Page 60 of Forever in the Country

“Does it?” he says, his voice laced with annoyance. “Is he sending you vegetable shifter books?”

I smirk. “Not anymore.”

“Ugh, what’s your secret?” I stare at him and he groans. “Take him back. I had to bleach my eyeballs after just reading the description on some of the books he’s sent.”

“He’s just trying to help you broaden your literary horizons.”

“I seriously hate you. You know that, right?”

I shrug. “You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m…” He growls and drags his hand down his face. “It’s a really good thing I’m happy for you because you’re practically intolerable.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“What?” he asks, his voice jumping up a couple of octaves. I raise an eyebrow and wait. “Fine.” He drops down onto the edge of his bed and rubs the back of his neck. “I joined a dating app.”

“Okay…”

“And then I deleted it.” He scoffs. “I think the vegetable shifters would be preferable to the shit that ended up in my inbox.”

“That bad?”

“Worse.” He looks down at the floor, his hands folded in his lap. “I just want to be happy, and while I realize apps are generally for hooking up, I didn’t realize what I was getting into.”

“There’s no wrong way to figure out what you need,” I tell him. His gaze is filled with a mix of hope and vulnerability. “But don’t settle for less than what you want—what you deserve.”

“You taking your own advice?”

“Trying,” I admit, because I am. After closing myself off for so long, the about-face is hard—even when the girl is my end-all.

“How much trouble are you in when we get home?”

I lift one shoulder and let it drop because I honestly have no idea. “Remains to be seen.” I drag my hand over my mouth to hide my smile.

Tanner snorts. “You’re a masochist.”

I don’t say anything because he’s not wrong. I can’t wait to be incinerated by her fire. There’s no need to worry about being burned—I plan on being completely consumed by the flames.

My phone buzzes on the desk in the hotel room, pulling me from thoughts of Rhea and the things I plan on doing to earn her forgiveness.

ALERT: The alert you set has been activated. Please contact the account holder for more information. If this is in error please disregard this message.

“Fuck!”The word roars out of me from a place deep in my soul. Tanner’s head whips up to look at me, and the only thing stopping me from smashing my phone is the fact that I need the damn thing.

I shouldn’t have waited so long, but I’d been so sure it wouldn’t come to this—that they wouldn’t be stupid enough to try something.

“What’s wrong?” Tanner asks, rising to his full height.

I don’t want to answer him. I don’t want to give voice to the absolute fuckery that’s about to descend on my life.

On the life I’d hoped to build with Rhea.

“There’s going to be no resting once we get back to Clementine Creek. Shit just got complicated.”

He nods at my nonanswer that somehow speaks volumes.

“Let me know what you need.” I don’t respond and he claps me on the shoulder as he steers me toward the door. “Let’s finish this so we can get the hell out of here.”

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