Letting Go (Thatch 1)

Her eyes widened like I’d missed something huge. “Have you seen that guy? And after you both declared your love and everything, how could you not want to go and explore the rest of what you’ve been missing?”

My hands paused above my bag, and I stared at her in shock. I’d only ever been with Ben, and up until sometime over the last six weeks, I’d been sure I would stay single for the rest of my life. Letting myself admit my feelings to Jagger had been hard enough; sleeping with him . . . well, that just wasn’t something I could think of yet. He and I both knew we had to go slow, we couldn’t . . . I couldn’t . . .

“Grey, it’s okay! Calm down, just focus on taking deep breaths in and out,” Janie said quickly as she moved in front of me.

I hadn’t even realized I’d started hyperventilating until I’d heard her talking. “I can’t yet,” I managed to get out, horrified.

“I know, it’s okay. It’s fine. Jagger knows that too.”

“Shit, Grey, I’m sorry,” Heather said. “I wasn’t thinking. Janie’s right; Jagger knows that. From what you said he isn’t going to rush you into anything. I was just being me and . . . well, it was stupid. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I just . . . I hadn’t even thought about that. I—God, it’s ridiculous to be scared over that, right?” I laughed, but it sounded off.

“It’s not,” Janie assured me. “All of this is a lot, and it’s happened fast. You’re totally allowed to freak out over things. You made a huge decision tonight, and you don’t have to make the rest of them anytime soon, okay? Just go back to Thatch with him and be yourself. Let everything happen one day at a time, just like how you’ve been taking the last two years, all right?”

I nodded quickly. “Yeah, you’re right.”

One day at a time. I just needed to keep moving.

Chapter 6

Jagger

July 13, 2014

MY PHONE STARTED ringing just before Grey and I came up on the lake separating our town from another, and I slapped my hand around on my passenger seat until I found it. If Grey and I hadn’t already spent the last few hours talking as I followed behind her on the way back to Thatch, I would’ve thought it was her.

“Hello?” I answered without looking at the screen.

“Hey! Miss me yet?”

I rolled my eyes and switched the phone over to my other hand. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been telling you I missed you for the last month, Charlie.”

“Well, I have to make sure you don’t forget about me,” she said teasingly.

“Don’t think that’s possible, sis. How’s the trip?”

“It’s good! We’re having fun, but I think we’re all starting to get tired of cars.”

“I can’t imagine. Grey can barely pull off this three-and-a-half-hour trip without getting bored out of her mind. I don’t know how you all can stand driving across the country and back again.”

There was a pause before Charlie spoke again, this time her voice was hushed. “Grey’s with you?”

“No, she’s in front of me. We’re just about to pull into Thatch.”

“I thought you said she was in Seattle.”

The easy smile I was wearing at the sound of my sister’s voice dropped into a frown at the way she’d said this, like it was an accusation or something. “She was, and now she’s coming back.”

When Charlie spoke again, her words held a harsh tone. “Just a week ago you said you hadn’t heard from her. Why is she coming back with you?”

“Seriously, Charlie? I thought you wanted her back.”

“I did want her to go back to Thatch, I just didn’t expect you to be bringing her back. What changed in the last week?”

“I went and got her. I don’t understand the way you randomly react to Grey. You love her, you want to see her, you’re upset she left . . . and then you’re pissed off that I’m bringing her back and were weird as shit when you both hung out before you left for your trip. I thought you’d be happy . . . for me at the very least. Shit.”

There was another long pause before she asked, “Happy for you? Why would I—what happened to make her come back?”