Page 99 of Rope Me In

“You think I’m watching ‘90s romcoms?”

Presley shoots me a chiding look. “Are you saying I’m old?”

I roll my eyes and tickle her sides. “You’re perfect.” Her giggles fill the air, a sound I never thought I’d hear fall from her lips, and I pull her against me. Her soft body fits perfectly into mine, and I’m struck with how right she feels against me. How right everything with her feels.

I hug her tighter to me and breathe in her fresh scent. I used to think the day Dad died had broken me somehow, but in the time since my accident, I’ve started to see that I’ve always been broken. I’ve always had an endless dark pit inside me that could only be managed and numbed with vices on the outside or with anger. But now—

Presley rubs her hand down my back and looks up at me. “You okay?”

I stare into her concerned eyes and nod. “Wondering if I need a costume or not.”

She studies me skeptically, but if I talk about my feelings right now, we’ll both be really late.

“Cowboy hat, cowboy boots…” She looks me up and down. “You’re a cowboy.”

I chuckle and kiss that smart mouth of hers. We melt into each other as my lips move against hers, and I absorb the small moan that escapes her when our tongues meet. I swear if gravity didn’t exist, I’d be floating in the clouds right now.

The sound of my phone pinging in my pocket startles us. Reluctantly, I release her and pull it out to look at the screen. It’sa text from Gavin. Then I see the time—I’m now ten minutes late to dinner.

“Go, Kade.” She smiles.

“I’ll be there before you go on, I promise. But no matter what, you’re going to kill it. And if you get anxious, remember earlier when you saw yourself in the mirror, how you felt in my ropes. How you felt about yourself. You’re amazing, Presley. Believe it.”

She scrunches her nose up like a bunny, exactly how she did that first day I met her, but this time, I think it’s to prevent tears from forming. Then she leans forward and kisses my chin. “Thank you. Now go. Listen to your family, and ask them to do the same for you.”

Her words wrap around my heart and squeeze. I know she’s right. I do need to listen to them and try not to let my anger get the best of me.

I swallow down the swirl of emotions that threatens to choke me and kiss her one more time. “Drive safe.”

With a shine in her eyes, Presley picks up the violin case she set down next to her before placing it in the back of her car. Once she’s safely buckled in and the engine has started, I wave her off then make my way to the main house.

I text Gavin that I’ll be there soon then stick my phone in my pocket as I whistle “The Kind of Love We Make” by Luke Combs. I smile up at the evening sky, enjoying that the weather is getting cooler as we enter November. Soon, the holidays will roll around, and the image of Presley around the dinner table with my family for Thanksgiving invades my mind.

I think of how she’d look sitting next to me and how it would feel. Of course, my family and I would be speaking to each other, and the dinner would be relaxed and fun. I’d have my hand on her thigh while we ate, and she’d be laughing with Momma, Blake, and Gav at some raunchy joke Gran told. I know Presley hasn’t had much time getting to know my family, and part of that is my fault, but I know they’ll love her. Just like I—

I stop in my tracks a few feet from my childhood home.Love.Do I love Presley? I put my hand over my rapidly beating heart as more images of her flood behind my eyelids. The day we met and how, even before I really knew her, I wanted to kiss her. The way it feels like we’ve been two magnets drawn together this entire time. How my heart seemed to know she was something special to me before my mind did. And while I’m not a super religious man, I can’t deny it seems as if the Divine has been on our side, throwing us together at every turn.

My body warms, and that dark pit in my stomach shrinks a bit more, just like it has been doing over the last month.

Love.I love Presley, the shy and awkward city girl who I’ve learned isn’t as shy and awkward as I once thought. The epiphany has me standing a little taller, and the nervousness I’ve felt about talking to my family eases a bit. I never thought I could be one for relationships, but I’m starting to think that was never true—I just hadn’t found anyone worth having, worth fighting for. But Presley…

I think of her sapphire-blue eyes and what it feels like to hold her in my arms. How I crave to see her laugh, her smile. She’s become my anchor, the blood in my veins that keeps my heart beating. Our relationship may be new, but I don’t care. It’s the first thing I know to be true in a very long time.

“Kade?” The sound of my name in Gavin’s concerned tone has me falling back into reality. He’s standing on the porch, his eyes pinched in confusion. “Are you going to come in?”

I stare into my brother’s green eyes and try to hold on to my newfound realization. A smile pulls at my lips, and I exhale a breath. Gavin looks at me funny, which I can understand; I haven’t smiled genuinely around him for a while now.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” I say. He looks hesitant but nods, stepping aside so I can make my way up the small set of stairs to the house.

Ipush open the screen door to the only home I’ve ever known, feeling like an intruder. I’ve come by a couple of times since my interaction with Momma and Gran to grab clothes, but I ensured nobody was home when I did. Being inside now, knowing my family is here, eats away at the good feeling I had before I stepped in. But I push the sensation aside, Presley’s last words telling me to listen to them echoing in my mind. I can do this. I can have a civil conversation with my family. Then maybe my vision of us sitting together at Thanksgiving could be a reality.

I step further inside, my nostrils assaulted by the smell of a home-cooked meal. The familiar aroma of rosemary and thyme tingles my nose—Momma must’ve cooked my favorite roast chicken. That dark pit in my stomach grows a little smaller still at the gesture. When was the last time she cooked that? It’s been over a year…when Dad was still alive.

For the first time in a long time, hope sprouts inside me even if a sadness comes with the memory. Maybe this dinner is more than about including me in the dude ranch decisions—maybe they want to make amends with me. I know I have a lot to apologize for, but could they finally see how they’ve hurt me, too? Have they finally listened in the silence of my absence? Maybe the time away from each other was needed.

Soft feminine chatter reaches my ears as I turn the corner to the kitchen, Gavin on my heels. When Momma, Gran, and Blake see me, they stop talking. For a moment, the air is sucked out of the room, and I can hear my blood whooshing loudly in my ears. The hope I felt ebbs as I’m reminded of the night of my accident, when I found them all eating barbecue and laughing. I stand there awkwardly as Gavin walks past me to the open seat at the head of the table, just to the left of Blake.

I stare at the table filled with chicken, cheesy potatoes, and corn. Tall glasses of cold sweet tea are sweating next to the plates. I don’t have to look up to know they’re all staring at me. I try to grab on to the strength I just felt outside and then start to list things off in my head like Presley taught me.Horse, books, sloth, flowers. The last one has me thinking of Presley’s tattoos, the violets she told me she got because she found them beautiful and delicate. I know if she were here with me, she’d be holding my hand and urging me to sit. So with a deep breath, I finally look up.

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