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Dammit.
“So, you see how to get back to town,” he said, pointing out the window unnecessarily.
“Yeah. Easy.”
“Exactly.” He met her eyes. “You’re not stuck here.”
God, why did that feel like it had a whole bunch of extra meaning? Not only was she a City Girl and he knew better than to try to convince her to stay, but this onelegitimatelydidn’t want to be stuck on the bayou.
She wet her lips. “Okay.” She paused. Then said, “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
Before he said, or did, anything stupid—like kissing her and asking her if she’d take him on an airplane for the first time—he pulled the truck up onto the main road, whipped around, and started back down the dirt road he’d driven hundreds of time.
Back toward the cabin he loved, nestled along the bayou, where he could be alone, just outside the town where he’d spent most of his life and where he’d always planned to spend the remainder of it.
So why did he suddenly have the desire to see Mount Rushmore and the Golden Gate Bridge?
Fuck.
“Can I ask you a question?” Savannah asked after about two minutes of silence.
No. That seemed like a very bad idea.
“Okay.”
“Do you feel the same way about Autre, and the bayou, that my parents feel about New York? Is that why you never leave?”
Yeah, see, that was definitely a little confusing. He could relate to her parents. Not the fear part, but the I’ve-got-everything-I-need-right-here part. The idea that just beinghomewas where he was happiest and he didn’t need anything more.
Yet, he was fully Team Savannah in her story. He wantedherto have everything she wanted and fuck everyone who felt differently or was trying to hold her back.
He cleared his throat and shifted on his seat. “Yeah,” he finally said. “This is home. It’s got everythingIneed. I’ve never felt the desire to go anywhere else.”
He could feel her studying him, but he fought the urge to look over and make eye contact now.
“Your parents still live here in Autre?”
“No, actually.” He took a deep breath. “My brother was killed when we were teenagers. An explosion at the community center. A freak gas line leak. Killed several people. He was one of them. After that, my mom couldn’t stay here. And my dad had to go with her to keep the marriage together. They’re in North Carolina with her family—her mom and dad and siblings.”
Savannah was so quiet for so long, he had to look over.
“Oh my God, Theo, I didn’t know about any of that.” Her hand tightened on his. “I’m so sorry.”
He cleared his throat again. “Thanks. It was a long time ago, but it’s still hard sometimes. He’s a lot of the reason I don’t want to leave Autre. Every memory I have of him is here. This is where my family was whole and happy. Autre is woven into things like my love for the bayou, for football, for Christmas, for stargazing…all the things that make me thinkhome.I feel like none of that would feel right anywhere else. This place is so much a part of how I became who I am. And I’m—” He had to swallow as the words rushed up. “I’m hurt that my mom left so easily.”
He'd shared all of that with Kelsey too. He knew now that his love for Autre and her dislike for the little town would have always come between them and it was good she’d left before they’d done something more serious like get married, but at the time her distaste for his hometown had just hurt.
Savannah squeezed his hand again.
He coughed lightly, fighting down the lump of emotion. “But my friends here are like family. The Landrys were always like my family. This place just feels…right to me.”
Now he couldn’t look at her. She obviously felt differently about where she’d grown up. And that was fine. They didn’t have to agree on this.
But it bothered him that they didn’t. More than it should.
“Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon?” she asked.
