by Diana Gardin
“Oh, that sounds more like it.” Hunter reached into the bed of the truck to grab two duffels. “They put the help in the outhouse.”
Sam laughed. “Wait until you see it. It’s far from an outhouse.”
Ever and Hunter exchanged a look that he couldn’t decipher. That was new. Usually he and Ever were sharing looks Hunter didn’t understand. Now that he’d been away, he was out of the loop and his stomach rolled uncomfortably in response. What was he missing here?
He led them through the wooded grounds until he reached the front door of the tack house. He opened it wide and grabbed Ever’s bag to carry inside with him.
Shutting the door behind them after they entered, Sam gestured around him grandly.
“My accommodations,” he intoned in a grand, formal voice.
“Wow.” Ever stared around her with wide eyes. “Sam, this is…this isn’t what I expected. I mean, from your letters and what Hunter told me, I knew you were living well here. But this crazy-ass estate and this cozy little house…I just don’t know. It’s wild.”
“But you like it, right?” Sam pinned her with imploring eyes. “You can stay, Ever. You can stay with me if you want to. I have a job here and everything.”
“Sam…” she began and then stopped.
She glanced over at Hunter, as if at a loss for the right words. She perched on the end of the couch.
The feeling that he was missing a large piece of a puzzle crept along Sam’s spine. His gaze swept to his brother as he raised his brows. Hunter met his eyes, and Sam fought to comprehend the warring emotions battling in his eyes.
“What are we doing tonight?” Hunter cleared his throat, and Sam embraced the shift in subject.
“We’re going to just order some dinner and relax. You guys have had a long drive and I know you’re probably tired. Then tomorrow I thought we’d go on over to the beach and hang out during the day, just the three of us. Tomorrow night we’re going to a bar with some people I’ve met here. They’re the real deal. You’re going to love them.”
Ever stood, and Sam took a second to reabsorb every detail of her into his brain. “Okay, then. I’m, um, going to take a shower. Can you show me where it is, Sam?”
He nodded, grasping her hand and leading her into his bedroom. Something was off, something he couldn’t fathom. She wasn’t reacting the way he’d expected her to after their long separation.
“This is your room,” she said, biting her bottom lip.
“Yeah.” He pulled her around to look at him. As he stared into her jade green eyes, he was reminded of another pair of eyes he’d stared into recently. In those blue pools he was frozen solid, barely able to take in air. He shook his head, drawing a deep breath.
“Ever,” he began. “Something’s wrong here. I’ve been thinking about you all the time. I think N.I. would be a good place for us to start over together. I like it here.”
He tamped down the fact that although he missed her, she was bringing up emotions he had been able to bury deep inside him while he’d been living in Nelson Island. Seeing her was doing things to his soul. Things he hadn’t realized he had enclosed tightly in a glass jar. Ever was opening the lid and letting it all out again.
“I can see that,” she answered. “But now that my daddy’s gone, Sam, I like Duck Creek.”
He stared at her, horrified. “You like Duck Creek? Ever, no. We hate Duck Creek.”
She shrugged. “It’s my home. My daddy dragged me through hell and back again, but he’s gone now. Everything has changed. It’s like I’ve woken up after a long nightmare, and the sun has broken through the clouds for the first time.”
All of that had happened while Sam was gone. He didn’t miss the fact that she was healing, and it was without him.
And, he realized, he was healing as well.
“But you know I can’t ever go back to Duck Creek.”
She sighed. “I know.”
He stared at her, utter confusion controlling his features.
“Let me take a shower,” she said. “We’ll have some dinner and have a good time tomorrow. We don’t need to worry over details right now.”
She entered the bathroom and closed the door gently behind her.
“Hell,” he muttered. “It’s going to be a long night.”
He went back out to the living room and sat on the couch beside Hunter, sprawling back against the cushions with his legs splayed. Hunter, a slightly smaller version of Sam with dark blond hair and hazel eyes, reached over and patted his back roughly.
“I missed you, dude. Ever did, too.”
“Then why does everything feel so wrong between us? Shit. Ever is all I’ve known my whole damn life. If she and I can’t figure things out now, I don’t know what I’ll do. I don’t know how to live without her.”
“Yes, you do,” Hunter said softly. “You’re doing it.”
They had a quiet dinner of pizza and sweet tea, and Sam began pulling out blankets for the couch.
“Hunt, I’ll make up the couch for you to sleep. This place isn’t big enough for a guestroom.”
Hunter nodded, his expression cloudy. “What about Ever?”
Sam glanced at Ever. “We’ve slept together a lot of nights. I’m sure we’ll make it.”
Ever nodded. She pushed off the couch and slipped into Sam’s room. Sam could see her through the door held ajar, rifling through her suitcase.
“Hey,” Hunter said, reaching out and grabbing hold of Sam’s arm. “Take it slow with her, man.”
Sam stared at him with unblinking eyes. “I’d never do anything different, Hunter.”
He followed Ever into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.
When he turned to face the room, Ever was in the bathroom bent over the sink, brushing her teeth. Sam leaned against the doorjamb, watching her complete the normal, mundane task with a growing sense that everything was not normal and mundane.
