Page 74 of Home Sweet Home

“Yes?” he asked.

She nodded so fast that it was a good thing she was lying down. Otherwise, she would have been so dizzy, she might have fallen over. “Yes. God, yes.”

When he came back to her and showed her what she had been missing, Evie knew she had never in her life, not once, been happier.

* * *

They werea tangled pile of limbs. West’s thumb traced circles on Evie’s bare back, one of his arms draped her shoulder, and her thigh dangled over his leg. She didn’t know where her clothes were. They could have been outside the boat, tossed out the open window, on full display for anyone walking by, but it was difficult to care about anything other than the man holding her in his arms.

“That was mean,” she said, nuzzling into his warm neck, kissing a spot of skin she liked just because she could. “Making me ask you.”

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I told you, Peach. I like it when you tell me what to do. Always have.”

It was a dream, the best, most real one she’d ever had. Any second, her alarm would ring, and she would drag her tired ass out of bed and to the diner. She would clean tables, set out silverware, and bring people their coffee. West would be there, but only on the TV screen, far away from her.

He was really there, though, his skin hot against hers, their limbs tangled in the sheets, a lazy smile on his face, his chest rising and falling softly with each slow breath. For now it wasn’t a dream, but soon, it would be. Evie’s chest tightened as she thought about what was going to happen in just a few short weeks. West would go back to LA, shoving thousands of miles between them, and leave her with another painful reminder of what her life might have been if only things had been a little bit different.

“You’d like LA,” West said, his fingers tracing a pattern on her shoulder. “The weather’s always nice. My house is right on the beach. Twenty feet, and my toes are in the Pacific Ocean.”

She nodded and snuggled up closer to him, trying to push away the dread that had started rising in her. Being with him made her feel the best she’d felt in a very long time, and she didn’t want to ruin it. She knew there was a timer on West being in Creek Water. He’d never said anything that would make her think otherwise, even though she didn’t understand why he wanted to return to a life he claimed to hate.

It should have been easy to open her mouth and say the words.I like you. I don’t want you to leave. Please stay.But once she said it, she couldn’t take it back. What if he doesn’t feel the same?

Her life would feel hollow when he was gone, but that was better certainly, easier than what she would carry with her forever if she asked him to stay and he left anyway. She would always wonder what about her hadn’t been enough.

She didn’t know what to say, so she said, “I’ve never seen the ocean.”

His muscles tensed underneath her, his hand freezing its familiar rhythm on her back, but only for a moment. “You’d love it.”

“When you told me you don’t like baseball,” Evie said, focusing her mind on anything else. “That day in the garden. You said I was the second person you told. Who was the first?”

West took a deep breath and traced a circle on her shoulder. “My dad. Right before I left for college. Told him I wanted to quit. I remember what happened like it was yesterday. He stood up real tall, even though I was taller than him, and jabbed his finger into my chest and said he didn’t raise a quitter.” The next words were slow, like he was dragging them out against their will. “And that it wasn’t like I was good for anything else.”

She ran her hand through his hair, her fingers massaging his scalp. It was something her mom had always done when she was little and upset. “It’s not true. I hope you know that by now. You make everything fun, and all the hard stuff feels easier with you around. You’re a good baker and a brilliant coach. The boys adore you. And—”I really like you. Maybe even love you. Please don’t leave me. The words sat heavy inside her, ready to be released as soon as her brain gave permission. “A horrible driver. The absolute worst. Like the DMV truly fucked up the day they handed you a license.”

“Thought this was supposed to make me feel better.” West smiled into her hair.

Evie kissed a spot under his chin, the only patch of skin she hadn’t kissed yet. “Someone needs to keep your feet on the ground.”

For a few minutes, they didn’t talk, just listened to the sound of the breeze coming in through the open window or a car passing by on the road. West’s heartbeat, slow and steady as a drum, kept time in her ear.

“Know what, Peach?” West asked, his voice soft. “You’re the best thing to happen to me in a long damn time.”

“Me too.” Evie’s heart broke because she knew it was true.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

When Evie’salarm clock rang the next morning, it didn’t send white hot waves of annoyance through her. She turned it off, and with the light pink of dawn streaming in through the blinds in her window, she stared at the ceiling above her bed, replaying each moment of the night before.

West Hawthorne made Evie feel a lot of different ways, but the feeling she kept coming back to was an unfamiliar one. He had been so gentle, patient, and kind, and the only way she could think of to describe how she felt in his presence, especially the night before, was taken care of. As she replayed each moment, the nervous anticipation from before and the blissful clarity after as they’d lain in each other’s arms for what felt like hours, she smiled.

When she walked out of her bedroom, she was still smiling, her head in the clouds, and she ran straight into her dad coming out of the bathroom, his hair wet.

“Oh,” Evie said. “Sorry. I didn’t see you. You’re up early.”

He’d only been staying with them for a few days, but each morning when Evie went off to work, her dad was still snoring on the couch, the Syfy Channel with some new, grotesque monster flickering in the darkness. She wasn’t sure how he could fall asleep watching shows that were so scary, but it had become a familiar routine—her hitting the power button on the remote before she walked out the front door to go to Joe’s.

She could make out a small smile on his face in the dark. “Getting the worm.”

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