Summer Sunsets (20 page)

All because she didn’t feel
she was worthy of my love?

I grit my teeth and wonder
how the hell I can convince her she’s all I want, and that no
matter what we all fall short of whom we want to be? There has to
be a way.

Unsure what else to do, I
close the drawer, strip off the rest of the clothes, and put on the
dry outfit before running my fingers through my hair, trying to pat
it into place.

I amble back down the hall
and into the bathroom, where Skye remains in the tub. Judging from
the sweat beading just above her top lip and the flush on her
cheeks, she’s not only managed to get warm, she’s probably ready to
get out.

“
You warm now?” I ask,
bending and taking the hand towel from her so I can look at her
forehead. A little sigh of relief escapes me when I realize the
bleeding has finally stopped. Now we just have to hope nothing’s
broken. Otherwise I’m going to have a massive battle with Skye
about going to the emergency room—never mind that it’s still
raining and the last thing I want to do is drag either of us out
into that mess.

“
Yeah,” She agrees, looking
up at me. “I’m ready to get out.”

“
Okay.” I reach down, pull
out the plug from the tub, and wait for the water to run down the
drain. Once the tub is empty, Skye sits up and reaches out for me.
I gently lift her out and set her on the counter so I can hand her
a dry towel.

“
Thanks.” She takes it and
begins drying her body. Once she’s wiped away most of the water,
she wraps the towel around her midsection. “Could you take me to my
room?”

“
Of course.” I lift her
again and walk down the hallway towards her bedroom, where I set
her on the bed. “I’ll get you some clothes.

Trying to keep my mind off
her body, I turn toward the dresser, but before I can move, she
latches onto my hand. “Come back,” she whispers and gently tugs me
toward her.

“
Skye,” I say. But that’s
all I get in before she pulls me to her and kisses me with an
urgency I hadn’t expected. That’s when I realize what the look in
her eyes was before, in the bathroom, when she was watching me so
closely. Desire.

We kiss, and the nearness
of her takes my breath away. I stop for a moment and look into her
eyes. “Skye, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want
to.”

Her lips curve into a
smile. “But I do want to.” She wraps her hand around the back of my
neck, pulling me to her once again.

We lie on the bed, our
bodies entwined along with the sheet tangled around us. I’m lying
on my back, and Skye’s on her side, her head resting below my chin
while her fingers toy with the shell necklace she made for me years
ago. Considering both of us are sweating, it’s hard to believe that
just a few minutes ago we were freezing. Funny how that
works.

Tilting my head, I kiss her
forehead and rub my hand gently down her arm. “How are
you?”

“
Much better. At least I’m
not cold.”

“
That’s a good thing.” I
glance over at the clock. It’s only ten, but somehow it feels much
later, probably because of everything that’s happened. Talk about a
rocky start to things.

Outside, it sounds as
though the rain has finally tapered off, and while the wind is
still a little rough, smacking tree branches against each other,
it’s nowhere nearly as violent as it was.

“
Skye,” I
whisper.

“
Mmmm?” That’s her tired
voice, and probably in a few minutes she’ll drift away to a place
where I hope happy dreams find her.

“
I love you.”

“
Love you, too.” I can
barely hear her, but the words are clear enough. I’ve been waiting
for them forever, and it’s been so worth it. I give her one more
kiss and slowly but gently detangle my body from hers. Scooting to
the edge of the bed, I prepare to rise.

“
Where are you going,” she
asks. A yawn attacks her, making me laugh.

“
Well, considering we don’t
know when your mom is going to be back, I should probably go find
the couch, and you should probably put some sweats and a t-shirt
on. I know she likes me, but I don’t think she’d want to find us
like this.”

“
You’re probably
right.”

“
Once again, I know I’m
right. When I have a daughter, I’m going to have a
shotgun.”