“Feeling the effects of the long trip?” he asked her when she was done.
She nodded, squeezing past him to the bedroom and climbing up onto the big, four-poster bed. Her sleep shorts and tank top were different from what she used to sleep in, Sam noticed.
She used to sleep in his football jersey, or a T-shirt that belonged to him.
He reached up and absently tugged on his earlobe, and Ever’s face broke out into the first true smile she’d demonstrated since arriving.
“Still got your nervous tic, I see,” she said with a grin.
He smiled wryly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m never nervous.”
She scooted over on the bed and patted the place next to her.
He stripped off his shirt and climbed into bed with his sweatpants still on. He stared at the ceiling, hands folded over his chest.
“Ever,” he said softly. The pleading in his voice couldn’t be hidden. “Are we going to be okay?”
“One way or another, yeah.” Her voice was equally soft, but firm. “We’ll both be okay, Sam.”
When he glanced in her direction, she was staring straight up at the ceiling, her body tense. He could sense the distance between them, even though she lay right beside him. He reached out to caress her hand, rolling her palm over and clasping her fingers in his. Rolling over on his side, he brought it to his lips.
She squeezed his hand in return, and then sat up. “We’ve been together for as long as I can remember. It’s always just been me, you, and Hunter…against the world.”
He nodded, turning his head to face her. “That’s never going to change.”
“Isn’t it, though? I feel like the minute you left, everything changed. Taking you out of Duck Creek was like flipping a switch. You seem happy here.”
“I am happy…and you could be, too. You just need to give it a chance. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it.”
She sighed, a soft breath in the darkness. “I fell in love with you, Sam. Before I even knew what love was. We had to fight for every breath, and we made it th
rough to the other side. Now…I don’t know where we go from here.”
The sadness in her voice was slicing a crack through his heart. Everything shouldn’t be this difficult now. They should now have a clear path to happiness. Why didn’t they?
“I’m going to the bathroom,” she said.
He refrained from pointing out that she’d just been in the bathroom. His tongue should be bloody, due to the number of times he’d bitten it since his brother and his girlfriend had arrived.
“Okay.” He yawned instead.
While she was gone, his eyes drifted closed as he tried to picture the countless nights they’d spent together sleeping on his bed after she’d crawled through his window. As he wondered how they’d gotten so far away from that easy comfort, he fell asleep. And didn’t open his eyes again until the next morning, when all that was next to him in his bed was the dent where Ever had slept.
“Ouch!” Ever screamed, hopping from one foot to the other. “This sand is freaking hot as fire!”
Sam laughed, watching her hoppy little dance as they stepped onto the sand.
“It’s supposed to be hot,” he explained, attempting to smother his laughter. “It’s the beach.”
She glared at him. “I think I hate it!”
They trudged closer to the waves rolling in and set up a little camp with chairs and towels. Sam settled into a lounge chair and sighed.
“No one hates the beach.”
Ever, continuing to dart irritated looks in his direction, sat on a beach towel and pulled her knees into her chest.
“So now what?” she asked.
“Now I think we’re supposed to relax,” Hunter offered.
Ever heaved a sigh and stared out at the water.
“You can’t deny that’s beautiful, right?” Sam asked, tugging her long red hair gently between his fingers.
“I guess.” She never took her eyes off the waves. “I’m not going in that water though. There’s probably sharks in there.”
This time Hunter was the one who burst into laughter. “Sharks? Only in the movies, Ev.”
They sat on the beach for an hour, just talking and watching the waves and the people. Then, Sam stood.
“Do you want to take a walk with me?” he asked Ever.
She eyed his outstretched hand. “Walk? On the sand?”
A smile tugged the corner of his lips, but he managed to keep an otherwise straight face. “Yeah.”
“All right.” She stood carefully and tested her feet on the sand.
“It’s not as hot the closer we get to the water.” Sam beckoned with his outstretched hand. “Come on.”
He pulled her off of her towel and they began to move away from their spot on the sand and toward some of the small hotels farther down the beach.
“Don’t you love it here?” Sam asked her quietly. He didn’t understand how she could deny the beauty of the place, even if she was attached to their hometown.
“I can see that you love it here.” Her answer was careful and pointed.
Sam heaved a sigh.
“Look, Sam,” she began. “I just don’t know where I’d fit in. You seem to have started this whole great new life here, and it’s without me. It’s kind of surreal. And I’ve started a great new life back in Duck Creek. I even have a new friend. Besides you and Hunt, I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend. My eyes are open to things now they weren’t before because of…you know.”
“Yeah, I know.” Sam sighed. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close to his side. “We’ll figure it out. I promise.”
After a few hours on the beach, they headed home to shower and have dinner so they’d be ready for the night ahead of them at Sunny’s. Sam couldn’t wait to introduce them to his friends. It was Reed introducing him to the crew at Sunny’s and the laid-back atmosphere he’d found inside the quirky little beachside bar that had put him on the path to comfort in this new place. He knew Hunter and Ever would really fall in love with the whole group.
How could they not?
