Bonus Scene
“I wasn’t expecting to come here when you said date night.” Evelyn stares at her aunt’s house from the passenger seat of my Jeep without moving.
“We’re only stopping by for a minute.”
Hesitance mars her expression. Despite Evelyn becoming closer to her Aunt Pat, her aunt remains a recluse and can still be as unwelcoming and indifferent as she was when we were kids.
“I didn’t realize you two were at the stage where you make plans together.” Sarcasm twists her lips.
“You should know I move fast.”
A laugh bursts through her lips, making my chest warm as I negate telling her that the text I received from her aunt didn’t constitute making plans or even conversation, considering I’d asked her if we could come by later this week, and she promptly replied with ‘no.’
I’m not sure her aunt ever liked me, but after I fucked up and allowed fear to lead my anger and blame when Griffin went missing, she’s liked me even less.
I don’t blame her.
I know how badly I messed up and intend to grovel as long as Evelyn allows me to remain a constant in her life. I’m hoping that’s forever.
“Come on,” I say, opening my own door, hoping it will prompt Evelyn to follow. Despite hell month being over and football practices becoming more structured, my schedule is still packed, and Evelyn has her own class schedule as well as a new job that has us sometimes not seeing each other until one of us is climbing into the other’s bed.
She sucks in a deep breath and slips out on her side of the Jeep.
Her side.
She now has a space in every part of my life, ranging from my closet to my bed to drawers in my bathroom—she’s everywhere, and that’s precisely where I want her. Everywhere. I’ve staked claims in her spaces as well. The apartment she and Mila moved into has more square footage than most houses, and we’ve been spending more time there, creating yet another routine and pattern.
I take Evelyn’s hand, threading our fingers, and lead her around the side of the house to the fenced-in backyard.
The dogs begin barking as soon as I open the gate. Aunt Pat is sitting in the middle of the garden, the one she claimed she didn’t want and wouldn’t help care for when Evelyn, Mila, and Griff began working on it, reclaiming the space that had been her grandma’s labor of love.
“Did you close the gate?” Aunt Pat asks, reaching for her coffee mug.
I nod as Evelyn voices that we did.
Aunt Pat nods and taps the table with her fingers. “This will only take a minute.”
Evelyn glances at me, her hesitancy so strong I feel it as though it’s my own emotion. I don’t know what makes the connection between Evelyn and me so potent that sometimes it feels like we can travel between each other’s thoughts, but it’s something I’ve never shared with anyone else and has me knowing we’re meant to be together. Whether it’s destiny, fate, or soul mates, or all of the above—Evelyn is mine.
I set my hand on Evelyn’s lower back as a show of my support and pull out a patio chair for her. She’s wearing a navy-blue and white patterned skirt and navy-blue tank top that has stolen my attention a hundred times since she emerged from her bathroom, ready for our date.
Aunt Pat slides a sheath of papers to Evelyn.
“What’s this?” she asks.
“A copy of my will. Since you’re my executor, they mentioned you should have a copy.” She coughs, and it’s all gravel and decades of smoking.
Evelyn’s gaze jumps to mine again and then rebounds to her aunt. “I’m…” She swallows. Shakes her head. “Are you okay? Is everything…”
Aunt Pat waves a hand dismissively. “I’m fine. I plan to outlive half the people in this neighborhood, including that clown who wants to buy this place.” She points at the house with a slightly crooked finger and coughs again. “But you should still have a copy since the house and everything else will be yours one day.”
Shock flits across Evelyn’s features.
“But it won’t be soon,” Aunt Pat adds. “I’m finally starting to like this place, and we all know how stubborn I can be once I make my mind up about something.”
A dry laugh passes through Evelyn’s lips. “I hope I don’t have to move in for another fifty years or more.”
“Move in? This will be your weekend or vacation home. Trust me, he’ll be buying you a home way fancier than this, with whatever details your heart desires.” She leans back, fondness reflected in her eyes as she looks over her niece. “Maybe one close by if I’m lucky enough.” She turns to look at me, then. “Won’t you?” There’s no challenge in her words, only acceptance and what I think is understanding.