At the sound of my words,
Skye kind of freezes, and she averts her gaze. Suddenly she’s more
awake than I expected, and I know I’ve said something wrong. For a
moment, I can’t begin to fathom what it might be, but then I know
it’s the part about having a daughter. Skye’s not worried about the
gun. It’s the mention of kids that’s set her off—and particularly
the thought of a kid she’ll never be able to hold.

“
I’m sorry I said that,” I
manage. “I just meant I’d want to protect her from jerks. That’s
all.”

“
You’re not a jerk, Devin.”
She licks her lips as though trying to calm herself. “And I know
what you meant. Wherever my thoughts went, it’s not your fault;
It’s mine. I’ll put some clothes on.”

I fumble into the sweats
“You know I didn’t say that to hurt you; I would never do
that.”

“
I know.” She’s looking
down, and I feel myself falling back behind the wall.

I finish dressing and slip
downstairs, where I lie on the couch and wait for Helen and Warren.
Occasionally I hear Skye moving around upstairs, and I’m hoping
she’s not on her weak ankle, but I can tell she needs some time
alone. Besides, if she needs me, she always knows where to find
me.

Chapter
Fifteen

“
Devin?”

I feel someone jostling my
shoulder, and I blink into wakefulness, expecting to find Skye.
Instead, Warren leans over me, his expression haggard, with dark
circles under his eyes and stubble lining his jaw. His white
button-down shirt is rumpled from long hours waiting for his
flight, and for once he doesn’t look completely
put-together.

“
Morning,” I say peering
toward the window where bright sunlight spills into the room,
casting odd shapes on the carpet. It looks bright out there,
nothing like yesterday.

“
There’re a few large
branches across the driveway in front of your Jeep,” Warren says as
he eases into a recliner and leans back. “Must have been one really
crazy storm.”

“
It was,” I assure him.
“That’s part of why I stayed—that and the aftermath of Skye’s
father.”

Warren frowns.
“What?”

“
He came over to talk to
her, and it upset her. She took off right before the storm hit. By
the time I found her, she was hiding at the cemetery, and a branch
had fallen across her legs so she couldn’t get up. She also had a
nasty gash on her head. I didn’t want to leave her like that, so I
just camped out on the couch.” Okay, so it’s not exactly the truth
as it happened, but it’s close enough. Sometimes the truth is just
too complicated.

“
Is she all right?” Helen
asks as she slips into the room, two cups of coffee in hand. She
gives one to Warren and sits on the couch next to me.

“
She’s calmer. Still mad as
hell at her dad, but he’s definitely got that coming.”

“
Did you?” Warren asks,
nodding at me. I know what he’s getting at, but Helen has no
clue.

“
Did he what?”

I shrug. “I was going to,
but every time I try, things seem to get crazy and something sets
her off.”

“
What are you talking
about?” Helen looks from me to Warren and back as she searches for
answers.

I look at Warren, wondering
if I should tell her, and when he gives an almost imperceptible
nod, I finally turn to her. “I’ve been trying to propose to Skye
ever since we both finished college. It just always seems that
something gets in the way—something I can’t prepare
for.”

“
Oh, Devin.” She immediately
sets down the coffee cup and wraps her arms around me. “I would
love to have you as my son.”

I grin, hug her back, and
shake my head. “I’d love that, too, but there’s one small factor
that has to be considered. I haven’t proposed yet, and Skye might
actually say no.”

Helen nods. “Yeah, I know.
She might not say ‘yes’ the first time, but she loves you, Devin.
You can’t give up.”

“
I don’t intend to, but
sometimes Skye can be pretty stubborn.” I rise from the couch.
“Speaking of Skye, I should probably check on her. Last night, I
was pretty sure all she had was a gash on her head and a nasty
sprain, but I want to make sure.”

“
Thank you for taking care
of things,” Warren says as I walk past.

“
You’re welcome.” I stretch,
head toward the stairs, and trudge up them, suddenly aware of all
the kinks in my body left by the unforgiving couch I just slept on.
Granted, it looks comfortable, but in this case, looks are
deceiving. My back is killing me.

