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Tully’s brows furrow as Henley watches me, speechless. How is it possible that only a few seconds have passed?
I don’t know how it happened, but one minute I’m focused on Tully and the next, Henley has a phone to her ear, still gaping at me as though she can hardly believe what she’s seeing.
“Noah, it’s me,” she says into the phone in a strange tone. She pauses for the slightest moment. “I think you should get over here. He’s here. Rivers has come home.”
Home.
There’s that word that has traveled through my mind over and over again until it started feeling like a place that no longer existed, but standing in this very doorway, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Now that I’m here, I don’t want to leave.
But seeing as Noah’s now on his way over here, I guess I won’t be going anywhere as I’ll be spending the rest of my day unconscious. Crap. I knew I should have just shown up to the ceremony and watched from the back. Now their wedding is going to be delayed because of me. That’s the last thing I wanted.
Tully’s gaze drops to the ground before traveling in a wide arc as it makes its way back up to Henley. “I um…” Shit. That voice of an angel has me dying a million deaths. I had nearly forgotten what she sounded like, but it’s pure heaven. Always has been and always will be. “I should get to the wedding and let them know things are going to be running a little late.”
No, no, no, no, no, baby. Don’t you dare go.
Henley nods as a sympathetic, broken sigh pulls from Violet, and before I know it, Tully reaches for the hallway table, grabs a set of keys, and hurries through the door. She gives me a wide berth and absolutely refuses to look back up at me.
The smell of her perfume lingers in the air and I just about die. That’s the smell I’ve been missing, the smell that reminds me of having her in my arms and burying my face into her neck. It reminds me of what could have been and what I fucked up and lost.
I can’t help but follow her movements as she drops down into a black car and takes off like a bat out of hell. My brows pull down. What happened to her Jeep? Though that reminds me; my Firebird is no longer sitting out on the lawn. It used to sit right outside Tully’s bedroom window, but all that’s there is the greenest grass Haven Falls has ever seen.
A longing instantly settles into my chest. She was so close but so far away and just the sight of me had her running.
Barely a moment has passed before Violet is dropping the train of Henley’s dress and is flying into me. Her arms are thrown wide and she collects me as though she was welcoming home her son. “Oh, Rivers,” she cries. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”
“And you have no idea how happy I am to be home.”
Henley catches my attention over Violet’s shoulder and I watch as she demands one of the boys to lift the vale over her head so she can focus a little better. They snap to it, basically fighting over who gets to do it and I have to laugh at the way that she’s still capable of ruling the people around her.
Henley was the queen of Haven Falls Private and I don’t doubt that she’s still the queen now.
Violet pulls back and steps out of my way. “How rude of me. Come in.”
I step over the threshold and get two steps past Violet when Henley crashes into me like a freight train. The wind is knocked out of me, but I suck it up and take it like a man because the sister I’ve hardly had the time to get to know is here with her arms wrapped around me and I couldn’t be happier.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she demands, pulling back to look up at me.
“Because I had no idea,” I tell her. “I was on a mission until two days ago…and well, shit never really goes how you think it will. I thought we were going to be out there for another month, but the second I knew we were done; I was on the first flight home. The rest of my unit are waiting at our base until tomorrow to fly home, but I knew if I left then and there, I could make it. I didn’t want to miss this, Henley. Not for the world.”
Her features soften and she smacks me across the chest. “Don’t make me cry. I don’t want to ruin my makeup.”
A voice clears in the room and we all look across to the two guys who I still can’t seem to place. “We’re going to head down to the ceremony and give you guys a little privacy.”
