Page 81 of On the Slopes of Tahoe
“Daddy!” Willow’s voice carries down the stairs, cutting him off as he was about to open his mouth to speak again. “I’m in bed.”
“Okay, I’m coming.”
He jogs off, bounding up the stairs two at a time, and I quietly follow. I never participate in bedtime, but part of me wants to, just this once, even if only as a silent observer.
When I approach the doorway, Breck is reading her a story, then she starts to read it to him instead. I close my eyes and imagine sitting with them, listening to her read. When the story’s over, I hear them shifting around and peek my head around the door. Breck leans over her, tucking the blankets around her small body. Leaning close, he whispers something in her ear, and she whispers something back. Words that are just for them.
An hour later, Willow is fast asleep and Breck and I are hunkered down in the living room, an empty wine bottle and our two glasses on the coffee table.
We’ve been going over every possible detail for Willow Tree Elopements. Which dates I have booked, who’s officiating… As of last week, Patrick is now part of the team. He’s a friend of mine and Jamie’s from college who recently moved back to the area. With his confident, outgoing personality, I have no concerns about his ability to be an amazing officiant. And he’s available for all of the dates Jamie isn’t.
Breck has the website fully up and running and has walked me through all the necessary steps of the scheduling and CRM software. It’s a lot, and even though he’s been showing me everything as he’s set it up, touching on all of it at once is overwhelming.
“Do you really think I can do this on my own?” I ask, chewing my lip. It’s a question I’ve been terrified to voice for weeks.
“You absolutely can.” He walks his fingers up my arm. “You can and you will. And you won’t ever truly be on your own. I’m only a phone call or an email away. Or hell, a flight even. I know I can’t just jump on a plane whenever I want, but if you really needed it, I could be here.”
Never in a million years would I ask that of him, but it fills my heart with something warm that he would even offer.
“You aren’t alone.” His thumb coasts over my jawline. “You have me. You have Wes and Jamie and Joss. You have support,you just have to lean into it. But at the end of the day, all you really need is you. I believe in you.”
My eyes swim with tears. As much as I was dreading that question, I’m glad I asked. I needed those words in a way I never knew. I needed them fromhim.
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he says back. “No more doubting yourself. You’ve got this. Your new place is good to go next week?”
“Yeah, on Monday. It’ll be weird living down in the valley and not right on the mountain. Maybe that change will be good for me too. Some space.”
“I wish we could help you get settled in. You did so much for us when we got here.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I promise I’ll bring you a fancy candle or something when we visit.” He grins, but it falls a little flat.
“Don’t—” I cut myself off by biting my lip again, this time so much that it hurts.
“Don’t… what?”
“Please don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I won’t. I’m not. We will come back. Wes and Joss are going to want to come visit and I already told Willow we’d come with them when they do. I don’t know when it’ll be, but wewillcome back, okay?”
I nod, but something in me says it’s not true. He and Willow will go back to their lives in Sydney and figure out how to move forward after everything. Even if they do come visit, it’ll never be the same. It’ll never be like this. He’ll find someone to love him, and she’ll be the one to pick my housewarming gift. Or maybe it’ll be me who finds someone, and the thought of that should make me happy, but it doesn’t. Either way, we won’t beuslike we are right now. It’ll change, and I wish it didn’t have to.
“We’ll still be friends, right? I know you’ll go back to having Wes when you get home, but…” I can’t finish the sentence.
Breck pulls me into him and hugs me tight. “Is that what you’re worried about? That I’m going to go home and forget about you?”
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds childish… I’m only making it more obvious that I’m just Wes’s little sister, aren’t I?” I try to escape his hold, feeling exposed and raw all of a sudden.
“Stop,” he says, keeping me close. “You’re notjustWes’s little sister. God, don’t you know that? Rory, you’re like sunshine. You bring light to everything around you. You’re warm and bright. And you know what else makes you like the sun?”
I shake my head, too nervous to speak.
“There’s no alternative to the sun. It may get eclipsed sometimes, but it’s always there, shining anyway. That’s you. Your parents have tried to control you, you’ve felt overshadowed by Wes, but in the end, none of that matters because you will come through brighter than ever.”
“How do you know?”
