And I was woman enough to admit when enough was enough. We were both at fault in this. I didn’t need him to come to me. He always came to me. Maybe it was my turn …
“Is he home right now? Or is he at the shop?” My voice raced with a nervous energy. I pressed the torn pages against my chest and stepped closer, nearly begging, “Do you know where is?”
Brian’s mouth lifted in the corner after hearing me, which I thought was a little strange but I didn’t have a chance to tell him that.
“It’s Sunday. Where do you think he is?” Brian asked, shoulders lifting casually. Then the other half of his mouth curled up and he gave me that before turning around and stepping outside. The door shut behind him.
I blinked, sniffled, and wiped at my face.
It was Sunday. Sunday was family dinner. I knew that. And Jamie never missed one of those, not unless he was away and Brian would have told me if he was.
My stomach tensed and warmed all over. My skin tingled. I was so close to making this right. To getting my guy back. I couldn’t help it, I smiled. My first smile in nine days.
I knew it. We weren’t going to make it to ten.
Realizing where I was headed, I folded those torn pages back up, set them on the table Jamie had replaced for me, and immediately got to work in the kitchen.
Never in my life would I ever show up to family dinner without a dish.
* * *
Using my elbow since my hands were full, I rang the doorbell at Brian and Syd’s place and stood on the porch, waiting. The November air cooled my cheeks.
I needed that. I was nervous. Freaking out, if I was being honest. My smile was long gone. I had no idea how Jamie was going to receive me. But that didn’t mean I hadn’t done everything in my power to appear ready for this.
I was completely dolled up, wearing full makeup, my hair curled more than usual and styled in a twist so it was half pulled back, and one of my cutest outfits—an oversized cable knit sweater, leggings, which weren’t cute but I knew how Jamie felt about them, and my brown knee-high boots that had a substantial heel.
I never dressed this fancy coming over here. It was Sunday dinner. We were all just hanging out. I’d even wear my uniform sometimes if I was coming straight from work.
But it had been nine days. Nine. Days.
Nine days called for fancy.
I had parked behind Jamie’s Jeep, so I knew he was here, and being this close to him, this close to possibly fixing things and making things right, was causing my stomach to flip-flop and my heart to batter and the pulse point in my throat to pound.
I was fine back at the house getting ready and on the drive over here, but now, all of a sudden, standing on this porch, I was terrified. What if I couldn’t fix this? What if it was too late? It had been nine days. Nine days of me not going to him. What if Jamie didn’t want to hear me out now? Brian said he was miserable, but what if he was angry, too?
The door swung open just as panic soaked into my bones and settled.
Syd filled the doorway. She tilted her head with a soft smile and reached out her hand.
“Hey, sweetie. Come on in. You’re just in time,” She pulled me inside the house and reached around me to close the door. I looked around.
We were the only ones in the living room. Voices were coming from the kitchen. I assumed dinner had either started already or was just about to start.
Stepping closer, her fingers wrapped around my elbow. “He’s going to be so happy to see you,” Syd leaned in to say.
I felt my stomach clench as a lump formed in my throat. “I don’t know,” I whispered my worry, looking into my best girl’s eyes as I felt that panic sink deeper and deeper until it folded in around my heart and saturated it. “What if he doesn’t want to talk to me? What if it’s too late?”
She gave my elbow a squeeze. Her eyes were gentle.
“It won’t be. He loves you,” she stated. “He’s loved you forever.”
Instantly, in that second, I broke down. My head fell forward and I began quietly sobbing, mindful of the pie in my hands.
It had been nearly a year, not forever, and I knew Jamie hadn’t loved me for the whole thing, but hearing forever got me thinking about how long I’d fought him. How much time I’d wasted and how much of it I’d ruined and those nine stupid days.
Our love felt like a forever’s worth. A lifetime.
And I couldn’t stop overreacting and messing things up.
“Shh, Tori, it’s okay,” Syd tried to sooth me, moving her hand to my back and rubbing there. “That pie looks really good. Is it strawberry rhubarb?”
I nodded as my shoulders quaked, keeping my head down and my eyes shut. “I think Jamie really likes it,” I whimpered. “He ate a lot of it before.”
“Yeah? I think he does, too,” she replied, a smile in her voice. “Right, Jamie? You like strawberry rhubarb, don’t you?”
A sob caught in my throat. I trapped it there along with my breath, then I peeked my eyes open and slowly lifted my head to see everyone standing in the living room now, everyone except Shay, who had to work tonight. Our typical Sunday night crowd was here. They’d heard me and walked in from the kitchen.
Brian and Jenna and her adorable twins, Oliver and Olivia. Kali and Cole, who was holding her son, Cameron, and looking really comfortable doing that, which I wanted to ask about but couldn’t think on at the moment. And Jamie. He was standing in front of me with his too-long hair and bright blue eyes and more shadow on his face than usual. He hadn’t shaved in days. Maybe nine. I wasn’t sure. And he was wearing dark layered Henley thermals and faded jeans, just like the first day I saw him.