Page 24 of Coming Home

Nat’s gaze fell to the yellow Jeep parked on the other side of the playground. “I guess it’s a conspicuous vehicle.”

“It stands out, but so does the driver.”

“Especially when she’s having a crying fit in the middle of the park,” she muttered, wiping away excess tears from her face.

“Hey, I bawled like a baby while having lunch at Cassie’s Corner Café the other day when Todd showed me a video of a soldier reunited with their dog. So, no judgment about public crying.”

“You are such a sucker for those videos.” Her laugh was watery.

“Yep.” His hands skimmed down to her waist.

Her body hummed from his touch. Every nerve screamed,melt into him.

“They get me every time.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have a gaggle of dogs, considering how much you love them. It blows my mind that you don’t even have one.” Her breath hitched at the warmth that pulsated across her body from his palms resting on her hips.

As if where his hands were had just dawned on him, he dropped them. Raising his right hand, he tugged his short dark hair.

“I’d be a wreck if I had a dog. I’d be a puddle each time they waited for me at my door. I almost cry when Fitz and Lizzie greet me at your brother and Elle’s place.” A self-deprecating smirk washed over his features.

“Why do you get so emotional about dogs greeting people?”

“I think it’s both the reunion of loved ones and the thought of what that image would look like if they hadn’t come back.”

A single tear, late for the party, tumbled from her left eye.

“Hey,” he whispered as he swiped away her errant tear. “Evan?”

“How did you know?”

“I’ve only seen you cry like this one other time.”

Nat clamped her eyes shut. The memory drowned her. When Evan died, she’d not cried—not right away. While everyone else fell apart in their own ways, she’d smiled. Not the “Nat smile” that Noah mentioned the other night, but a helpful soother of the storm of tears that had gripped Mom, somber stoicism that had engulfed Dad, and grieving loud-quiet that had held Clayton captive.

It wasn’t until Noah arrived that she’d cried.He found her alone in the gazebo in the backyard. With his arms around her, he pulled her into his embrace and murmured, “That’s my girl. Let it out.”

“Sorry.” She took a step back from Noah and the memory of that day. “I don’t know why I’m so emotional. I was jogging and started thinking about Evan and just… ugh…now I’m a baby.” She covered her face.

“Hey.” He raised his hands to hers, shepherding them down from her face. “It’s not baby-like to miss someone…to grieve them.”

Nat coughed, pushing down the lump in her throat. “I miss him and…”

The words clustered in her throat, so many of her emotions over losing Evan locked inside. Grief. Anger. Guilt. Resentment. They all colluded in a sad bitter stew within her belly.

“It makes sense that you’d feel raw coming home. This is the longest you’ve been home since he died. You left for that Boston College summer program three months after he’d passed. Besides a few weeks over breaks, you’ve been in Boston since you were eighteen.”

“I can’t believe you remember that. You were in San Diego for most of that.”

Noah turned, placed his hand on her shoulder, and led her in a slow walk toward the playground. “Well, I noticed when one of my favorite people wasn’t here when I visited.”

“Also, your mom.”

“Also, my mom.”

They looked at each other with knowing grins. Mom and Maura, Noah’s mom, were the definition of BFFs. Since they were fifteen, they’d been inseparable. What one knew, the other soon would know.

A warm chuckle rolled through him. “I didn’t even need to talk to Clayton or read the letters you sent when I was in the service to know what was happening.”

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