Page 59 of Everlasting Promises

I don’t care what we eat. The fact she’s invited me into her home …again, is more than enough for me. Even if they sat and ate dinner in front of me without offering me a single bite, I would never refuse. “Thanks. That’d be great. I’ll quickly go home and feed Rex, then I’ll come over. Can I bring anything?”

“Can you please bring Rex with you?” Evan asks, linking his hands together and holding them beneath his chin.

I chuckle and look up at Hope to confirm if it’ll be okay with her.

She nods, smiling gently. “Please bring him. I have enough left over from last night’s dinner for him.”

“All right. I’ll pick him up and then come over.” I walk them to their car, hold the door open for Hope, and watch them drive away. Then, I head to the store, refusing to turn up empty-handed.

27

BEN

Rex racesfor the front door, landing on the porch in one leap, and I chuckle. “Are you excited to see them, too?” I rub the top of his head when I get to the porch, and he looks up at me. Once he realized where we were headed, he couldn’t sit still in the truck.

I knock on the door, and within seconds, the sound of footsteps come toward us. The door bursts open, revealing Evan wearing an excited grin. “Rex!”

Rex half stands on his back feet and barks, matching Evan’s excitement as he unlocks the screen door. My heart pounds because I know I’m about to see Hope again. Rex leaps up and rests his paws on Evan’s shoulders, excitedly licking his face, eliciting bright laughter from the boy who’s wormed his way into our hearts.

I hold the store-bought brownie and bottle of wine I grabbed on the way over above my head, and edge past the two. “Remember to lock the door, Ev.”

“Okay.”

As I walk down the hallway toward the kitchen at the back of the house, where I assume Hope will be, I pause for a moment and study the family photographs on the wall. Evan is like a mini version of his dad, but I see some aspects of Hope in him, too.

I skim my eyes over the various photos of Evan and Wyatt, Wyatt and Hope, Hope and Evan, and all three of them together.

Even though Hope hasn’t changed all that much, she looks different now. There’s an inherent sadness about her that isn’t present in any of these photos. Her eyes were brighter, and I could swear she was glowing. And as gorgeous as she is, there’s something to be said for the slightly more pronounced curves she had back then.

She was so happy. Content.

I’ve only ever seen brief glimpses of the Hope I see in these photos, and it’s only when she seems to forget for a moment and allows herself to be in the here and now, which doesn’t happen often. Soft music drifts out from the living room, making a change from the television I’ve grown accustomed to hearing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her step from the kitchen. She pauses a moment, then comes closer, looking at the photographs as she stands beside me.

She sighs, then points to a photo where Evan is tiny. “That was the day we brought Evan home from the hospital. Wyatt had been deployed, and we weren’t sure if he was going to make it home in time. He missed the birth, but he was here to bring us home.” She points to another one. “This was Evan’s fifth birthday. It was the last birthday he got to share with his dad.”

I wedge the bottle of wine beneath my arm, hook my free arm around her shoulders, and she sinks into me. “I’m sorry, Hope. Life’s unfair sometimes.”

“Yeah,” she murmurs, then looks up at me. We’re so close that it would be easy to dip down and press a kiss to her soft lips. “I’ve been thinking …”

My pulse stutters at her expression, and I’m balancing on a knife’s edge as I wait for her to share. “Yeah. What have you been thinking?”

I trace her gorgeous face with my eyes, wishing I could run my fingers down her cheek until I reach her chin, then tip her face back and take her mouth in a kiss I hope would make her weak in the knees.

She licks her lips, making them shine. She has no idea what she does to me. How sexy she is.

“With everything that happened to Shane, I feel like he survived the blast so he could be here to save Jasmine from the rattler.” She shrugs and I study her closely, waiting for her to finish. “But then I would also have to accept there was a reason Wyatt didn’t survive.”

My heart tumbles out of my chest and sinks through my body until it’s in a mushy mess at my feet. I tug Hope’s body around until she’s pressed against me, and her hands drop to my waist, holding onto my sweater. I kiss her forehead, then rest my chin on top of her head and breathe her sweet scent deep into my lungs, holding her to me with one arm.

“Not necessarily. Sometimes shitty things happen to good people without rhyme or reason.”

She pulls her face away from my chest and tips her head back to look up at me. “I guess. Because I can’t think of a good enough reason for him to be taken from us so soon.”

I release her and slide my fingers through her hair, slipping it gently behind her ear. “There is no good reason. And I’m sorry you and Evan have had to experience his devastating loss. You will always love him and hold him in your memories. He will never diminish in your heart.”

Her eyes flick between mine, and I hope she knows I’m being sincere. A shaky smile forms, and she drags her hands up my flanks until they’re resting on my pecs. She’ll definitely feel howhard my heart is beating for her, but I don’t want to hide it. I’m so far gone for her, and we haven’t even kissed.

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