Every day, Decker helped me clean up the old house that now belonged to me, as well as make arrangements to turn my grandfather’s house over to the bank.
In the three weeks since my father died, Decker had slept by my side every night without doing anything more than kiss my forehead before I fell asleep.
He never once asked whether I planned to stay in Texas or return to Boston. He didn’t ask what I planned to do with the money and everything else I’d inherited from my father. He didn’t ask anything of me.
As I walked through my life in a daze, he held my hand and guided me. Now, as we sat out on the steps of the front porch, I needed to give him the answers to all the questions he didn’t ask.
“I’m going back to Boston,” I began.
“Okay,” Decker answered without looking at me.
“I made a life for myself there.”
He nodded but didn’t speak.
“I want you to know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
He turned his head then, and looked into my eyes. “I would do anything for you, Mila.”
“Texas isn’t my home, Decker. It hasn’t been for a very long time. Even when I used to live here, it wasn’t.”
He turned his head and looked around, maybe as if he wanted to tell me that I did belong here, but he didn’t.
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” I said, standing to go inside. I heard the screen close behind me and knew Decker hadn’t followed.
I slept at the house alone for the first time that night, but before Decker left, he told me he’d be by in the morning to take me to the airport.
“My flight leaves at ten,” I’d told him, somehow knowing he wouldn’t ask.
41
Decker
When I got back from dropping Mila off and went into the barn, Quint was there, waiting for me.
“Well?”
“Well what? She’s gone.”
Quint lowered his head and shook it. He and his wife, Darrow, had gotten back from their honeymoon yesterday morning, and last night, I had told him about everything that happened while they were gone, including the part about how I’d fallen in love with Mila Knight.
“Did you tell her?”
I shook my head. “No use.”
“Seriously, Deck? Have you learned nothing from me?”
While Quint did have a point, given he’d almost lost Darrow because he was too stubborn to tell her how he felt, that didn’t mean my situation with Mila was the same.
“Her life is in Boston. Mine is here.”
“Darrow’s life is in London. Mine is here.”
“But it doesn’t have to be. You’ve got me here, running the place. I could never leave you in charge.”
Quint laughed and flipped me off. “You know those things you see that at the end of a person’s life, they won’t remember the hours they worked or the cars they bought, but they’ll remember the time they spent with people they love?”
“What…the fuck…are you talking about?”