Never Far Away (The Never #2)(84)

Once the dark of night came, they all wandered down to the beach to get ready to watch the annual firework display. Ella watched as Matt carried a sleeping Faith cradled in one arm, holding his wife’s hand in the other, walking slowly towards the sand. Joy skipped, and often fell, along beside them, clumsily trying to navigate her lengthy limbs that she was still trying to grow into.

Tilly walked next to Ella's parents, and her mom engaged in conversation with her, as they had all day. Tilly was so different from her mom, but she could tell the two women really enjoyed each other’s company. Megan and Patrick walked hand-in-hand, Patrick next to her father as they spoke about the upcoming football season.

Porter held her hand in his and they silently walked behind everyone else, enjoying each other. He gave her hand a squeeze and she looked up at him smiling. Everything was perfect.

As everyone found a place to sit in the sand, Ella found herself nestled in between Porter’s legs, leaning back against his chest. They watched Joy, surviving off the sugar rush of the cake she earned by behaving for Uncle Porter, as she ran up and down the shore trying to do cartwheels and sometimes succeeding. All you could see was moonlight, campfires, and flashlights as people swarmed to the sand, waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Ella felt Porter’s finger pull her chin up towards him, and when their eyes met, he lowered his mouth to hers and she received the warmest and softest kiss from him. This was not a passionate kiss. He was not trying to seduce her. They both just simply craved the connection they shared, and the comfort that came with their kiss.

Ella startled as a loud bang rocketed through her veins. Her heart beat pounded in her chest. She laughed at herself as she realized what she heard was the beginning of the firework show and she saw Porter’s grin as she was amused by her reaction as well. She gave him one more small kiss and then turned back around, snuggling her back into his chest, and enjoyed the rest of the fireworks.





Chapter Nineteen


Porter


Funny how thirty minutes can change almost any situation. The bundle of energy that was Joy, was now slung over her father’s shoulders like a sack of potatoes. She made it about five minutes into the fireworks and she literally fell over with exhaustion. Brook now held tiny Faith and Matt grunted with effort as he hauled the not-so-tiny eight year old up the driveway.

“We better just put them in the car now,” Brook said to Matt. She turned to Porter and gave him a small hug, then turned to Ella and gave her a longer embrace which made Porter smile. “Thank you for having us over today. It was so much fun.”

“Thanks for coming,” Ella said with an enthusiastic smile. After Matt placed a floppy Joy in the backseat of their car, he came around and shook Porter’s hand.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Matt said. “Ella,” he leaned into her and kissed her cheek, “I’ve been waiting for weeks to meet you and I’m so glad you’ve finally made Porter so happy. Keep up the good work,” he said with a sneaky wink and then walked his wife to the passenger side of the car. Everyone else made their way to their vehicles and said their goodbyes. Luckily, all of the Portlanders rented houses or hotel rooms, so no one was driving very far. Once they waved to the last car leaving the driveway Ella turned to Porter and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I think that was a very successful cookout,” she said smiling up at him, the moonlight reflecting in the blue pools of her eyes.

“I think so, too.” He looked around his yard at all the food and chairs strewn about. “This is going to be a bitch to clean up.” Her hands slid down his back to cup and squeeze his ass.

“We can clean up tomorrow,” she said in a very convincing sexy voice that had him straining against his zipper.

“Are you afraid of raccoons?” He asked, laughing.

“What?”

“Raccoons. That is what we will be dealing with if we leave this out here all night.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Ok, I will clear the food if you haul the tables back into your shop.”

“Deal,” he said, kissing her soundly. She moved all the food off one of the tables so that he could move it. He bent down and grabbed the table by the sides and picked it up, walking towards his workshop.

“You’re a showoff,” she teased. He knew she liked watching his muscles strain as he lifted the heavy table. He knew what he was doing. He walked towards the back of the house and his shop came into view. His truck was parked along the side of the house and as he walked passed it, his eyes squinted and seemed to be playing tricks on him. He put the table down and went closer to his truck to inspect.

The windshield was smashed in, cracks spider webbing out from the center where it looked as if a sledge hammer slammed into it. The same sledge hammer that probably put all of the crater-like dents along the sides of the bed and the giant dent on the hood. He walked to the back of the truck, still not really believing his eyes, and saw two words spray painted on the tailgate:



Last Warning



“What the f*ck!” He yelled. Porter heard footsteps behind him and swung around only to find Matt walking towards him.

“Hey, Man, we left the portable crib in your house. Mind if I go – what the f*ck happened to your truck?”

“I’ll give you one guess,” he said, seething.