“Tick?” Emma said with a heavy yawn.
“Yes, Tock?”
“I’m sorry about your family.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry about your dad.”
I peeked into the room to see Tristan lying on the floor with the book against his chest beside Emma’s bed. Zeus lay against Emma’s feet. She yawned again. “I miss him.”
“I bet he misses you, too.”
She closed her eyes and curled into a ball as she began to fall asleep. “Tick?” she whispered, almost falling into her dreams.
“Yes, Tock?”
“I love you and Zeus, even though your zombie voice was really bad.”
Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose and sniffled before standing up and pulling the cover over her. He slid Bubba into her arms and tucked her in. “I love you, too, Emma.” As he turned to leave the room, he caught me staring his way and gave me a small smirk. I gave him one back. “Come on, Zeus,” he called. Zeus wagged his tail, but didn’t move. Tristan arched a brow. “Zeus, come on. Let’s go home.”
Zeus whimpered and curled in closer to Emma.
I laughed. “What a traitor you have on your hands.”
“I can’t really blame him. Is it okay if he stays the night?”
“Absolutely. I think the two of them became used to each other after you and Zeus stayed a few days at our house.”
He leaned against the door, watching as Zeus snuggled into Emma’s arms, where Bubba was. Emma hugged him tight and smiled in her dreams. Tristan crossed his arms. “I see why you didn’t fall completely apart like I did. You had Emma, and she’s…she’s wonderful. She’s everything good in this world, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. She is.
The second week of November, a huge rainstorm moved through Meadows Creek. I sat on the porch, staring out at the rain that was hitting the grass at crazy speeds. I was surprised we hadn’t had any snow yet, but I was sure that within a few weeks, everything would be covered in white.
The sky was darker by the minute, and the thunder rolled through followed by big flashes of light. Emma was sound asleep inside, and I was thankful that she was such a heavy sleeper because otherwise, the storms would’ve spooked her. Zeus sat beside me on the porch, staring out at the raindrops as his eyes opened and closed. He was trying his best to fight his tiredness, but he was losing the battle.
“Elizabeth!” Tristan shouted, running from the back of his house. Every part of me began to panic when I saw him getting closer and closer. “Elizabeth!” he yelled. He was soaked from head to toe when he reached the bottom step of the porch. The palms of his hands fell to his knees as the rain continued to wash over him, and he tried to catch his breath once more.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my voice shaking with fear. He looked freaked out. I stepped down the porch and joined him in the rainfall, placing my hands against his chest as he rose up. “Are you okay?”
“No.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I was sitting in my shed and you crossed my mind.” He laced his fingers with mine and pulled me closer to him. My heart pounded in my chest, my nerves skyrocketing as I stared at his lips, taking in each word that fell from his mouth. “I tried to stop you from crossing my mind. I tried to shake you from my thoughts. But I kept thinking about you and my heart skipped. And then…” He moved in closer, his lips millimeters away from mine, his mouth slowly brushing against my bottom lip. The heat from him canceled out the chill of the rain. He was a kind of warmth I’d never known existed, a protective blanket that sent away the past hurts and sadness. Tristan’s voice shook as he kept speaking. “And then, I accidentally fell in love with you.”
“Tristan…”
His head shook back and forth. “That’s bad, right?”
“It’s…”
His tongue danced across my bottom lip before he sucked it gently between his own. “Awful. So right now, Lizzie…if you don’t want me to love you, tell me and I’ll stop. I’ll walk away and I’ll stop loving you. Push me away, if you want to. Tell me to go, and I will. But, if there is any small part of you that is okay with this, any part of you that is okay with me accidentally falling in love with you, then pull me closer. Take me into your house, lead me to your bedroom, and let me show you how much I’m falling in love with you. Let me show each and every inch of y
our body how crazy I am for you.”
A level of guilt settled in my stomach. I glanced at the ground. “I don’t know if I’m ready to say it back yet...”
He lifted my chin up with his finger and stared into my eyes. “That’s okay,” he promised, his voice low. “I’m pretty sure I have enough love for the both of us.”