Eleven
Six Years Previously in Duck Creek
Sam carried his lunch tray to a table brimming with his friends. His usual seat next to Ever was empty and waiting for him. He sat, and she smiled over at him as she tore open her carton of milk and took a sip.
Sam inspected her. He had walked her to school this morning in their usual routine, but he wanted to make sure her bruises were fading.
He silently questioned her with his eyes, and she shrugged in return.
“Hey,” Chris said from across the table. “You guys coming to homecoming tonight or what?”
“I never go to dances, you know that,” answered Sam.
“We know.” Chris’s girlfriend, Julie, rolled her eyes. “But what about Ever? Maybe she’s sick of sitting them all out.”
He glanced at Ever, whose face was blushing a furious crimson.
Sam chewed his bite of mac and cheese slowly. “I don’t get it. Why do you think I would be holding Ever back from attending a dance?”
Ever suddenly pushed back from the table and ran from the cafeteria. Sam stared after her, a bite of food halfway to his mouth.
“What am I missing?” he asked.
Julie shot him a death glare from across the table.
“You’re so clueless, Sam. You and Eve…you two are such a couple. No one takes care of her like you do. Why haven’t you taken it to the next level?”
Disbelief and shock imploded Sam’s world as he stared at Julie. A couple? He and Ever? That wasn’t…oh, shit.
Did Ever want more than what he was giving her?
Without another word to the group, he pushed himself back from the table and left the cafeteria. He walked out of the school’s big double doors and spotted Ever a few feet away, sitting alone on a bench.
He paused, just taking a breath as he watched her. Slowly, he walked over to her. “What’s up, Ev?”
She didn’t glance up at him as she sniffled. She rubbed her nose with a tissue, and stayed silent.
Her tears prickled his heart. She cried enough. He never wanted to be the cause of her tears. Never. He sat next to her on the bench and leaned into her until his shoulder bumped hers. Then he placed an arm around her and stared out into the parking lot.
“I messed up, didn’t I?” he asked softly. “You want more, don’t you?”
She turned to look at him. And he looked back at her, really looked at her, for the first time.
He noted how long and silky her thick auburn hair had gotten; he found that her cheeks weren’t as chubby and freckly as they used to be. Her face had hollowed out into the slim, sculpted face of an angel.
She was thin, but not waiflike, with curves in all the right places. She had an ethereal quality about her, a beauty he hadn’t quite noticed until this moment. He suddenly understood Hunter’s comments about how Ever was changing, and how somebody ought to do something about it.
But it was the perfectly broken girl underneath all of that exterior beauty that he could no longer resist. Of course they should be a couple. Everyone else had realized that they already were.
He just needed to make it official. That’s what should naturally happen next.
“Ever,” he whispered, pulling her head down to rest on his shoulder “If we do this…if we take this friendship to the next level, there won’t be any going back. That scares me, because apart from Hunter, you’re all I have.”
She nodded. “I know. I never would have said anything. You’re all I have, too, Sam. Without you I don’t know where I’d be. Dead, maybe. But I do want more. I…I love you.”
He caught his breath sharply at that. His mind raced, trying to catch up with his quickly beating heart. He loved her, too. He had for a long time now, he just hadn’t realized what it was.
He knew now. And maybe it wasn’t the kind of love that’s felt with a burning passion and an uncontrollable need to be with the other person. But it was love all the same: warm, comf
ortable, safe.
He lifted her chin with his finger and bent his face toward hers. The very first meeting of their lips was sweet, and warm, and friendly. She had always offered him a home where he’d never had one before. This was no different.
Twelve
Deep into the evening found Sam, Hunter, and Ever in Reed’s Silverado, with Sam riding shotgun on the way to Sunny’s.
“So, Hunter,” Reed was asking. “Did you play football, too?”
“Naw,” Hunter answered. “Sports are Sam’s thing. I was more of a watch-from-the-stands kind of a guy.”
“Me, too,” Reed answered. “With football, anyway. But I lettered on the swim team.”
“I’m sure you did,” Hunter answered wryly.
Sam glanced back sharply at him. Hunter just grinned, and shrugged.
When they arrived, Ever glanced out at the lapping waters of the ocean and stopped.
“This rickety old place is sitting right on the water!”
“Yeah.” Sam chuckled. “It threw me for a loop the first time, too.”
“I’m not going in there,” she announced.
Reed stared at her, incredulity filling his handsome features. “But in there is where the bar is.”
“So?” she shot back. “That place is about to fall into the water!”
Reed shook his head and breezed past. “I’m going to leave you out here to deal with this, Sam. I have a shot of Cuervo and twins waiting on me inside.”
Ever folded her arms and squared off against Sam. A new stubborn set to her jaw was forming that Sam didn’t recognize. “I’m not going in, Sam.”
Sam groaned, the vein in his neck throbbing visibly as he looked at Ever. “Ever, our ride just went inside. We have to go in.”
“I’ll stay out here all damn night—”
“Ever,” Hunter interrupted. Sam’s and Ever’s heads both snapped around to stare at him. “Let’s go in and get a drink. I’ll order you a nice bottle of Bud. Then once we’re inside, if you feel unsafe, I swear I’ll wait outside with you the rest of the night.”