As I reach Skye’s door, I
find it open. Peering inside, I see Skye is already out of bed, so
I knock on the molding and wait, thinking she’s probably in her
closet, looking for something to wear.

“
Skye?”

No answer. Frowning, I
wonder where she might be. It’s not like she really needs to be
walking around on that ankle. It looked bad enough
yesterday.

I trudge down the hall,
heading for the bathroom. As I raise my hand to knock, I hear Skye
cough and vomit. My hand falters, and I wait, unsure what to do.
The vomiting seems to go on forever, and I wait until I hear the
sound of the toilet flushing before knocking on the
door.

“
Skye? You okay?”

A pause. I know she doesn’t
want to answer, but I’m worried, so I knock even louder.
“Skye?”

“
I’ll be right out.” Her
voice is uneven and painful. Sensing that’s about all I’m going to
get until she comes out, I step back and lean against the wall,
waiting as I fold my arms across my chest.

The door swings wide, and
she hobbles out, and each time she puts pressure on the ankle, she
winces and nearly falls. Her eyes slowly meet mine, and her face is
kind of splotchy, almost like she’s been crying.

“
Didn’t I tell you to stay
off that ankle?” I ask, rushing toward her, putting my arm around
her and scooping her into my arms despite the way she’s trying so
hard to protest.

“
You can’t be everywhere,
Devin, and I needed to go to the bathroom.”

“
You could have yelled,” I
argue. “I would have come up.” I look down at her ankle and cringe
at the swelling. I can only imagine how it must feel. In the
morning light, her legs look worse from all the scratches. While
the branch did no serious harm, there are angry gouges in the
flesh. I turn my attention to her forehead, where nasty bruising
discolors her skin.

“
Devin, I’m a big girl.
There are some things I need to do for myself.”

“
Fine. I’ll get you a pair
of crutches to keep you off your ankle. You’re damned lucky nothing
is broken.”

I ease her onto the bed and
run my fingers over the ankle again, searching for any new signs of
distress. Yet I don’t feel anything going on to lead me to believe
it’s broken. I turn my attention to her forehead. Yeah, the bruise
is nasty, but it’s not nearly as bad as it could have been. If that
massive branch had fallen directly on top of her, she might’ve
died.

“
Come on, Gimpy. Your mom
and Warren are home. Let’s go get some breakfast.” I turn and squat
so she can get on my back. “Then we’ll go to Walgreens and get you
a pair of crutches.”

“
Oh, all right,” she
mutters. She’s already changed out of her pajamas, so all she needs
is a pair of flip flops that I will grab on the way out. I feel her
slide her arms around my neck to hold on as she slings her injured
leg up first and then the other one so I can carry her
downstairs.

Both Warren and Helen await
us at the foot of the stairs, and when they see that instead of
Skye walking I’m carrying her, they both frown. “I didn’t think the
injury was that bad,” Helen murmurs.

Then they both get a look
at the swelling. “Oh, my. Are you sure it’s not broken?” Helen’s
voice is rising in panic as she follows us.

“
I don’t think so. She can
walk on it, but it’s painful, and I don’t want it to get any
worse.” I deposit Skye into one of the chairs at the dining room
table and turn to face Helen. “I told her after breakfast I’d drive
her to Walgreens so we could get a pair of crutches.”

“
I’ll cook some eggs,” Helen
says, immediately going for a pan.

“
No, Mom. I’m not really
hungry.” Skye frowns and looks down.

I kneel in front of her,
sensing something is wrong. I may not be able to see it, but I
sense the whitecaps in the water. “You’ve got to eat something,
Skye. You sounded like your stomach was upset this morning.” I
reach out to touch her head. “Is your head bothering
you?”

For some reason, the color
leaves her cheeks, and she pushes my hand away. “I’m fine, Devin.
Stop hovering.” She turns to Helen. “I’ll take a bowl of
cereal.”