left me standing there in the hallway. My heart felt heavy, and there were too many thoughts running through my mind to understand them all.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe here wasn’t the right place to get closer.

Maybe the time for us to be together hadn’t come yet.

But even with him denying his feelings and pushing me away, I could see it in his eyes that it was hard for him to push me away.

He loved me.

I knew it.

I felt it.

And I wasn’t going to give up on us.

***

After getting back to the cabin, Mom and Dad said goodnight to us and headed straight to their bedroom. I heard the shower and laughter through the walls, and I wondered how I’d be able to sleep when I had Ronan kicking me in his sleep, and our parents enjoying time together in the other room.

I sighed and went to my suitcase to find my headphones, but they were nowhere to be found. “I probably forgot them in the car,” I muttered.

“What?”

“My headphones. I think I left them in the car.” I turned to look at Ronan. He was already in bed.

“You can use mine,” he told me, reaching for the headphones on the nightstand to his right. “Ah, shit…I drained the battery on the drive here. I have to charge them over night.”

---