Page 73 of Hometown Heartbreakers: Sunkissed

Together we climbed and rode the wave coming. I held on for fear that I’d break, and he tried to keep me together. But when the smoke cleared, we’d both screamed out our pleasures, and he collapsed on top of me. It washimthat fell apart inmyarms.

Dante cried hard. His heart broken, and I did not know how to put it together. His parents were gone, and it was his brother’s fault. Jeremy was reckless, and he’d dragged their mother and father into his crap. Now Dante had lost all three of them, the only family he had. His father and mentor, his mother and confidant, and his brother, the last piece of his family whose bond couldn’t exist beyond his actions earlier.

There was a lot to deal with, too. He had a business that would be a constant reminder of his parents, especially his father. The relocation of his office, financial burdens, and getting production back to where it was supposed to be. Not to mention the other things that needed to be worked on, too. I could see how this was a lot. I was going to be here for as long as he would let me be, working remotely for a while until things were better. Nobody deserved to face all this alone. Dante was always doing for others, and this was the time for him to get all of that and more back.

I’d be his anchor, if that’s what he needed. I’d be whatever he let me be. Call me optimistic, but I hoped he’d let me be his and him mine. I didn’t know how it would work, but I knew that being together made sense. Not the logical kind, but the “need you in my life” kind, because I loved him, too.

Right then, that was all that mattered. Us.

DANTE

“The really fucked up part about all of this is that he was texting me from her phone. He had to be. Dad was found months ago. If they murdered her soon after, all the times I texted and called her trying to figure out where she was, she was…” I swallowed back the bitterness that entered my mouth every time that I thought about it. “My mother is dead. My father is dead. So is my brother. There’s no way I can forgive him. Maybe if he came to me in the beginning, I could find the strength to move on. He knew! For three months, he knew!”

“Didn’t you wonder why she’d been gone all that time?” Michelle asked as she stroked my back.”

“Yes, and no. She goes on these retreats with her friends, and they’ve lasted awhile. My father loved the small-town life. Farming ran through his blood. He didn’t care what was going on in the next state, as long as his town was good. My mother wasn’t the same. She liked to travel and explore. Dad was cool with that as long as she lived in his world, too. So, she found something she liked: gardening. She is the reason our produce took off so quickly. Then she began making our famous jams from her fruits. When she traveled, she took her veggies and jam with her and sold them. Her small garden turned into a produce market. And Dad let her travel for it and for fun. That’s the kind of compromises marriages are made of. They both got to do what they loved without sacrificing themselves.”

“Were you close to them?” Last I remembered, they were.

“I thought it was weird that I actually liked my parents. My mother was my best friend. We talked a few times a day, and she always supported me, even if she didn’t understand it. My father tried to parent Jeremy through me. He was tough but fair, and I think it bothered him he couldn’t reach J. Unlike a lot of parents their age, they didn’t care that J was gay. We knew when he was a kid. He was always just different. I’d always protected him. Hell, I put up with gay jokes because I protected him. It was the drugs that we couldn’t deal with. Some guys he was friends with were into them heavy to deal with the fact that they couldn’t be out like he was, and he got mixed up in it. He chased that high from the first night he tried it.”

I remembered that night. He’d been out with this guy and came home wasted. He was thirteen, and he was telling me about all the adult things he’d done with this man. Snorting and popping pills were part of it. He’d been doing it ever since. Mom tried to get him help a few times, but he was just never ready or willing to take those steps.

“What was that amazing scent I was smelling in my sleep? It was heavenly.” Michelle tucked into me and kissed her on top of her curly head.

I paused because this felt right. Her here in my home, snuggling, talking, and just relaxing after a long shower.

“I was craving one of Mom’s beef pies. It has potatoes and beef with veggies. I do not know where she got the recipe, but it’s so good. In the winter, she makes me extras to freeze. That way I can have them in the summer. Are you hungry?”

“I think so.”

“Would you like to try it?”

“Absolutely.” Michelle smiled up at me and kissed my cheek.

“Let’s go.”

Michelle was wearing one of my flannel shirts since I kept my house really cool. I’d paid extra for it to cool just right, and she was cold. I wore jeans and nothing else while I showed her around since I hadn’t done that when we’d arrived. Like a caveman, I’d taken her straight to my room.

Arriving in the kitchen, she sat down at the island while I warmed the pie in the oven. “To drink, I have milk, water, beer, and punch.”

“Punch it is.”

I grabbed a jar from the cabinet and poured her a glass. I grabbed a beer and joined her at the counter. Michelle took my hand in hers and just fiddled with them.

“What’s bothering you, darlin’?” She’d been more affectionate since earlier and while I didn’t mind it, it almost felt like a safety shield.

“I think all of this is making me miss my dad even more than before. I really want to see him, but it's a gamble when I do. He rarely knows who I am.”

“With everything being figured out, you should be able to leave soon, right? I’m sure we can get things settled by phone or video call, right?” She’d mentioned how much she missed him to me before. I hated that she’d unnecessarily been here longer than expected.

“Yes, I probably could.” Michelle pulled away from me, stood, and walked to the oven. “Think this is done?”

“Probably. That doesn’t explain why you just pulled away from me, though.”

“I didn’t.” Michelle lied. She couldn’t even look at me. She pulled the pie from the oven and put it on top of the stove.

I picked it up and brought it to the counter with two spoons. After that, I picked her up and sat her on my lap. Her eyes were tearful, and her eyelashes were damp.

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