I pressed my lips to her hair and inhaled her beautiful scent.
“I’m glad that I can be here and share in your sadness, sis. And I’m so happy for you.” His eyes came to me. “But your husband, on the other hand…one day I might kill him.”
A round of laughter filled the room, and Harlow was suddenly beside me.
“That’s all he can say. If he talks too much, he won’t be able to talk tomorrow,” Harlow whispered.
Sophia took that as her cue to walk to her brother and throw her arms around him.
She took the microphone from his hand and tossed it at Bram, who happened to be closest before saying, “Come sit next to me and eat. I want to be near you.”
And she was, for the rest of the night, until I carried her out of there asleep in my arms.
The entire time she was next to him, I knew that my life was never going to be the same.
Which made me insanely fucking happy.
EPILOGUE
Tiddies.
-ball cap
SOPHIA
Nine years later
“I don’t know…” I looked at the fifth wheel with trepidation. “Are you sure about this?”
“Just move it out of the way so I can move my car, Sophia!” Clem wailed. “I need to go!”
I didn’t know why she needed to go.
Honestly, she was here because we were celebrating her dad’s birthday.
Everyone had arrived, and it was imminent that we would eat dinner.
But she was acting like someone had just slaughtered her nonexistent cat.
“Pleasssseeee!” she pleaded. “Please, please, please?”
“Fine.” I sighed as I walked around to the driver’s side of Haggard’s truck. “But if this goes bad…”
“It won’t.” She rolled her eyes. “My dad turns it around in the driveway all the time. All you have to do is just turn. That’s what those hitches are made for, right?”
“Sure,” I replied skeptically. “I’ll just do that now.”
I got into the truck and started it up, feeling my nipples harden at the sound of the diesel engine turning over.
I didn’t know why the sound always did it for me.
Maybe it was because the sound reminded me of how Haggard growled when…
“Move! Hurry!” Clem called out from her car.
I did, turning the wheel hard to the left.
All was well until all of a sudden, it wasn’t.
Between one wheel rotation and the next, shit hit the fan.
There was a loud crunch, followed by a pop, and all of a sudden there was glass exploding in the cab around me.
I gasped, slammed on the brakes, and stared at the rearview mirror where I could now see the RV perfectly. Mostly because the tinted glass was gone, and the RV nose was literally halfway into the back seat.
“Oh shit.”
Clem was standing beside the driver’s side door, staring in horror at what I’d just done.
What she’d made me do.
“I’m out.” She ran to her car and fled the scene like the little coward she was.
I licked my lips, put the truck in park, and then sat there and thought about what I would say when he got home.
I didn’t get that part figured out before he arrived ten minutes later with my brother.
My brother who took one look at the truck, his eyes going to the damage, before he shook his head, got out of the car, and headed straight for his truck.
My brother was doing much better than when he first came back to us years ago. He moved well. He carried himself differently, and though it was still difficult for him to talk, he was one hell of a listener.
Except now.
Now, he was leaving.
“Don’t come back for dinner, jerk!” I called at his retreating back.
My brother scratched his head with his middle finger, then got into his truck and left without a word.
Haggard, on the other hand, didn’t leave. He walked up with his hands in his pockets and saw the problem at once.
His movements were stiff, and his big, beautiful eyes were widened in awe.
I bit my lip and got out of the truck, walking to the back to see it from his point of view.
It was worse than it was from inside.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Want to tell me what you were doing in the truck, and why it’s like this?” he requested.
I explained what happened, from start to finish, and ended with, “I was a bit distracted.”
He cleared his throat as he asked, “Distracted with what?”
I remembered the sound of the diesel, and how it reminded me of his voice.
“I was thinking about other things,” I admitted, my face flushing red.
“Other things?” he teased, interest clouding his eyes now instead of anger. “What other things?”
I licked my lips, sensing that I could turn this around if I explained.
“I was thinking about how when I started the truck, the rumble reminded me of your voice when you…” I hesitated, still so shy with my words when it came to Mr. Crow.