Walk With Me

42. Chocolate and Her

For no logical reason, considering we're in Oakwood for crying out loud, my body goes into cop mode, suspicion on full blast. I peer around the corner into the living room to find Austin standing up from the couch and heading towards the door.

"Probably Harper," he mutters, shaking his head. "She left her laptop here and hasn't stopped bothering me about driving it over to your mom's place. I guess she finally realized that wasn't going to happen and came to get it herself." He laughs and reaches for the door as the kettle starts to whistle.

I head back to the kitchen and turn off the stove, pouring the boiling water over the cocoa mix and watching the sludgy liquid whirl around in my mug as I stir.

When Austin joins me in the kitchen, I look up at him. "I don't know where her laptop is, man."

"It's not Harper," he says, voice softer than I've ever heard it. "It's, uh... it's for you, Tommy."

What? Who?

Oh fuck.

My heart is racing as I head to the front door. I take a deep breath, try to calm myself down. But I cannot be calmed.

Nothing, not a single damn thing on the planet, could prepare me for the sight on the front porch.

She's here. This can't be real.

She looks beautiful and freezing and happy and frazzled and a bunch of other shit I can't possibly comb through right now because I'm freaking the fuck out. She's actually fucking here. Someone pinch me. On second thought, don't do that. If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up. Not yet.

I quickly step outside, joining her in the frigid cold of the night and shutting the door tightly behind me. "Amber. What are you—"

"Can we talk?" Now that I'm getting a proper look at her, she looks tired, nervous. But there's something else dancing behind those caramel eyes, something that sends a quick flutter to my heart. I wish that was all I felt but I'm also about to drop dead from the anxious beat of the damn thing. Might freeze to death, too. Before I have a chance to invite her inside, she takes a small step back. "Alone?"

My head is spinning, wondering if it's a good thing or a bad thing that she doesn't want to go into the house and risk being heard by the small audience she knows is waiting inside. Or worse, face awkward introductions under these strange circumstances.

No. Stop. She's here. That has to mean something.

I try again. "Amber–"

"Wait," she holds out a hand, her shoulders pulling back as she stands a bit straighter, emanating a newfound strength that looks really fucking good on her. "I need to say this. I need to get everything out before I lose the ability to speak with those damn eyes of yours sending me into a frenzy."

I try not to laugh but the small smile that spreads across her face followed by the subtle shake of her head sends me into a frenzy of my own. My head is in a pile of snow somewhere.

"Okay," I whisper, giving her what I hope is an encouraging nod and waiting for her to go on. I think she's about as nervous to speak as I am to hear what she has to say. But we both know there's no escaping a conversation at this point. She's fucking here.

"Okay," she repeats, nodding back for good measure before jumping right in, "Look, that day on my porch... I was drowning in a lot of confusion. I didn't know what was best for my family, for Mia. I've made a lot of decisions lately that have drastically affected her and with Vince back, I thought that maybe, just maybe, if there was one stability I could bring back to her life, that I should do that, right? I should do everything I possibly could to make that work, for her."