Page 57 of Unforgettable

14

Oz

Fuck me.

My family’s on a roll this afternoon. First Maddy, and now my mother. From one extreme to the other, they’ve both managed to remind Reeve and me that we’re destined to end.

And even though it’s the truth, I’ve very much come to terms with the fact that I wish it weren’t. My father would say not weighing up all the pros and cons of a situation was reckless, but I don’t have it in me to care about proving him wrong.

Not this time.

Right now, I only care about the heartbroken look on Reeve’s face that made me think, for a split second, he was reconsidering our arrangement.

I know what his boundaries are, and maybe that makes everything I’m feeling and everything I want tokeepon feeling even worse. I should be wanting to do right by him and his limits and taking care to not encroach on them,but the idea of not having any of this with him makes me feel like I’m losing something. Even if it’s something I don’t really have.

We finish off lunch, and Reeve is a lot less talkative than usual, and my chest tightens at the thought of us both going to work with this unspoken tension between us.

I don’t really have an argument against the truth and facts, but I do know when it’s just the two of us, the rest of the world fades enough into the background that we can both get on the same page and this fear that’s eating away at me will hopefully disappear.

Desperately needing that reassurance, I rise up off my chair and hold my hand out to Reeve.

“I’m sorry, guys,” I announce casually. “But Reeve and I have to go.”

He glances up at me. “We do?”

Subtly, I move behind him and place my hands on his shoulders. “We don’t have much time before work and I wanted to show him something.”

“Yeah, your dick,” Dixie murmurs.

“Dixie Walker,” my mother admonishes. “At least they’ll do it in private, unlike you and Archer that one Christmas.”

The table erupts in laughter at the memory, and Reeve raises his eyebrow in question.

“That was in private,” she groans. “You weren’t supposed to be home that early.”

“A few years ago, Dixie and Archer skipped out on a Christmas Eve dinner at one of our cousins’ place and we came home early after Mom felt sick,” I explain. “They were going at it on the couch for the whole world to see.”

“And the whole world did see,” Kat adds. “Things we now cannot unsee.”

Maddy raises a hand in the air. “Oh, hold on, Kat, are we forgetting about you and what’s his face after prom?”

I don’t know what it is exactly, but I feel the stiffness underneath my palms leave his shoulders as my sisters use the trip down memory lane to rib on each other, like they always do.

I lower my mouth to his ear. “They’re about to talk about who has the most embarrassing sex stories, and I do not want to be here for it.”

He turns his head so we’re nose-to-nose. “Will any of these stories involve you?”

I shake my head, because my sex life is something I’ve always insisted on keeping away from my family. “I guess we can go, then.”

Eventually, we manage to find an opening in the conversation and say our goodbyes. Seeing that we walked from V and V, I slide my hand in his and lead us back in that direction.

“I love your family,” he says. “I love that nothing is off-limits with you guys. That openness and transparency. Even with your mom.” He squeezes my hand. “You’re lucky to have that.”

“You have that with Callie and Poppy,” I say reassuringly, thinking of the way he was with his sister and his niece. The perfect, doting uncle and the protective, yet reserved, younger brother.

Callie and Reeve complement one another, forging out a new path for their family, trying to find happiness while simultaneously trying to maintain a healthy and open relationship with people who give them so much grief.

It’s admirable, in my opinion, but I don’t doubt the whole process hasn’t been taxing on either of them, and the fact Reeve is still going back home to live a life he doesn’t want is proof that their acceptance still does, and always will, matter to him.

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