I glance down at Evelyn and nod. “Absolutely.”
Evelyn holds my stare for several long seconds, hearing the sincerity in my words that I mean as an oath.
“That’s all I need you for. My show starts in fifteen minutes, so I have to get going.” She plants both hands on the table and stands before collecting her mug. “I’ll see you Wednesday for lunch?” Her gaze dances to mine again. “Both of you?”
Evelyn nods. “We’ll see you then.”
Aunt Pat nods and then calls the dogs and heads inside without looking back.
Evelyn stares at the back door and then glances at me. “I don’t know how to feel about this.”
I slip my hand around her shoulders and pull her close. “Like you said, you probably have another fifty years or longer.” I’m only half jesting. Aunt Pat is as strong-willed as they come.
Evelyn turns, taking in the garden and view of Lake Oleander that many covet. “Do you remember when we talked about living here at this house one day?”
“We were going to build a tunnel between our houses so Griffin could visit.”
Her smile is so wide her teeth flash. “You remember.”
“I remember everything.” I brush a kiss against her temple.
“Would you want to move here? I mean, would you want to be neighbors with your dad and my aunt?”
“You’re my home,” I tell her. “I want to be wherever you go. So if you want to live here, we can absolutely buy a house and spend the off-season trying to beat records at our own place.” I wrap my hand around her waist and pull her against me so our bodies are flush. “Some of which would involve just you and me and all kinds of filthy things.”
Desire flares in her hazel eyes. “Those are my favorite kind.”
I swallow a groan and lean forward to kiss her as I think of this morning and how I had her up against the shower in her apartment. The memory of her palms pressed against the white tiles and her back arched as I gripped her hips and thrust inside of her has me aching to do it again.
“We should go,” I say, trying to remind myself that though we’ve known each other nearly our entire lives, this chapter of our relationship is new, and I have plans to sweep her off her feet and keep proving why I’m the right guy for her and that staying here was the right choice.
Evelyn kisses me again and then tucks herself under my arm—right where she belongs. The rightness of her beside me practically consumes me as I lead her to my Jeep, opening the passenger door for her.
We compare our schedules for the week, finding all our spare moments and making plans to connect for them. Then, we fill in the blank spaces from the past week and the time spent apart. She tells me about how much she’s enjoying working at The Spiced Chai, the small coffee shop next to campus, how Mila, Griffin, and her have begun planning her first autumn here in Oleander Springs–and all the things she wants to see and experience. I tell her about football, our upcoming game that has me more nervous than I want to admit because the team will be looking at and relying on me as their captain.
I pull up to the valet at the Banks Hotel and Luxury Resort, located a half hour south of us in the heart of downtown.
Evelyn looks across at me. “What are we doing here?”
“Recreating our night at the beach,” I tell her. “Only with a nicer hotel and better food.”
“I loved that night,” she says, the edge of offensiveness lacing her voice and flattening her brow.
Someone opens her door before I can respond. I pop the back before getting out of my seat in time to pass over my keys to the valet.
Evelyn’s look of surprise turns into shock as I round to the back and withdraw the suitcase I packed for both of us. Inside is the Honeybun shirt she got from the dinner across the street from our motel. After all, not everything about that night needs to be improved.
“But you have practice in the morning,” she says.
I shake my head. The extra drive in the morning is at the bottom of my list of concerns. “Grey’s coming by to get me in the morning. You can drive my Jeep back when you wake up.”
She glances at the suitcase at my side.
“Come on. We have a dinner reservation in twenty minutes.” I reach for her hand.
The valet pulls away in my Jeep as we step onto the sidewalk. I lead Evelyn inside, where she stares around in amazement. “This place is definitely nicer than our motel.”
“This won’t replace that first night,” I assure her. “I don’t want it to. That was the first night since we were kids that I got to fall asleep and wake up with you beside me, and I realized then that I wanted to do that for the rest of my life. I plan to recreate that night with you a million times in a million hotels spread over a million cities.”
Her eyes soften, shining with happiness.
“This is just the beginning,” I tell her. “The beginning of our forever.”
