Page 101 of More Than a Spark

“And why aren’t you moving with Milo, Ryder?” Samantha wrote in her notebook, then gazed at me, tapping her pen to her cheek.

“Because I just transferred to Chandler FD. I’m just finishing up the training academy. I need to put in a few years before I even think about transferring again.” The tightness in my chest grew. How was this appointment turning into me talking about Milo? “Look, it sucks, having Milo leave right after we fell in love, but this is his dream job with AllAction gaming. He has to take it and I can’t go with him, and I can’t stop him.” I hung my head and fisted my hands, then gritted my teeth.

“Ryder, I’m sorry.” Mom shifted on her couch, closer to me, then placed her hand over my fist. Wrinkling her forehead, she said, “You twoaregood together. We enjoyed dinner the other night, didn’t we?”

I lifted my gaze to meet with hers. Shit, she genuinely looked like she cared. “Yeah, we did enjoy it.” I wouldn’t tell her it was the food that made the meal. No, we were supposed to be mending things.

Samantha drew a deep inhale. “Okay, so, Ryder, on your intake form you said you didn’t feel seen by your mom. Do you feel seen now?”

I blinked a few times, then let my gaze search Mom’s face. Shit, I did say that. “Yeah, right now I suppose I feel seen.”

A faint grin teased the corners of Mom’s lips. “I do see you, Ryder. I feel your pain. I could see that you two love each other at dinner.” As her eyes grew glossy, she said, “All a mother wants is for her children to be happy.”

I dropped my mouth open. Okay, there were a lot of years where I didn’t feel that from her. I wasn’t going to say anything yet. We had time to explore it. “Yeah, okay.”

“Sheila, this is the first step. I know there are a lot of hurt feelings from events in the past, but today, let’s move forward with this understanding. Think about what you can do to help your son get through this loss.” Samantha crossed her legs, her gaze floating from Mom to me. “And Ryder, accept what she can give.”

Me and Mom both nodded.

“So, let’s get into how we got here.” Samantha set her pen and paper down onto a coffee table resting between us. “I have an exercise for you to try. It’s meant to teach you both how to listen and understand each other.”

* * *

Friday night,I had packed as much clothing as I could into suitcases and headed over to Milo’s band house in my truck. I couldn’t wait to see him. We’d decided to chill out tonight and do the heavy lifting tomorrow, with the help of his buddies.

After parking in the street behind Milo’s sedan, I hauled my ass out and grabbed the largest of my suitcases from the back.

The front door opened on their gray bungalow, and Silas sauntered down the walkway cutting through the lawn to me. “I was told you’d have a lot of shit.” Smirking at me, he leaned over the bed of my truck and perused the suitcases. “And you do.”

“Yeah, thanks. Take whatever you can. Where’s Milo?” I rounded the truck and stepped onto the sidewalk.

“He’s still in the shower.” Silas tugged a large duffle bag out of the truck, then stopped by my side and upnodded at me. “Hey, I’m glad you’re moving in, man.”

“Thanks.” Warmth spread through my chest. Yeah, this was the right thing to do.

Jeremy stepped out of the house. “You got more stuff to bring in?” He held his hand over his eyes, shielding them from the late afternoon sun.

“I do. Just two more smaller bags.” With Jeremy’s help, I wouldn’t need to make a second trip out here. I patted Silas on the shoulder. “Are we all hanging out together tonight?” I had no idea what plans Milo had made.

“Think so. Milo wanted to spend some time with everyone and not be practicing or at a gig.” Silas followed me up the path. “I think he invited everyone over.”

As Jeremy passed us, he gave me a swift hug. “Good to see you, man.”

“Good to see you, too.” I brought my suitcase into the house, then wrestled it into Milo’s bedroom.

Silas followed me in, set my suitcases on the bed, then patted my shoulder. “See you out there.” He left.

Twisting around, my gaze snagged on Milo, standing in the doorway, and drying his wet hair on a towel. His pink sweats hung low on his narrow hips and a barely there trail of hair led to the top of some white lace. Damn it, he looked good. Fuckable. But we had shit to do. “How are you doing?” I stepped to him.

He tossed the towel onto the bed. “Better, now that you’re here.” He fell into my arms. “I hope you don’t mind that I invited everyone over for a little party tonight.”

I kissed his head, holding him to my chest. “No, of course not. It sounds like a good time.” Funny, but I’d never hung out with all his bandmates outside of a gig. “Let me unpack a few of the more important things and then I’ll join everyone.”

“Sure.” He freed me and stepped back, then opened some drawers in his dresser. “I cleaned these out for you.” He strode to his closet and flung one of sliding doors open. “And you can have this side of the closet.”

“Thanks, babe. This is great.” I gave him a grin. It was going to be weird seeing his stuff gone in a few months. But I shouldn’t dwell on that today. Today we were here, together.

Jeremy strolled into the room with my last suitcase. “Where do you want this?”

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