Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“She’s being a brat, trying to get to you before me,” I explain.
“Sorry if I want to welcome my dad’s boyfriend to the house,” she sings.
“You little shit,” I tease, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and giving her a playful noogie. Rhett watches us, giving the smile I’m so used to seeing from him now, that warms my chest. “Ignore us.” I pull away and stand up straight again. “Come in.”
He takes a step inside, and Meadow hooks her arm through his. “Should we play some chess?”
“Hey, maybe he’s here to see me!” I call after them as Meadow leads him into the living room.
“Dad, I get to hang out with your boyfriend too.”
“Are you going to keep calling him my boyfriend every time you talk to him and saying it like that?”
“At least for a little while, yes!”
I chuckle, and then, before turning into the other room, Rhett looks over his shoulder at me, beaming.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Rhett
The day has finally arrived when Morgan, East, and I are going to have a session with East’s therapist. Talia and I have been talking about it too because I can’t pretend I’m not nervous about it, can’t pretend that my head isn’t a mess and my stomach in knots.
Tripp and I had a good day at work yesterday, which helped, and then I stayed at his place last night. It’s only been a week since we told Meadow, and she’s still teasing us about being boyfriends. I must admit I enjoy it. This is what being a family is all about, and with them, I feel like I have one, while at the same time, I’m getting my Swift family too: me, Morgan, and East.
I arrive twenty minutes before the appointment because really, I don’t have any choice in the matter. That’s how I work. I sit in my truck, chest tight, though logically, I know this will be okay. All the changes lately, our conversations, sharing stories about El, the hugs and laughs and barstools and revealed secrets, all of it led to this moment where everything is on the table and we can finally let go of the past.
I jump when there’s a knock at my window and turn to see East standing there. He frowns, then walks around to the other side and gets in.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“Freaking out,” I admit.
His frown deepens. “You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s impossible for me not to do that.”
“It’ll be okay, Rhett,” he says, and I look down to see he’s folding a paper butterfly. When he finishes, he holds it out for me.
“I…thank you.”
“Should we go inside? Or should I see if my therapist and Morgan will meet us in your truck?”
I can’t help but snicker. “Asshole.”
“It’s why you love me.” He shrugs, then opens the door.
“I do. Love you. I haven’t always been good at showing you, and I never told you enough.”
“I think you showed it in ways I didn’t allow myself to see at the time. I think you showed it to Morgan in ways he didn’t see either. And now we’re here, confronting it all. Let’s save the emotional stuff for inside, yeah?”
I chuckle. “Yeah. You’re right.”
We get out of the truck and head for the door. Just as we get there, Morgan approaches.
“Did I miss a Swift brothers pre-game meet-up?” he teases.
“No,” East says. “I found Rhett hiding in his truck.”
“I wasn’t hiding,” I reply, but really, I kind of was.
“This is fun. We get to banter now. I’m liking it.” Morgan pulls open the door, and East walks in, then me. We check in at the reception desk, then have a seat in the waiting room.
Before I know it, a woman comes out to get us. “Hi,” she says, then once we’re in the room, continues, “I’m Amelia.” She holds out her hand.
“Rhett,” I answer.
To Morgan, she says, “It’s good to see you again.”
“You too.”
From what I understand, she’s not the therapist East worked with in his inpatient program, but she must be good, since he’s still working with her.
The room we’re in is bigger than the one I’m used to with Talia but decorated in similar ways.
“Thanks for coming. East has been doing a lot of hard work the past few months. We talked, and he thought it would be a good idea for all of you to come.”
It was East’s idea? I’m pretty sure before he made it sound like it was hers. I clear my throat. “I agree. I want…I want us to heal. I want to be the brother they deserve.”
“You don’t think you are?” Morgan asks, the focus already on me.
“I didn’t mean to make this about myself. That’s not why we’re here.”
“All of it is why we’re here,” East says. “I want to hear what you have to say. Is this like how we all blamed ourselves for Ella?”