With All My Heart - Emilia Finn Page 0,26

declare. “I want the next one.”

Chapter 9

Bryan

Two weeks, fourteen more puking sessions, two poops in the bath, and twelve hours of driving our packed to the brim car halfway across the country with a whiny toddler and a carsick wife, we drive across the train tracks leading back into town, and like this place gives us life, all three of us take a deep breath as we roll onto Main street, then we let it out like a cleanse.

This is home.

This is where I met her.

This is where I saw her for the first time.

This is where I declared her mine before she ever knew I existed.

Home is where the heart is?

Nelly Kincaid, formerly Chantelle Robertson, is my heart.

My home is wherever she is.

“It’s like nothing’s changed.” Face-aching smile, Nelly stares into every storefront we slowly pass. “Jonah’s is still here.” She turns to me with a grin. “You know, his son asked me out one time in high school.”

Playful anger in the back of my throat, I hum, “Just like old times… Heads are gonna meet the bricks.”

She laughs and smacks my thigh, but she’s fooling herself if she thinks I don’t expect it. If she thinks I wouldn’t shoot my hand down and clasp hers.

Bringing it to my lips, I nibble on her knuckles. “We haven’t been here since the day you turned eighteen.” I glance her way. “You weren’t married yet. But you are now. Seems to me, I better make up a sign for the yard or something. Mine, all mine.”

She smiles and lays her head back against the headrest. “No need for signs. People knew I was yours before I knew I was yours.”

“Yeah they did.”

“Oh!” She sits up with a wide grin. “I wonder if Shane’s still around? He’s probably still waiting for me to turn up to dinner. We should catch up.”

Pulling a U-Turn in the wide street, I head back the way we come.

“What are you doing?” Frowning, she turns and looks back to Main. “Where are we going?”

“Leaving before I kill Shane Turdsky. Fuck it. Geo can come to us.”

“No!” She laughs and turns back to the front. “Stop. Turn around and go back. I will divorce you if you make us drive all the way back again.”

“No Turdsky, woman.”

“I was kidding! Geez, Bry.”

I know she was. I know she’s blind to other men. But it’s my role to play; gruff and possessive. It’s who she married. It’s who she loves.

The problem is, the woman I married is ridiculously beautiful, and completely oblivious to the hungry gaze of every man she passes.

Turning the car around in a wide arc on the almost empty street, Bobby giggles, and Nelly’s poor face turns green. “Don’t do that anymore, Bry. Let’s just park and get out before I hurl.”

“Sorry, babe. Two minutes and we’ll be there. Promise.”

“No Shane. I’m sorry for teasing.”

I take her hand and bring it to my lips. “I know. I was playing, too. Let’s go crash Geo’s place. Let Bobby tear it up, and make Geo watch him for ten minutes while I fuck you and make you forget you’re not feeling well.”

The fact she’s pregnant means I get nine months – well, seven, now – where I don’t have to be careful. Where I can come inside my wife. Where I don’t have to spill my seed between her tits.

Not that I don’t enjoy that, too.

“Can you stop saying those things in front of him? He’s going to remember.”

I look in the rearview mirror and watch my son toss little brick blocks out the window like they were a trail of bread crumbs.

Jesus Christ.

I’m gonna have to come out later and collect the damn things. I can’t do it now. My poor green wife will kill me if I stop and start and keep swinging the car around.

“He won’t remember, Bert. He’s not listening to us.” I pull around the end of Main and head toward Geo’s apartment. “Are you excited?”

She shrugs easily, but I know she’s nervous.

It’s been a long time since we were last here.

We’re not teenagers anymore.

I’m a married man.

A dad.

Soon to have another baby.

Shit’s changed since I last knew my best friend.

Pulling into the parking lot out front of Geo’s apartment block, I switch off the ignition and turn in my seat. Meeting Nelly’s eyes, I pull her shaking hand into my lap. “Hey. This’ll be great. I promise.”

She nods shakily.

“You trust me, right?”

She nods again and traps her bottom lip between her teeth.

I frown