Page 13 of When You're Gone
She scrunched up her nose and considered how much truth she was willing to share. “He doesn’t know anything about it yet,” she admitted. “You were my first call.”
Fielding’s eyes grew wide for two seconds before his shock evolved into smugness. She rolled her eyes and shook her head to discourage the inevitable gloating that would follow. It wasn’t that she planned to keep this from Rhett, or that she thought he wouldn’t just as easily write a check to cover all the expenses for this year’s camp. But he was so busy with work, with traveling back and forth between Virginia and Hampton to be with her.
Selfishly, she didn’t want to present her solution-oriented husband with a problem that would monopolize any more of his time. It was about time and energy more than it was about money. She was hesitant to reveal all that to Fielding; she didn’t want to insult him by implying he was her default choice because he didn’t have a career or anything else going on.
Fielding must have sensed her defensiveness because he let the moment pass without making any smug remarks. “Are you okay with me sharing this with my mom?” he asked instead. “I feel like she would be a good starting point to help us lock in an event planner and venue.”
“Yes, absolutely. I know we can’t do this alone… camp is only four months away, so the gala will have to be pulled together quickly.”
“I’m on it,” he declared, pulling his phone out of his pocket and shooting off a text. He pointed to the empty basket of fries between them. “I’m gonna need more brain food if you want to sit here and get to work right away.”
“I hardly think French fries count as brain food,” she countered.
His brows pulled together in consideration. “You’re right,” he agreed after a moment. “This level of output can only be fueled by tater tots.”
She rolled her eyes but hopped off the barstool to put their order in on the point-of-sale computer. A sense of relief wrapped her in a warm embrace as she realized what had just happened.
Fielding was going to cover the unexpected expenses for Camp New Hope this year. No one would be turned away, nothing had to be canceled. And, if they were able to pull off a large-scale fundraiser, they could raise enough money to ensure that the camp would be safe for years to come. She had never been more grateful for her friend.
Chapter five
Rhett
“Iswear,Ican’teven focus on this menu when you do that,” Rhett muttered.
“Do what?” she challenged with a smirk. They’d arrived at The Grille just a few minutes ago and were seated in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant.
“You know what,” he gritted out, peering at her over the top of his menu. He loved every version of his wife, but seeing her dressed up always brought out something primal in him. Tonight she was wearing a knee-length sweater dress with some sort of scoopy neck that showed off just a hint of cleavage when she leaned forward to reach for her water. “You look amazing in that dress, and you’ve been eye-fucking me since the moment we got into the Lyft.”
“I haven’t been eye-fucking you.”
“V,” he deadpanned.
“Maybe I just missed looking at my husband,” she countered, giving him a salacious smile filled with unspoken promises of everything their reunion would entail later that night.
Rhett blew out a long breath, still feeling wound up from the work week and his hindered flight. The delay had been less than two hours, but those two precious hours spanned an entire lifetime since they had crept into the start of Tori’s birthday weekend. He’d barely had time to kiss her hello before he had to change, order their car, and head out to their reservation. After three weeks apart, being a table-length away was agony.
“Would you make fun of me if I asked you to come over here?” He tilted his head to his side of the booth.
Tori’s smile softened as she wordlessly rose up and joined him. She slid over to close the space between them, tucking her arm under his and resting her head on his shoulder.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“Hey, beautiful.” He kissed her on the forehead and finally felt that sense of calm he’d been craving. How many times had they shared this type of reunion over the years? More importantly, how much longer would they have to play this game?
“That was hard,” she lamented, running her fingertips over his forearms where he’d rolled up his shirt sleeves.
“What was?”
“The last three weeks. It just felt harder than anything has in a while.”
He huffed out a sigh, biting down on the inside of his cheek as he considered her confession. Hearing her say it out loud validated everything he’d been struggling with since he’d returned to Virginia.
They had been lucky to spend Christmas together at the cabin, then they’d returned to Hampton the last week of December for Tori’s surgery. Rhett had taken family leave in January, but he didn’t have the type of job he could just hand off to a colleague. As the head of Logistics and Operations for NorfolkStar Transport, his consistent input was crucial to keeping things running smoothly. He had been able to work remotely until the middle of February, but now the company was making a huge expansion into a new market, and his granddad was trusting him to see it through. It felt like he had worked more hours in the last three weeks than he had in the last year. So much was riding on this project.
“Yeah, I felt it, too. Especially last weekend.”
She squeezed his arm at the reminder of what had gone down at the Valet House. It was his literal worst nightmare to have her call him like that—scared and in pain—knowing he could do absolutely nothing to help her or get to her quickly. It reminded him of when she had first gotten the call about her abnormal bloodwork, and he’d had to send Jake to take care of her while he finished his exams. He felt an acute ache from not being physically close when she needed him.
