Sometimes It Lasts(Sea Breeze #5)(26)
I missed this. Holding Eva in my arms and listening to my friends. As if she could read my mind Eva tilted her head back and smiled up at me. “I love you,” she whispered then kissed my chin.
“I love you more,” I replied tipping my head down so I could kiss her lips.
“I realize you two have been away from each other but if you could refrain from making out in public we’d appreciate it.” Dewayne’s amused drawl made me smile against Eva’s lips. She pulled back and looked over at Dewayne.
“And to think I missed you, Dewayne,” Eva said.
Dewayne winked and threw his towel down in an empty chair. “No need to miss me, pretty girl. You can come see me any time you want to.”
If I didn’t know he was joking I’d be pissed. Instead I focused on tasting Eva’s neck that she had so helpfully arched in my direction.
“Where’s Rock and the fam?” Marcus asked Preston.
“They’re coming but loading up that crew takes awhile. I normally expect them to all be an hour late. Trisha spends as much time fixing Daisy’s hair as she does fixing her own. I swear that kid has more damn bows.”
The pleased sound to his voice as he talked about his little sister’s abundance of bows and Trisha spending time on her hair didn’t go unnoticed by anyone. Rock and Trisha had adopted Preston’s little sister and brothers. They went from Trisha not being able to get pregnant to an instant family. Preston still played a big part in their life but he wasn’t having to be the big brother slash dad slash mom any more. He’d done that long enough.
“I can’t wait to see Daisy. I haven’t seen her in months. I bet she’s grown a foot,” Eva said as she moved her neck away from my mouth. I just grinned and followed it.
“She has and she’s not lisping anymore either. Trisha’s had her in speech therapy. She’s doing great,” Amanda replied.
Eva finally turned around and looked at me. “Would you stop it,” she whispered.
“Probably not. You smell too good,” I replied back in a louder whisper.
“Visit with your friends. They’ve missed you.”
“I’ve miss you more,” I said, and took a small nibble of her earlobe.
“What if we go swim a little. Then will you pay attention to everyone else?” she asked.
“I doubt it but let’s go try it and see.”
Chapter Eleven
EVA
The weekend went by too fast. Watching Cage drive away again had hurt just as bad as it had the first time. He had to get back to do kid’s baseball camps that the school held each summer. Those that were on a full ride scholarship were expected to work the camps. He had tried to convince me to let him come home Saturday night. He had promised he’d finish college online like Marcus was doing and he’d get a job. We would be together and honestly it sounded wonderful.
But I couldn’t let him do that.
When this was over and my daddy was gone, Cage would have lost his dream. For me. I could never allow that. He would resent me one day. Maybe not soon but one day he’d wonder “what if” and it would be all my fault. So. I’d used the excuse that I wanted this future for us again and pushed him back to Tennessee. Knowing it would be three weeks before he came back this time had just about done me in.
Jeremy had held me for at least an hour and let me cry on his shoulder. I’d held it together long enough for his car to turn the corner out of sight before I’d crumpled. Jeremy had been right there picking me up and carrying me to the porch.
By Wednesday I was getting better. I was sleeping in my room again. The first two nights I’d slept in the barn so I could smell Cage. But I started worrying about Daddy needing me at night and me not being there so I made myself sleep in the house on Tuesday night. If I was going to make it three weeks without Cage I had to get a grip on myself. Sleeping in the sheets we’d made love on over and over again wasn’t helping me deal. It was making me worse.
Tonight I had agreed to have dinner at the Beasley’s. Jeremy had asked me for his momma again last night and I finally agreed to it. I couldn’t hold a grudge against Elaine forever. She had been a momma when I needed one growing up. I knew her love for Josh tainted me being in another relationship. Seeing me with anyone other than Josh had to be painful for her. We’d been inseparable from the time we were little kids. As I stood in front of the large photo that still hung over their fireplace of Josh and Jeremy when they were fourteen, I realized that a part of me was always going to ache for him too. I missed him. Even though I loved Cage deeper than I’d ever loved Josh I still loved him. He was my childhood love. My best friend. My other half for so long. Sometimes I wondered what he’d say about Daddy. What his wise words would be. If only you could talk to someone on the other side when you needed to.
“For the longest I wanted her to take that down,” Jeremy said as he entered the room. “But I changed my mind. I miss him. It’s good to walk in here and see his face. Remember.”
I agreed with him. It was nice. “Those were good times. He was special,” I said staring up into their identical faces. I knew the difference though. It was in their eyes. Josh always had that restless twinkle. He wanted more adventure. He couldn’t get enough. Jeremy was happy just being here on the farm. He didn’t require anything else.