Page 29 of Chasing Forever

I moved up the walkway and took the steps that led up to the porch. “Everything okay?”

She stooped and spun around to face me. “We can’t live here anymore.”

My stomach bottomed out. Dread washed through me, reaching down my throat and squeezing my lungs. “What? Why? Look, whatever happened, I’m sure we can work it out.” They couldn’t leave. The thought of not having Levi’s laughter and excitement filling the house scared me. I couldn’t imagine walking around and not having Merritt’s scent lingering in the air. Her intoxicating fragrance was everywhere. In every room. A hint of citrus and a smoky sweetness. Like orange peels and burnt sugar.

“Just talk to me. Tell me what happened.”

“There’s a spider in the house,” Levi called out from the grass, his words bringing me up short and leaving me momentarily speechless.

“I’m sorry. What?”

“Yeah, Aunt Merri’s super scared of spiders. She saw it, screamed really loud, yanked us outside, and locked the door.”

I slowly turned back to face Merritt, arching a single brow.

“It’s notjusta spider,” Merritt clipped defensively, crossing her arms over her chest. “It was huge! And it was this weird, milky white color, and kind of translucent. Like a demonic spider straight out of hell or something. I saw a web in that sideboard Blythe and I found at the estate sale. It could have laid eggs.” She sucked in a started gasp. “They could havehatched.”

I swallowed down the laughter desperate to come out. “And locking the door would prevent them from... chasing after you?”

“I don’t know. I freaked out, okay” she declared, throwing her arms out at her sides. “I’m scared to death of spiders, happy now? They aren’t natural. Nothing on this planet should have that many legs. And some of them are fuzzy! I mean, what the hell is that? That’s not right! I saw the thing and reacted. I got everyone out safely and locked the door. The house belongs to the spider now. Way I see it, there are only two choices.”

“And those would be?”

“We either move or burn the house to the ground.” She lifted her chin and gave me an indignant look. “What’s it gonna be?”

I lost it, a deep laugh rolled all the way up from my stomach and burst past my lips like a cannon blast. I couldn’t remember the last time I found something as funny as I did Merritt’s irrational fear of spiders, and I laughed harder than I had in a very long time.

“Great,” she grumped, her expression drooping. “And now you’re laughing at me. Thanks a lot.”

I got a hold of myself, my laughter sputtering out and leaving me breathless. “Ah, I’m sorry, Dandelion.”

She glared viciously. “No you’re not. You’re still smiling.” She jabbed a finger at my mouth.

She was too damn cute sometimes. Like when she pouted over losing at Sorry!. Or when she got testy because someone ate the last blueberry muffin. Now this. Every single thing about her left me intrigued and wanting to know more, and on that thought I realized I didn’t just have feelings for the woman. I was falling for her. Dropping faster than the speed of sound. Only problem was, after everything she’d been through, she wasn’t ready. And for the first time in my life, I wanted something serious. Something real and permanent.

It was just my luck that I wanted it with a woman who was unavailable.

That realization made my chest ache.

“Come here,” I said, making myself feel better by grabbing her hand and pulling her into me. I tucked her against my chest and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close. And damn if it didn’t feel right. I pulled in a deep breath, filling my lungs with that candied orange scent. “I’m sorry, Dandelion. I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings.”

“It was a really big spider,” she defended weakly, her words muffled against my chest, causing me to smile.

“I’m sure it was. Would it help if I went inside and got it out for you?”

She pulled back and looked at me like I just lost my mind. “Get it out? No! You need to kill it, Tristan. Send that thing straight back to hell where it belongs.”

It defied logic, but just then, her little bout of crazy made me desperate to kiss her.

Fuck me. I was so screwed.

Merritt

Tristan had beentrue to his word. He’d gone inside while the rest of us remained in the front yard, and hunted the spider down. Knowing I wouldn’t have just taken his word for it, he’d showed me its dead, squished body so there was no doubt. Then he took it a step further by spraying the antique sideboard I’d been storing in the sunroom off the back of the house until I could get around to restoring it for Blythe, killing anything that might have still been living in there and wiping all the webs out with a rag.

He'd done that all on his own, without me having to ask, simply because he knew it would give me peace of mind. By now, I’d lost count of all the things he’d done to make life easier for Levi and me, to make it better. I hadn’t had anyone take care of me the way Tristan did since my mom got sick years ago.

It was getting harder and harder to ignore the way he made me feel. The little flutter in my belly that started up when I knew he was on his way home. The way my chest tightened when he called me Dandelion. The tingle beneath my skin whenever he touched me. With every passing day, I wanted more of him any way I could get it. And I could no longer convince myself it was because he was my friend.

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