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He was glad he had spent the day with her. Because if this morning had been his dominant memory of her, her half-naked, he didn’t think he would’ve gotten back on equal footing with her quite as quickly.
But they had spent the whole day together. And while there had been a little bit of conflict, everything felt more normal on the drive back.
Things were just a particular kind of hard right now. He understood that. He understood that it was just a moment of change, in the world in general, not between the two of them.
That was the thing to remember.
There were other things happening. And his reacting to seeing her in her underwear wasn’t really about her, but about the changes. Yeah. That seemed about right.
They drove back to Four Corners, and for the first time Charity got into the driver’s seat.
“Bye,” she said.
“Yeah. See you.”
She nodded. “See you.”
His eyes dropped to her lips.
And time got slower.
He didn’t do that. Didn’t pause to look at her mouth. He just looked at her face. Her familiar face. Then right then he was zeroed in on that mouth.
He raised his eyes back to hers. “Bye, Charity.”
He turned and walked into the house, went straight down the hall and turned on the shower. He made sure to keep it ice-cold while he stood under the spray.
And when he got into bed, he did it frozen. For a damned good reason.
CHAPTER TEN
BYRONWASHERE. She was so grateful that he was finally here, rather than living in anticipation of it.
She had decided that some of her issue was being in this sort of middle ground with him and their relationship. He was almost here, but he wasn’t here yet. She had decisions to make about what she was going to do, whether or not she was going to move. Whether or not he was going to decide that they should be here. Yeah. There was just a lot of stuff. And she was feeling very grateful that at least something was moving itself into the done column. He was here. So there wasn’t simply anticipation.
He texted to let her know that his plane had landed and that he would be driving out to her place soon.
She had decided to cook dinner for the two of them for the evening, because she knew already that he didn’t particularly like the atmosphere of Smokey’s. They could go to the café, but that wasn’t the nicest, either. So she thought maybe he would like a roast chicken dinner.
When the rental car pulled into the driveway, she fixed a smile on her face. She was excited that he was here. She was.
She opened up the front door and stepped out of the house and for some reason he gave her a strange sense of déjà vu. When Lachlan had driven up for their dinner last week—the way that anticipation had filled her. The way that she had smiled without trying. She frowned.
She didn’t need to go thinking of that. It had nothing to do with this.
Byron unfolded his lanky frame from the driver’s seat and pushed his brown hair off his forehead. He was wearing tan trousers and a pale blue button-up shirt tucked in.
“I’m so glad to see you,” she said as relief burst through her chest. She had said it. And it was true enough. And that was good.
She crossed the drive and opened up her arms, and he did the same, accepting a quick, gentle hug.
“It’s been too long,” he said, his smile kind and reassuring and familiar—in spite of the time that had passed since they’d been together in person.
“It has.”
She didn’t know what it should feel like to be in person with the man she was supposed to marry, and she wondered if it was this.
“Come on inside,” she said. “I made chicken. I thought we might enjoy dinner together.”
