Page 80 of Make Me Whole

Sky shook her head. “No, I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”

I was thoroughly skeptical of how sure she sounded and raised a brow. Sky rolled her eyes. “I mean it. I feel better already.”

“If it’s a bug, the kids will get it. Puking kids are never fun, Sky. Especially now that there’s two of them.”

She smiled even though her expression was anything but light. There was something in her eyes, reticence of some sort, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it meant. Sometimes, I felt like I knew this woman like the back of my hand, but other times I felt I didn’t know her at all.

“I’m not contagious, Max,” she assured me with a smile that didn’t quite touch her eyes. “And even if I were, there’s two of them and two of us. Together, we can handle anything.”

I smiled at that and kissed her forehead. “Yes, we can.”

She snuggled against my chest, and I wrapped an arm tightly around her shoulders. We were silent for a few breaths. Then, in a low and almost sad voice, she asked, “Will we always be like this? There for each other, even when things are rough?”

“Yes,” I replied without even thinking and kissed the top of her head again. “Even when you’re sick on the floor and too stubborn to go to the doctor to ease the mind of your poor boyfriend. We’ll be there for each other.”

She gave me a small chuckle and hugged me closer. “I’m gonna set an appointment with my doctor as soon as we get home, and you can go with me, if you want.”

I pulled my head back and nodded. “Okay. Now lets get out of this bathroom because the kids will wake up in a bit, and I shouldn’t still be in your room.”

Sky nodded her agreement. I got up and offered a hand to help her get up as well. She walked me to the bedroom door, unlocked the room, and leaned against the wall. I could tell she was as unhappy to see me leave as I was. But I took comfort in knowing this situation wouldn’t last long. As soon as we arrived home, I would tell Al about us, move into her bedroom, and never leave.

“Even though our first night together ended with me waking up alone in bed and you puking, it was the best night I had in a very long time.”

She smiled and bit her bottom lip. “Me too. It might even have been the best I’ve ever had in my life.”

I chuckled and leaned over to kiss her, but her hand on my chest stopped me. “You may have seen me vomit, Max, but you’re not kissing me while I have pukey breath. That’s the romance line I’m drawing in the sand.”

Once more, I laughed but conceded and kissed her cheek instead.

“See you in the kitchen,” she said as I walked out of her room.

I crossed the hallway toward my lonely room and changed out of my PJs before heading over to the Jack-and-Jill I shared with the kids to get ready. It was the last day of our trip, and as I went back to my room to pack my stuff, I felt both sad our time at the island had ended and extremely excited to go home and get started on our new normal as a family of four.

* * *

After breakfast,Sky seemed back on her feet, which allowed us to go to the botanical garden and hit a few stores before catching the last ferry out of the Island at five p.m. By that time, I was determined not only to purchase Al’s stake at the Reno House, but also to list my current house and buy our little family a vacation home on the Island as soon as Aiden and I were settled with the girls. Hopefully, the three commissions Al would make from my relationship with Sky would soften him further to the idea of us.

The three-hour drive to Windy River put the kids straight to sleep, which allowed Sky and me time to talk, laugh, and hold hands while I drove. It was a dream come true that ended as soon as we crossed the Windy River town limits and red and blue lights shone through my rearview mirror.

Sky’s fingers steeled against mine. She stopped telling me her decor plans for our home office mid-sentence and in a tense voice, asked, “Do you think it could be a coincidence?”

Honestly, no,I thought but didn’t say it. Sky looked scared enough already, and I didn’t want to add to it.

“They haven’t turned on the sirens yet, so maybe. I’ll just stay within the speed limit and we’ll see.” My calm, reassuring tone was the opposite of how I really felt.

She nodded, her face showing the same fake calmness I was wearing. I squeezed her fingers and continued to drive home, keeping to the speed limit, hitting my blinkers at every turn and stopping at every stop sign as the law required. Still, the police car continued to follow us.

I took the long way home, choosing random streets and making the drive unnecessarily complicated, hoping this really was just a coincidence and that our escort would continue on its way at some point. When we arrived at our street with the police car still behind us, it was clear this was intentional.

I stole a peek at Sky. Her face was ashen. It was ridiculous that two law-abiding, tax-paying, vanilla to the point of boredom people such as us were suddenly terrified of the police, but we were.Thank you very much, father Ass wipe.

“When we get home, you stay in the car with the kids and let me go out and talk to them, okay?”

Sky nodded. “This is Eli’s doing. You know that, right?”

“Yes, but he doesn’t scare me,” I lied.

“He scares me, Max,” she admitted in a shaky tone. “He’s crazy enough that he should scare you too.”

---