Sweet (Landry Family 6)

“You’re never leaving me again,” I tell her as we walk outside.

She closes the door behind us.

“I mean it,” I say. “You can go into the other bedroom or I’ll camp outside or whatever, but that’s it. You’re done running. That was your last hoorah.”

I open the truck door and deposit her on the seat. She grabs my face with both hands.

“I kind of need a favor,” she says, her eyes twinkling.

“Really? What’s that?”

“Will you ask me to marry you one day? Not soon. Not now. But someday when I’m ready?”

I grin so hard it hurts. “I promise.”

“Good.” She drops her hands from my face. “But I don’t need a big ring like that. I mean, come on. How is Kira even going to wear that on her finger? It was pretty, sure but …”

I close the door mid-sentence and chuckle.

My girl is back. And she’s here to stay.

THIRTY-SIX

PAIGE

Nate squeezes my hand. Again.

The only time he hasn’t touched me since he picked me up to carry me to the truck was the few seconds it took to walk around to climb in himself.

I’m not complaining.

“Where’s Ryder?” I ask.

Nate chuckles. “That little shit is at home with Mrs. Kim, probably giving her hell.” He glances at me. “He was pissed I didn’t let him come with me.”

I feel my smile in my soul.

“He put me in my place this morning,” he says, shaking his head.

“Did he?”

“Oh, yeah. I mean, he told me he was going to find you. That I was lazy. That he was scared you were out there with monsters.” He grins. “He likes you almost as much as I do.”

That sweet boy. I truly hate that he was hurting, but I love how he fought for me too. Just like his dad.

I try to pull my hand away to scratch my arm. Nate clenches down harder. I’ll live with it.

We drive towards Nate’s house—my house—in the bright, early afternoon sunlight. The rays feel warm against my skin and I lift my chin to the sun to absorb as much as I can.

I feel terrible for what happened and how I handled it. But facing your fears for the first time is always hard, I guess. I’m just thankful Nate came to pick me up, literally, and carry me home.

We pull into the driveway and Nate stops the truck.

“Be ready. Ryder’s probably going to be going a hundred—yup.”

I follow Nate’s gaze to see Ryder racing down the walkway towards the truck. I hop out just in time to catch him mid-jump.

“Paige Stage!” he yells, wrapping his arms around my neck. “I thought you left me forever.”

I meet Nate’s eyes over the hood of the truck.

My whole world has shifted, turned on its axis. I’m still afraid of forever. There’s a voice in the back of my head that whispers that I shouldn’t get comfortable. That the honeymoon phase will end. That I will wind up alone, crying in my bed.

But I’ve already done that and it didn’t help.

Maybe the voice is right. Things will probably get hard. We may fall on hard times or, God forbid, one of us might get sick. But that could happen to me anyway. Besides, the thought of Nate and Ryder battling anything without me kills my soul.

They’re my boys. Both of them.

“Forever?” I ask, holding him tight. “The only thing that’s forever is the three of us. I’m really sorry I left, Ryder Spider. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

He presses a kiss to my cheek before I set him on the ground.

Nate smiles the softest, most tender smile I’ve ever seen on him. And out of all the things he said, and the pancake, and the fact that he came to get me—this is what binds my heart back together.

“I missed you,” Ryder says, tugging on my hand. “I was afraid for you when you didn’t come home. And Dad made breakfast and bleh,” he says, sticking out his tongue. “And he only read me one story last night without the voices like you do.”

I ruffle his hair. “I will read you three books tonight. Sound like a plan?”

He pumps his fists in the air.

Mrs. Kim comes out of the house and walks gingerly down the steps. Her kind face smiles.

“Mrs. Kim,” Ryder says. “Look! Paige Stage Hughes is back!”

“Oh, no,” Nate says, laughing. “Her last name is Carmichael, for the love of God.”

I can’t help it. I laugh. Hard. I laugh so hard that tears fill my eyes.

Mrs. Kim looks at Nate and winks. “Ryder, I’m going to the butcher shop. Do you want to go?”

“Oh, can I?” he asks. “I love it there. They have all these little candies and I’m always really nice and the ladies there let me have a couple.”

“Ooh. Sounds fun,” I say.

He starts towards Mrs. Kim but whips back around to me.