AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Twice, I’ve rung the doorbell, and still no answer. I know my parents have ears that work, and they have an entire house staff.
So they’re ignoring me.
Should I ring it again? Hell, should I even be here?
I look down at the new brown boat shoes I bought for this… and I have to try.
Cade was right.
It’s been two months since I’ve seen her. Two months since she gave me and Redix her blessing. We were so shocked we didn’t know what to do with it.
At first, we sulked and grieved her in our own ways. He went back to his life; I went back to mine.
I miss waking up to her. I miss her empty candy boxes lying around. I miss my fishing buddy.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, Redix called to apologize, talking like Cade ending us was his fault, saying he felt bad like he was ruining my life, too.
I don’t see it that way.
Cade and I were on borrowed time.
And I know what she means about figuring out who you are when you’re not loving someone else. I did it for so long with Charlie; maybe I don’t know either. It’s not to say that I didn’t love Alec, too. I did. I still do. But I’ve never known an adult minute when I haven’t been in love with someone else or searching for it.
Redix called to apologize, which turned into a meeting on the boat the next day. He did buy it, and I spent three hours showing him all its bells and whistles.
It was three long hours because I wanted to say more, but I didn’t. Neither did he. It’s like talking about Cade hurt too much. I can see it wearing him down. Like he misses her so much. I do, too.
I walk around like there’s a bruise on my heart. It must feel like a sledgehammer smashed his.
We ignored her blessing, though she meant it. I knew it by the look in her eyes. It’s like she wasn’t hurt at all by us. This was what she needed to heal, too. To not be with anyone.
What Redix and I needed in those hours was painfully obvious, but we didn’t act on it. No, we let a friendship build though attraction cracked between us, but we just laughed, especially when he came in too hot with the boat into the slip and about wrecked the damn thing.
That was funny.
And when he yanked his shirt off and jumped in the water because it was hot as hell for April, that was just hot. I caressed the throttle knob watching as he climbed aboard dripping wet, and I had to turn my head.
At any gala, I’d be proud to show up with a man like Redix on my arm. Not because he’s Redix Dean and a celebrity folks drool over.
It’s because I wish I could be more like him.
Yes, my love is big. I don’t believe in limits or rules. But Redix loves deep. Deeper than I’ve ever known, and there’s no doubt he loves Cade more than most people have ever had to prove.
I huff, staring at the haint blue ceiling of my parents’ grand front porch. Because Cade may be gone, but her calling bullshit on me still rings in my ears.
I haven’t been free. I’ve been trapped, needing the one thing I’d really like—my parents’ love.
How many minutes pass, I don’t know. But I hear honey bees swarming by the edge of the porch. A lawn mower buzzes in the distance. My shoes shuffle over the porch rug with a pineapple on it and…
No one’s answering.
At least I tried.
I turn to tread back down the stairs, out to my truck parked in the circular drive. It looks like a jalopy in front of this mansion. I grin; why the fuck not?
“Wait!” The voice turns me back as my mom swings the door open. “Sunshine, please wait.” That’s what she called me when I was a boy because I was “so happy and bright,” she used to say.
