Page 53 of Love At Peace

I felt the depth of her affection for me. I knew she cared for me, and when we had sex after we more or less made up, I could tell that she’d missed me as much as I’d missed her. Even though we fought, we were building something. We had made up.

This morning, when I realized that I hadn’t told her that I was sorry, that I hadn’t apologized for that big fight at her cabin, I drove over and caught her as she was leaving for Eric’s house to start preparing for a Thanksgiving meal with him.

She’d talked to me, but I wanted to say I was sorry too. I’d done wrong, arguing with her.

“Hey!” She’d raised her brows and smiled at seeing me. I’d clearly caught her off guard. “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

She frowned.

“For calling you naïve. Weak. All that I said when we argued that day.”

Understanding dawned on her face. She smiled again and nodded.

“I get it now. I see why you’re so defensive. And I wanted to officially apologize for the way I talked that day.”

“Hey, you were mad too.”

“That’s no excuse,” I told her. “And I’m not siding with Nevaeh over you. It was never a matter of that.”

“Thank you for apologizing,” she said. “You’re restoring my faith in the world by proving a man can apologize.”

“Oh, count on it. I’ll fuck up again. I’m only human.”

She laughed lightly. “Hey, me too.” She held up the bag of things she was taking to her car. “I’ve got to get to Eric’s. I would like to catch up with you over the weekend though.”

I smiled. Catch up? I wanted to do more than that. “I’m going to Gavin’s later.”

“Ah. All right, well, maybe tomorrow or something. I’ve gotta go to work even though it’ll be Black Friday.”

“Me too. They wanted us at the ranch.” I shrugged, used to the sometimes unpredictable neediness of the ranch. I turned to leave, but she cleared her throat. “Wait.”

I stood still, my heart hammering fast, as she walked up to me and kissed me slowly.

“What was that for?” I whispered, smiling against her lips.

“Because I wanted to.”

I kissed her again, slower and deeper until she seemed to debate if she should hold that bag or drop it to hug me.

Slow down. There’s no need to rush.

I stepped back, breathless and glad that she was breathing just as hard. “I’ll see you later,” I promised. My heart was full at the fact that she was on board with seeing me again. I was confident that we were on better terms, but I needed to see what I could do to convince her about staying, too. With my friends backing us up, we had to be able to solve this David issue once and for all.

I arrived at Gavin’s and winced at where my mind was at. The kids would be running around. Wendy and the other relatives would make it a bigger crowd. It wouldn’t be an ideal time to talk to my friend about what we could do regarding David, but maybe later, during halftime, we could talk more in his man cave.

“Uncle Roarke!”

The girls yelled it in unison as they saw me coming. Clearly, I wasn’t an actual relative, but with how close of friends Gavin and I were, they saw me as an honorary uncle and included me as such.

I laughed, juggling the rolls that I was tasked with bringing, hoping they wouldn’t drop off the tray container that the bakery had put them in yesterday. All the kids gathered too close, trying to hug me or say hi at all.

It was bittersweet, to be included in their family holiday. They felt like family, but it wasn’t lost on me that my real family wanted nothing to do with me.

Nevaeh was sulking and avoiding me since we last talked. Even indirectly, on the phone when Marty called to tell me that she was caught shoplifting.

I was her uncle, her real uncle, but it was Gavin’s kids who were greeting me like that. Instead of wallowing in the irony and disappointment in how sourly things had gotten between us, I tried to shove all those thoughts aside and enjoy the company here.