揑 love you, too. I love you, too.?The words were rambled sweetly into his neck as he stared up at the sky, a man thanking God for his fortune. 揑 want to stay right here with you. I don抰 want to leave.?Her sobs jabbed his heart with sharp little swords. 揑抦 sorry I even tried.?
揙kay, beautiful. It抯 okay.?Jasper stroked shaking hands down Rita抯 hair and back, reassuring himself she wasn抰 a hallucination. With the goal of sitting up and gathering her in his lap, Jasper attempted to move but found his legs were paralyzed, clinging to the road like melted plastic. 揘o, it抯 not okay, actually. You damn near killed me. I抦 not recovered yet.?
She smoothed hands up and down his chest, as if trying to warm his heart into jump-starting. 揔eep saying things like that. I deserve them.?
That got his blood flowing, mostly out of protest. Jasper moved into a sitting position, releasing a heavy sigh when Rita wrapped her limbs around him and clung. 揘o. I don抰 want you feeling guilty. I don抰 want you to feel anything but glad you came back to me. Not now, not ever.?
Her lips moved over his jaw, his cheeks, leaving kisses. 揑 never really left. My heart stayed here the whole time.?
揑t must have crossed paths with mine. It left town when you did.?He pushed open her lips with his own, groaning at the perfection he抎 thought never to feel again. His Rita. 揧ou brought it back. You抮e卻taying??
揧es.?
Don抰 flatten back onto the road again. Hold fast, man. Make sure this is the best thing for Rita before you let the relief completely take over. 揧our family棓
揗y family.?She seemed deep in thought a moment. 揟hey know I need to be here. And I know they all need to be someplace else. I抦 not sure where yet.?Her sweet breath was a thing of dreams coasting over his face. 揟hey抣l find it. The way I found you. Hopefully it won抰 take them driving away to realize they can抰 live without it.?
A dam burst inside Jasper, finally allowing relief to rush in and fill all the cracks her leaving had caused. 揑抦 not making presumptions, Rita, but you抮e moving in with me.?Another fierce trading of kisses. 揂ll right, I抦 making presumptions. I need you walking my floors. Need your touch on everything I owned before, the things we抣l own together after today. Need your touch all over me, too. I need so many things and they all begin and end with you.?
God, he loved the way his words visibly affected her, made her eyes go soft. Loved knowing that the constant ache behind them was worth every second. 揂fter thinking I might never see you again, I抳e never been more sure I can抰 go a day without you,?Rita breathed. 揟ake me home.?
Jasper stood, taking Rita with him. 揑抣l take you to our home.?He kissed her on the silent street beneath the lamplight. 揑抣l read you the specials until you fall asleep.?Another kiss. 揑抣l tell you I love you between each one.?
揑 love you, too,?she whispered. 揇id I mention that??
He slung her up into his arms, heading for Buried Treasure. 揇id you??His throat constricted. 揑抦 feeling a bit of amnesia coming on. Might need to hear it again厰
She chanted it against his neck the whole way home.
Their home.
Epilogue
Aaron watched through the giant back window of the Suburban until Rita became a speck, growing smaller and smaller beneath the streetlights of Hurley. Goddamn. He really hadn抰 thought his sister had it in her. Kind of made him wonder whom else he抎 underestimated or discounted recently. When Aaron accidentally made eye contact with Belmont in the rearview mirror, he feigned great interest in the contents of his briefcase. Although, yeah, not really feigning, right? He抎 read the initial entry from Miriam梩he one that had taken them on this heinous ride through hell梑ut hadn抰 gone beyond it. Mostly due to the journal being in Rita抯 possession since?
Liar. Quit being such a fucking liar.
No one wanted to go through their parents?final thoughts on this earth and have confirmed what had been so obvious all along. He was the only one in the family who had been born without a heart. Their mother had never been able to hide her discomfort with Aaron抯 ability to lie, to cajole, to win at all costs. The ease with which he moved from one girl to the next, no discernable shame concerning relationship overlaps. What would Miriam think if she knew why he抎 been fired from his job working beneath the senator?
Her lack of surprise would have been the stuff of legends.
Which is why he wasn抰 opening the journal. Not today. Not in twenty years. Being a great liar gave him the ability to pad the reality of how soulless he was against the backdrop of his siblings. Peggy was the bleeding heart who had such a hard time saying no that she抎 yes抎 four proposals so no one抯 feelings would get hurt. Belmont抯 still waters ran deep梔eep enough to keep everyone the hell out. Even if it hadn抰 always been that way between Aaron and his brother. They抎 even been friends. Or maybe he抎 just imagined the whole thing梚t sure seemed that way now.
Aaron cleared the discomfort from his throat. At one time he抎 thought Rita and he were most similar among the Clarksons, but he抎 never experienced the kind of emotion it took to sprint a quarter mile toward anyone. Shit, he抎 never gone past a second date. So here he sat, minus a sister and still an asshole. What the hell was he thinking, crashing the campaign trail in Iowa? He could very well be crucified.
Or. Or he could rise again. No. He would.
The Suburban passed a blue-and-white-painted sign that read NOW LEAVING HURLEY and Belmont tapped the horn twice. Aaron swallowed the smile he felt trying to form when he thought of Rita buying a pair of cowboy boots and started to return his attention to the Internet research documents in his briefcase. But a flash of white alongside the road caught his eye. A dog?
揌old up.?Aaron jabbed the back of Belmont抯 seat. 揌it the brakes.?
Belmont grunted, stormy gaze lifting to the rearview again, but he finally pulled over, the Suburban groaning with the sudden stop. Aaron felt ridiculous the minute he stepped onto the gravel, the utter silence of the desert like a void around him. Peggy and Sage were watching him with curiosity through the back window, the glow of The Golden Girls playing on the laptop illuminating their faces. Belmont抯 scrutiny burned a hole in his back. What? Everyone else got to act crazy in this family but he pulls over to get a closer look at a dog and suddenly he抯 the candidate for a straitjacket?
Aaron put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. 揅ome on. Don抰 leave me standing here like a dick,?he muttered. Peggy and Sage came up on either side of Aaron after a minute passed, watching him instead of the black nothing before them. Just as Aaron poised himself to give up, a white blot of fur trotted into the light provided by the Suburban brake lights. 揟ook you long enough,?Aaron said, unsure what to do now that he抎 confirmed what his eyes had seen.
Peggy almost swallowed half the desert with her gasp. 揚uppy, puppy, puppy.?
Sage breathed a tremulous laugh, covering her mouth with both hands.
揟hat抯 not a puppy,?Aaron said, hunkering down. 揟hat抯 an old man.?
The dog stopped trotting abruptly, as if insulted, sending both girls into a fit of laughter. Which cut off as soon as Belmont抯 boots crunched up behind them. Aaron ignored his older brother and whistled again. Why? He had no idea. They抎 never had pets growing up. He wasn抰 even sure if he liked dogs. But leaving some poor mutt in the dark desert seemed like a shitty thing to do.
揅ome on, old man.?Aaron clapped once, his lips twitching when the dog only tilted his head. As if to say, You talkin?to me? Good God, this was stupid. Standing on the side of the road in between towns trying to attract a stray animal. Maybe Aaron was just bored, his brain having gone so long without a challenge. Maybe he needed a distraction from the journal that had unexpectedly landed in his lap. Whatever the reason, he wanted the damn dog in the damn Suburban.