Free Chasing Castles (Finding Focus #2) by Jiffy Kate

I get a chance to talk to him.
    “Need me to drive you home?” Sam asks as he walks into the kitchen. “Annie went upstairs to get out of those God forsaken shoes.” He laughs shaking his head. “I don’t know how you women do it.”
    “Not me,” I say, kicking up a leg to show him my sensible flats. “I’m not down with all of that pain is beauty mumbo jumbo.”
    “Good,” he laughs. “Keep it that way. Besides, you’re pretty enough. You get any prettier, and Clay and I are gonna have to start standin’ down on the main road with our shotguns.”
    “Please!” I exclaim, rolling my eyes. “I don’t even have a boyfriend.” I don’t add that I would like to have one and that I would like it to be his son. He doesn’t need to know that. I can only imagine the fallout from that bomb.
    “So you need a ride home?”
    “No, I’m sure Tucker will be ready before too long. Besides,” I tell him, quirking an eyebrow, “it’s not like somethin’s gonna get me.”
    He laughs, leaning against the counter.
    “You never know. You can’t be too careful.”
    “Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”
    He takes a deep breath and cranes his neck to see outside. “Those boys are probably gonna be out there half the night. If you change your mind, come find me. I’ll be watchin’ the ball game in the den. I TiVo’d it.” He raises his eyebrows like I should be impressed, and I am because Sam might be a genius lawyer, but he sucks at technology.
    “Look at you, Mr. TiVo.”
    “Be sure to tell Deacon. He thinks I can’t do anything now that he’s not livin’ here.”
    Does everyone have to remind me of that?
    “I’ll be sure to give you a glowin’ review.”
    “And that’s why you’re my favorite.”
    I smile and laugh, shaking my head as he leaves the kitchen.
    Walking over to the glass doors, I watch as the boys laugh and occasionally punch each other in various body parts. This could go in all night, and I’m tired.
    Just when I open the door and think I’m going to forget about it and take the shortcut home, Deacon glances up this way and sees me watching. He says something, slaps Tucker on the back and jogs up to the house.
    “Are you headin’ home?” he asks as he slows to a walk when he gets to the patio.
    “Yeah, I’m tired.”
    “Mind if I walk with you?”
    “No,” I say, shaking my head and trying to feign indifference, but inside my heart does a flip.
    Our talk starts off casual.
    “How’s LSU?”
    “How’s FS High?”
    “How’s the job?”
    “How’s the paintin’?”
    And then it starts to take a turn to where we need it to be. “Missin’ home yet?” I ask.
    “Yeah,” he admits, his hands pushed down in his pockets. “It’s kinda weird, ya know? When I’m there, I love bein’ there. But when I’m home, I realize how much I miss everything here and how much I love bein’ here.”
    “I bet the food isn’t nearly as good as your mama’s,” I tease, loving the feel of the ease we’ve always known.
    “Not even close,” he says, laughing lightly.
    When the lingering fire from the pit in the backyard is a distant glow behind us, he takes his hands out of his pockets and slips an arm around my waist and pulls me to him. Kissing the top of my head, he breathes deeply. “I’ve missed you most.”
    Tears prickle my eyes, and I have to force them open, so they don’t slip out. It’s what I wanted him to say, that he missed me, but now that he’s said it, it kills me because deep down I know things won’t be like I want them to be. Deacon isn’t coming home anytime soon. But it doesn’t keep me from telling him how I feel.
    “I didn’t realize how much I’d miss you,” I confess.
    “I’m sorry I didn’t come home when I said I would.”
    “It’s okay.”
    “No, it’s not,” he says, his voice low and regretful. “I promised, and I didn’t keep it. I’m really sorry.”
    We walk in silence until the faint light from my porch is visible. I slow my