Page 45 of Whiskey Lullaby
“Woohoooo,” Noah shouted. “That’s a rush!” He held me tighter. “Isn’t it? Makes you feelalive?”
“That thing was like a hundred feet above us… if that.” I was still clutching my chest, waiting for my pulse tocalm.
“I know,” he said against my ear, excitement dancing in his voice. Most guys get excited over sports cars, money…the fact that living excited him was intoxicating and addictive. I’m not sure I’d ever met a person who simply enjoyed life the way Noah did, and it made me want to be around him. He was infectious in the best way, especially to my worried heart. He made me forget, all the while making me feel things I had never felt before. And that was the first moment where I felt unexpectedly safe in his arms. My chest went tight. Things like that, you just kind of wait for them to fall apart. Careless things never last. And we werecareless…
“How did you find this place?” Iasked.
“In high school, I worked for some guy that had a house right here. Airport bought it from him. His house used to be”—he pointed behind the truck,—“right there. Paid him like four hundred grand for this little shitshack. He died a happy richbastard.”
“That’ssad.”
“What, that hedied?”
“Yeah.”
“Nah, Cletus—that was his name—he was damn near eighty. He had a grand ole’ time before he died. Last thing he sent me was a postcard fromBali.”
“Bali?”
“Yep, someplace with a bunch of monkeys, evidently it was a bucket list item for him. He crossed off his bucket list from selling this land. You can’t beatthat.”
“I don’t guessso.”
“So, what’s on your bucketlist?”
“I don’tknow…”
He huffed. “Comeon.”
“Seriously, I’ve never really thought about it. I guess, going toParis.”
“Wow. Paris,” he laughed. “Howoriginal.”
“Let me guess, yours would be skydiving, swimming with Great Whites, something that could possibly killyou.”
“I mean, the Great White thing sounds pretty fuckingamazing.”
I rolled myeyes.
“I want to travel. I want to pay my grandma back for everything she’s done for me. And, you know, Great Whites and skydiving, making millions of dollars, yadda yadda yadda.” An uneasy laugh rumbled from his chest. “Maybe prove to my parents, wherever they are, that they made amistake.”
“That bothers you,” I said as his hand lazily trailed over myarm.
“I wish it didn’t. I shouldn’tcare.”
“How could younot?”
I felt himshrug.
My jaw clenched. It made me angry that not one, but two people could abandon their child. Just up and leave. It made me hurt for him that the people who should have made him feel safe and cherished and loved made him feel like he wasn’t good enough. I sat up and took his hands in mine. “They don’t deserve you.” I shook my head. “I don’t care how bad you say you are, Noah Greyson, you aren’t. You can pretend all you want, say you’re a Tin Man, but you’re a good person, and they don’t deserve so much as a fleeting thought from you.” All I wanted to do was make him believe he was goodenough.
A slow smile worked over his lips and he brushed his fingers across my cheek. “I hope no one ever really hurts you because it’ll make you as cynical as me.” A line sank between his brow. “So…Paris, huh?” He leaned back against the side of histruck.
“Yeah,Paris.”
“You want to go because of the Eiffel Tower, because it’s the City ofRomance?”
“No, I want to go for thefood.”
