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“Thank you,” Blythe whispered.
“Of course,” Tucker answered.
Blythe climbed in with Bree and closed the door. Her sister fell against her and cried even harder than she had been.
Shock was the body’s defense against the pain it knew it wasn’t capable of handling. When it wore off, there would be no choice for her but to work her way through her grief. Blythe never wanted to feel the things Bree was experiencing, but how did she avoid it? If she loved, there was always the possibility of loss.
She and Bree had talked about it on the flight from Dover, home. Would she have chosen not to be with Zack had she known this would happen? If she’d known she’d lose him so young, so tragically, would she still have let herself fall in love with him? Would she still have married him?
Yes, Bree told her. She’d do it all again. She’d loved Zack and wouldn’t trade any of her time with him even if it meant she could avoid the pain she was in now.
Blythe doubted she could be as brave as her sister was.
Paige and Mark joined their daughters in the limo. Paige took Bree in her arms and Mark comforted Blythe. She’d never been so thankful for her parents. She’d done her best to be strong for her sister, but she needed comfort herself. Did that make her weak?
Blythe pulled away from her dad.
“What?”
“Bree needs you,” she said softly.
“So do you,” he answered, pulling her back into him. “It’s okay, sweetheart. You can let go.”
Blythe buried her face in her father’s shoulder and let herself cry.
At the cemetery on the Air Force Academy grounds, Zack’s brother read the list of the awards his brother was being given posthumously—the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Purple Heart and the Air Force Combat Action Medal. Again, to Blythe, none of that mattered. Every time she looked at her sister, she saw a broken heart no award would mend.
After they lowered the casket into the ground, the minister asked that the family be given some privacy, and the crowd dispersed respectfully.
Blythe saw Liv and Renie walking to another part of the cemetery. She had forgotten that Renie’s father was buried here, too.
9
Zack’s family came back to her parents’ house, and several of Bree and Zack’s friends came, too. As they were leaving the cemetery, Renie asked if she wanted them to come to the house, but Blythe told her it would be okay if they didn’t. Blythe wanted to escape for a little while, if only to her bedroom. If Renie and Billy came to the house, she’d feel as though she’d have to talk to them.
“Take me for a drive?” she said to Tucker when he walked in the front door.
He didn’t answer but put his jacket back on and turned around.
“I’ll tell my mom—”
He nodded his head and slipped out the door before she finished her sentence.
Tucker needed a few minutes to himself. He doubted he’d have that long, but he’d take whatever time he could get. He’d never wanted to bury himself in a woman more than he wanted to right now. And not only for her comfort, for his, too.
Grief was palpable, and it had surrounded both of them the last few days. Witnessing it had brought it all back to him. It hadn’t been her pain alone he experienced. He relived his own pain—it engulfed him.
He wanted to feel something else, anything. All he could think about was running his hands over Blythe’s body, nuzzling himself into her, and holding her nakedness next to his own.
She said she wanted to go for a drive. He hoped she knew where she wanted to go. He’d been staying at the inn in Palmer Lake, and right now, it was the only place he could think to take her.
Blythe opened the door and slid onto the seat next to him, and brought her mouth to his. “I need you, Tucker,” she whispered.
The first time she and Tucker kissed, it had been slow and languid. This kiss was nothing like that. It was hot and hard. It took her breath away and made her want to climb on top of him right there, in her parents’ driveway.
He pulled away first.
“Blythe, honey, stop for a minute.”
