Rocked (The Everyday Heroes World) - Julia Wolf Page 0,99
his main nemesis breached the perimeter daily. Ellie and I sat on the front porch and watched our bad, bad dog’s antics.
I was sad. I missed Devon. I got pissed every time I thought of his shitty offer. And my heart was still shattered. But life wasn’t so terrible. I had my girl, my dog, my best friend...I had a lot. Not what I wanted, not who I wanted, but my sorrows wouldn’t drown me. My loves were the buoy that would always keep me afloat.
“I’m going to go inside and find a snack,” Ellie said.
“Okay, just don’t eat too much. I’m making tacos.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Duh, it’s Tuesday.” Then she disappeared inside.
Leroy started sniffing around at the edge of the trees, then his head popped up and ears perked. Before I could stop him, he charged through the brush. I yelled his name, telling him to get his furry butt back in our yard. The new tenants were probably trying to get settled, only to have my canine maniac intruding.
“Leroy, get back here now or no carrots for dessert!”
To my surprise, he came back, tongue waggling and a big ol’ smile on his face. He stopped right in front of me and placed his paw on my knee.
“Good boy. I can’t believe you listened. I didn’t even have to scream myself hoarse.”
Something stuck out from beneath his collar. My stomach clenched when I slid out the piece of folded notebook paper.
Lady,
The only thing I regret is walking away without promising to come back. I won’t make that mistake again. How are you?
Yours,
The really fucking sorry idiot next door who didn’t know how to ask for what he wanted
Devon stood at the edge of my yard, eyes on me as I read his note. He looked the same, fancy-ass sneakers, designer-ripped jeans, cotton T-shirt that cost more than my entire wardrobe, cool-as-hell sunglasses on the top of his head, and that made me angry. Why wasn’t he a mess? I was. Sure, I got dressed, did my thing, but my insides felt like someone had held a rager and hadn’t bothered to clean up. Devon’s stubble should’ve been less artful. Maybe he could have had red-rimmed eyes or a stain on his shirt from wiping away his tears.
But no.
He showed back up looking like the rock star he was, and that pissed me off even more.
He took long strides across the lawn, stopping in front of me before I could conjure up words. I stood so I didn’t feel like a meek little girl sitting at his feet.
“How are you?” he asked.
“Fine. What are you doing here?”
His eyes roamed over my face like he hadn’t seen me in years, not a week. “I’m here for you.”
He said it like it was simple, but it didn’t enter my heart simply. Those four words were like an arrow, piercing straight through me, then spreading their hooks to anchor themselves on my organs. I felt them in my chest, so hot, they burned.
I cleared my thickly coated throat. “I’m sorry you’ve come all this way then. I don’t want to see you.”
He seemed to shrink at that. “Kat...Lady...I know I fucked up, but I’m not leaving.”
I was too stunned to stop him from skimming his knuckles down my cheek.
“I’m here now. I’m in the cottage for a week, but I’m looking for a permanent place to lay down roots.”
I frowned. “You have a house. Two, I think.”
He shook his head. “That’s not where I want to be.”
“You want to be here?” To say I was shocked was putting it mildly. Devon had never so much as hinted he wanted to move to Sunnyville. That wasn’t something I’d forget him saying.
“I do. You once told me to find where I fit—”
“When you were rock climbing.”
His mouth quirked as he chuckled. “Yeah…well, the thing is, I fit here, Kat. This town is where I want to spend my days. It’s where I want to come home to after a tour. The stars are what I want to see when I’m falling asleep at night. I finally found a place where I can breathe and gain some footing. So yeah, I’m staying, because this is where I fit.”
Not because he loved me. Not because he couldn’t live without seeing me and Ellie every day. No, it was because he liked this town. He probably liked me too, but not with the same depth and longing I held for him.