Page 59 of Forever in the Country

Mama had helped me make a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies to bring over to them—my specialty at eleven—and I’d watched as he choked the damn things down without complaint. It had taken me a couple of years to get him to admit that he didn’t like them even though I never made them for him again.

Until recently at least.

It had become my passive-aggressive way of letting him know I was pissy with him—not that he really needed the hint.

“That boy was just as extraordinary,” I say when I’m composed enough to speak.

“He was,” she agrees with a small smile, “but he always shines brightest with you.”

I search her face but there’s only sincerity. Truth. My heart races at the implication.

“He deserves to be loved.”

Miss Thelma shakes her head. “He’s been loved since the moment he stepped foot into Clementine Creek. There’s no shortage of that here. But Sorren deserves to beseen. He’s lived his life showing people what they want to see—what he allows them to see.”

“This is me, Rhea. This is it for me. You wanted this—me—this is it.”

I’d taken the words at face value when he’d said them in the storm shelter but she was right. He’d been enraged, vulnerable—raw. I’d been too mad to see it, to hear what he was actually saying.

The woman next to me nods, the twinkle back in her eyes. “Y’all have been readin’ the same book, just been on different pages is all.”

“We…” The analogy rolls through my brain, pushing clarity to the forefront of my mind. Sorren and I have so much to talk about, but maybe she’s right, maybe he’s been trying to catch up.

She pats my hand. “It will work itself out. Although by your blushing earlier I’d say it already has.” I narrow my eyes and she hoots with laughter before standing from the rocking chair. “Come on, honey, let’s go get ourselves a drink.”

I look at the time on my phone. “It’s one in the afternoon.”

“We can talk more about you getting busy with—”

“You know what? Moscow Mules sound great.”

She cackles as I follow her inside, hoping she’s right and that Sorren and I will find our way.

Together.

25

SORREN

HAYDEN: I really think she should have made him work for it

SORREN: I thought you’d be all about that grand gesture

HAYDEN: I needed more groveling. More pain.

SORREN: That sounds nothing like you

HAYDEN: I want to READ about it. Not live it.

Isnort as I read the messages, causing Tanner to raise his eyebrow at me. “Hayden doesn’t like the end of the book we just finished. Wanted more pain.”

“That sounds nothing like him.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Although,”—Tanner blushes—“he sends me some weird recommendations.”

“That tracks.”

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