Page 85 of Gravity

Wade has borrowed a specially adapted wheelchair that enables Pete to be pushed along the sand. It’s an impressive piece of kit, like something out of Transformers.

“So, what’s next in the adventures of Pete?” I grin. “You seem to have a bucket list going on. Is there something you’re not telling me?” I feel like an ass the second the words fall from my mouth, but my joke amuses Pete to the point of laughter.

“No. L-list… J-just. Hope.”

I raise my brows. “Yeah? What are you hoping for?”

He stares down at the others in the water, and I let him have a moment to find his words as he watches. Reaching his hand out, he places it on my arm. I flinch, not because of the contact but because of the fact he’s a lot colder than I expected him to be.

My response has him bringing his eyes back to me as he smiles. “Are you cold?”

“No.”

“Can I get you anything then?”

“No.”

“Do you feel—”

“Gray. Stop.” His eyes soften, not that they were any form of harsh before. “I. ‘kay.”

I give him a smile before we both turn to face the water. Nora is still running around as Wade chases after her. I could watch her all day. Seeing her smile, listening to her laugh. She’s intoxicating.

“I know you already know this, but you have one hell of a daughter, Pete,” I admit. “She’s changed me—filled the void in my heart that was empty for so long.”

“C-can. S-see...”

“Who would have thought a five-foot woman would be the rocket up my ass that I needed.”

He laughs. “My… G-girl.”

“She sure is something.”

“You. M-make. Her. H-appy.” He pauses, his chest rising and falling as he composes the words he’s wanting to say. “An’. S-she. M-make…”

“Makes me happy?” I finish for him.

He nods.

“She does make me happy, Pete. She makes me very happy,” I admit. “I honestly don’t know what I’d do without her. She’s always had a special place in my heart, and that’s not just because she is your daughter.” I swear every man and woman on this beach can hear my heart racing as it thunders against my chest with my honesty, but I keep going because there’s something about this moment with him that feels right.

“You know I won’t do anything to hurt her—not now she’s come back and kicked me up the ass. She is everything to me, Pete.”

He nods, squeezing my arm tighter as he turns his head to look at me. “Love. Her.”

I’m unsure if it’s a statement or a question, but neither is it something that I have to question myself. There’s no doubt in my heart when it comes to how or what I feel for Nora. She is everything I never knew I was searching for. She is my redemption. My hope. My saving grace when I am lost.

But the look in Pete’s eyes say a thousand words, and my stomach tightens with the realization. I don’t know why it comes as a shock because he’s done nothing but observe people for a long time now.

“You know, don’t you?” I question, right before his wicked smile spreads across his face. “Shit, of course you know. You watch everyone like you’re Virginia’s very own detective.”

“See. It… L-long time.”

“Jesus, Pete.” I chuckle, thinking back to the conversation we’d had in his kitchen the day he had his seizure. He knew then. “You’ve been pushing us together this whole time, haven’t you?”

He shrugs. “May…be.”

“There aren’t many dad’s that would encourage his daughter to hook up with an older guy. You’re supposed to be kicking my ass because of it.”