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After a moment of silence, I glanced at the phone to see if the call had ended. Nope, the call was connected. Maybe he didn’t hear me?
“Rhett, you there?” I asked.
“Uh—yeah.” It came out clipped, almost like he was upset.
“Is it okay to bring him?” I asked, suddenly worried. I thought Rhett enjoyed having him with us, but his tone implied something else. I held my breath, waiting for his response.
“It’s—fine. But I gotta get in the shower. See you in a few.”
“Okay,” I said a second before the line went dead.
Great. Moody Rhett was back. Mostly, everything seemed fine between us. But over the last week, he seemed distant or distracted, and even irritable at times. I tried not to read too much into it.
There were a lot of changes at work, and we were spending most days and then almost every night together, including nights with Brendan.
It didn’t bother me to have Brendan with us again. There would be other nights when his parents could babysit if we needed a date night. I nibbled on my bottom lip, wondering if Brendan was wearing on Rhett, and if he needed a break.
It shouldn’t be surprising. Rhett was used to nights alone. Even when he’d lived in the guest house, he spent one or two nights at home not walking over to see us. And since he’d moved out of his parents’ guest house, he’d had a lot of nights without Brendan.
But parents didn’t get to have regular nights off. So maybe that meant Rhett and I needed to slow down.
I put Brendan on his feet after lifting him out of the car, and he took off toward the porch and climbed up onto the swing. My feet pushed along the wood boards as I sat with him, swinging us back and forth.
“I could get used to this view,” Rhett said from where he leaned against the door frame.
My heart ached. Those three little words I’d been wanting to say for weeks were on the tip of my tongue. But I bit them back, unsure of whether he was ready to hear them.
“Come sit?” I asked instead as I patted the spot next to me.
He strode over and sat next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. We sat like that, the three of us swinging, while the sun started its descent.
“I should go start dinner.” He kissed my temple, then his eyes flicked to Brendan before he sighed.
Before he stood, I reached out my hand, placing it on his leg. “Hey, everything okay?”
“Yeah, I—” He paused, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I was hoping we could talk tonight…”
My eyes widened in surprise. It was never good when one person in a relationship wanted to “talk.” Before I could open my mouth to respond, he must have read the expression on my face.
“No, no—not like that. Notthatkind of talk.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Let me go make dinner and then we can try to talk while we eat.”
I nodded before saying, “Okay.”
I stared at his broad shoulders as he went inside and tried to shake the feeling that something was off.
I occupied Brendan while Rhett made veal parmesan. The smell permeating through the house was mouthwatering. I could hold my own in a kitchen, but Rhett’s skills blew me away every time.
“Motherfucker!” Rhett yelled loudly as something clattered to the floor.
“Fucker?” Brendan imitated as he held up a toy truck.
“Yes, baby. That’s a TR-uck.” Picking him up, I went into the kitchen and caught sight of Rhett running a finger under the water, a bloody knife lying on the floor.
“You alright? What happened?”
He glared at me like I was the reason he’d cut his finger. I put Brendan at the table with a few of his cars and walked over to Rhett.
“Here, let me see.” My fingers brushed his forearm for only a second before he yanked away from me.
