Page 65 of Wild Side
“No.”
I raise a scrutinizing eyebrow at him as Milo stirs on his opposite side, arm reaching over Rhys’s chest.
He doesn’t look at me when the next words leave his lips, but they still send my stomach flipping again all the same. “But now you know Icouldtie a knot in his neck, and if he talks to you like that again, I will.”
We fall into silence, staring at the sky above us. Minutes later, he breaks it with, “That one looks like Erika. The plant.”
“Oooh,” Milo’s sleepy voice chimes in unexpectedly. “Hi, Mama.”
I smile, even though it hurts. It’s nice to think that we can see Erika anywhere we choose to look. We pick out shapes in the clouds for I don’t know long. And when we go home thatafternoon, I get busy cooking the boys what Rhys declares is “one of the best meals he’s ever eaten.”
And I make way too much.
Just in case he’s hungry again later.
CHAPTER 24
TABITHA
Grocery shopping.It’s our first mundane outing as a newly married couple. It should feel low pressure, but instead, I feel like everyone in the store is staring at us as we approach the front doors.
Word about Erika’s death has officially spread. The whisper network in a small town is both fierce and effective, which means news of our nuptials has also spread. Especially because my parents paid for the announcement to be in theRose Hill Gazette.
They’d told me about it this morning and I’d cringed, but they’d been so happy that I’d done my best to play along at being flattered by the attention.
Rhys had sat in the chair across from me with a knowing smirk on his face that made me want to either kick him or pounce on him.
I start out of the memory when his big, warm palm lands on my lower back, ushering me into the grocery store ahead of him. Peeking back at him, I see Milo up on his shoulders, bouncing happily with a plastic dinosaur clenched tight in one hand.
“Giddy up, Ree!”
Rhys’s lips twitch. “Not in the store, buddy. After.”
Undeterred, Milo kicks his legs. The ones that end up gripped in both of Rhys’s hands. “Goneeiiighlike a pony, Ree!”
Rhys groans and shakes his head, but it’s good-natured. “Not right now.”
Milo’s face scrunches, red splotches forming on his cheeks as his fingers curl into fists before he lets out a shrill, “Right now!”
A heavy sigh rushes from my lungs.Fucking threenagers, man.Hearingnois currently one of his least favorite pastimes.
I can see the tantrum coming from a mile away. It’s the change in his voice, the tension in his tiny limbs. I start to turn, ready to intercept.
“I want?—”
But Rhys cuts Milo off, his voice firm but calm as he removes him from his shoulders and crouches down in front of him, coming eye-to-eye with the little boy. “Milo, we’re at a grocery store. We need to help Tabby choose food for the week. This isn’t the time or place for that game. And honestly, if you talk to me like that, I won’t want to play it at all.”
I blink. I don’t know why I’m surprised by the way Rhys handles him, but I am. Milo’s little lips work even as his eyes go glassy. With crossed arms, he tips his nose up and looks away, guilt and pride warring on his face.
“After?” He finally slides his eyes back, one brow quirking at Rhys.
I almost giggle. Erika used to do that too. That exact thing with her eyebrow.
Rhys nods. “If you can shop with us and be polite, then we’ll talk. Think you can do that?”
Milo straightens, as though physically rising to the challenge. Then he nods once, firmly. And in that motion, I see Rhys.
It’s strange to see and even more strange to think about—this man I barely know really has had an impact on my nephew. Sucha profound one that I can pick pieces of him out now that I know what to look for.
