Page 59 of Where We Call Home

As we pulled apart, my eyes drifted across the barn to Rhodes. He stood with the guys, laughing and grinning in a way that made his whole face light up. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he tilted his head back to laugh harder.

The flutter in my chest was warm, almost dizzying. I’d done this for me but it was because ofhim.

“I knew it!” Penny gasped, covering her mouth with one hand and pointing at me with the other.

“Knew what?” I asked, my voice pitching up as I quickly looked back at her.

“You and Rhodes,” she accused, her tone dripping with glee.

“Oh, shit!” Aspen cackled. “I called it!”

“It’s not like that,” I stammered, waving my hands defensively. “We’ve gotten really close after he offered to let me live with him. It’s just until I find my own place after the baby is born.”

“YOU’RE LIVING WITH HIM?” Aspen and Penny shouted in unison from across the circle.

“Shh! Keep it down!” I hissed, glancing around the barn.

“For how long?” Penny asked. “And how do you keep your hands to yourself? I saw the way you just looked at him. I don’t know if I could either.” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down. “Oh my God! Does he walk around shirtless?”

“What is it with you and sexualizing everyone?” I laughed, shaking my head. Penny had always been like this—first about Boone, and now Rhodes.

“Ugh,” she groaned, dramatically flopping her head forward. “I’m always horny, okay? I’m living vicariously through my friends until it’s my turn.”

“Um, hello? The Joker over there has been eyeing your boobs like they’re his last meal,” Aspen pointed out, nodding toward Mac.

Penny bit her lip, twirling a strand of hair. “He was, wasn’t he?”

I grinned and shook my head. “We’re not talking about Rhodes here. Not tonight.”

“Fine,” Penny sighed dramatically. “But you owe me answers.”

Talking to them had lifted a weight off my shoulders. I’d stepped out of my comfort zone and spoken up about how I felt, and it felt good—empowering, even.

The past few weeks had taught me so much about myself and the people I cared about. Without Rhodes’s gentle push, I might’ve let my insecurities destroy friendships with two women who’d changed my life.

They’d saved me when I first arrived in Faircloud, and I knew they’d keep saving me for years to come.

And as for Rhodes... I couldn’t quite push him away, no matter how hard I tried. Maybe I never wanted to.

Twenty-Three

Ifelt her watching me. It took everything in my power not to glance in her direction. I wanted to give her privacy and space to handle this moment. As much as I was dying to know how things were going, I’d wait as patiently as I could.

Pride swelled in my chest for Theo. This clearly wasn’t easy for her, yet she cared enough about the relationship to be uncomfortable and vulnerable. I admired that more than I could say.

Besides trying not to be nosey, keeping my eyes to myself was a special kind of torture because she was testing me in that spandex suit. It hugged her perfectly, and my legs felt weak at the sight.

I counted my lucky stars when she left me alone in the hallway at home. She’d come out of the bathroom dressed like that, and I was a goner. Then she opened her mouth. I didn’t know feisty women were my thing. Maybe just when it came from Theo.

“Aspen wants everyone to go to the fall festival for a mini ‘Friendsgiving’ the weekend before Thanksgiving. Would you be in?” Boone asked.

I barely registered the words. I was focusing so hard on not looking at Theo that my brain wasn’t computing anything else.

“Yeah, sure, that sounds?—”

“I need him for a minute!” Theo yelled, grabbing my biceps and yanking me away before I could finish. I still had her drink in my hand; the red liquid sloshed dangerously at the force of her pull.

“Whoa there,” I laughed.

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