I close the back door and bump into Tate.
“Sorry,” she says, sidestepping around me. “I think I’ve convinced Jordyn to finally eat something.” She rushes to the refrigerator and shoots my uncle a dirty look as she watches him dig through each of the casserole dishes.
“Stop snacking and let’s go,” my aunt says to him. “We have that dinner with Claudia and Bill.”
They hug me goodbye and say they’ll see me at the funeral. When my aunt isn’t looking, Uncle Anthony slips me his Realtor card. When I shut the front door behind them, I lean against it and exhale.
I think having to interact with all the visitors is the worst part of this whole family-member-death thing. I don’t remember visitors being this frequent when my mother died several years ago, but then again, Kyle was alive to play the part I’m playing right now. I sulked in my bedroom like Jordyn is doing right now, hiding away from all the people. The thought of Kyle taking care of things back then when he was so young fills me with guilt. He had to have been hurting over her death just as much as I was, but I needed him to hold things together since I did nothing but fall apart.
I slide my hands down my face, wanting it all to be over with. I want the day to end so we can get tomorrow over with and then the funeral will come and go. I just want things to settle down. But then again, I’m scared of how I’ll feel when the dust finally does have a chance to settle.
I kick off the door and head toward the kitchen when the doorbell rings. Again. I groan, just as Tate passes me with a plate of food. “I would get it, but . . .” She looks down at the plate and drink in her hands.
“If you can just get her to eat something, I’ll entertain the ten million visitors.”
Tate nods a sympathetic agreement, heading back toward Jordyn’s room.
I swing open the door.
I blink twice to ensure I’m really seeing her.
Fallon glances up at me and I don’t say anything right away. I’m scared if I speak, the aberration will disappear.
“I would have called first,” she says, looking nervous. “I didn’t know your number. But I just . . .” She blows out a quick breath. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I open my mouth to speak, but she holds up a hand to stop me. “I just lied to you, I’m sorry. I’m not here to see if you’re okay. I know you’re not okay. I just couldn’t function after you hung up. The thought of not seeing you today and having to wait another year completely gutted me and . . .”
I step forward and shut her up with my mouth.
She sighs against my lips and wraps her arms around me, clasping her hands together behind my back. I kiss her hard, unable to believe that she’s actually standing here. That she went straight to the airport after hanging up with me today and spent money on a ticket to fly all the way to Los Angeles just to see me.
I continue to kiss her as I pull her into the house with me. My arm is around her waist, securing her against me, afraid that if I let her go she’ll vanish into thin air.
“I need . . .”
She tries to speak, but my mouth pressed to hers is preventing her from it. She opens the front door and tries to pull away from me. I release her just enough so that she can say what she’s trying to say. “I have to tell the driver he can go. I wasn’t sure you’d want me here.”
I step around her and swing the door open wider. I wave the driver off and then close the door and grab her hand.
I pull her up the stairs, toward my room.
Away from everyone in the world I don’t want to see or speak to right now.
She’s the only one I wanted with me today, and here she is. Just for me. Because she missed me.
If she’s not careful, I might just fall in love with her.
Tonight.
Fallon
He closes his bedroom door behind us and pulls me in for a long hug.
I’ve second-guessed my decision to show up today since the minute I bought my ticket. I almost turned around a hundred different times. I didn’t think he’d want to see me with everything going on in his life right now. I thought maybe he would be angry that he told me he’d see me next year, but I showed up unannounced anyway.
I never anticipated seeing the relief wash over his face when he opened the door. I never anticipated him kissing me like he missed me just as much as I’ve missed him. I never thought he’d just stand here and hug me for as long as he’s been hugging me. He hasn’t spoken a single word to me yet, but his actions have said a million thank yous.