Page 104 of Against The Tide

Before either of us has a chance to say anything, she runs back out of the room. “I’m not going back!”

“Fuck,” I spit, getting to my feet to follow after Iris and Avery, who’s already chasing after her down the stairs, chanting, “Shit. Shit, shit…shit!”

“Iris!” Jo calls after her as she runs out of the back door, toward the lake.

“Iris, get back here! Stop!” Avery catches up to her, out of breath, and I watch from the porch as Iris’s arms flail all over the place as she has an obvious meltdown.

They’re far enough that I catch a couple of words here and there, but not enough to make out the full conversation. It doesn’t take long for Iris to cool off once she starts listening to whatever Avery is telling her. When they head back to the house, she looks exhausted. Iris’s eyes are puffy, and she barely glances up at me when she trudges back in the house.

Guilt tugs at my heart with how downcast she is. Not fifteen minutes ago she was happy and excited, and now…

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” I blow out a breath, wrapping my arm around Avery’s shoulders. “I should’ve waited till later to bring it up.”

“It’s not your fault, Doc.” Turning into me, Avery rises on her tiptoes. “She’s scared that if we go back, we won’t be allowed to return. She overheard a conversation I had with Callie on the phone about the guardianship situation and…” With her tear-ladened pause, my chest constricts.

Every cell of my being wants nothing more than to fix everything for her. I would break every bone in my body if it would make life right for her.

“Sometimes it’s easy to forget she’s still a baby with all her personality.”

“Like I said before, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. There are more ways than one to skin a cat.”

“Eww!” Avery pulls back with a grossed-out pinch to her face. “That’s horrible.”

“It really is, but it’s still the truth. I want to help make things better. I want to make your life the best it can be.”

A soft smile tugs at the corners of her lips, and unexpectedly she cups either side of my jaw. Bringing my face down to hers, she presses a lingering kiss to my lips with a breathy sigh.

“My life is the best it has ever been,” Avery murmurs, nudging the tip of my nose with hers. “And you have everything to do with it.”

“What if it’s not enough?”

Avery is nothing like my exes. Neither Sarah nor Willa had a patch on her, and the string of women that came after them were nothing but commodities. I didn’t care about any of them the way I do her. It terrifies me to think that someday she’ll look at me and want more than what I can give her.

In her early thirties, she’s still got a lot of life left ahead of her. A lot of self-discovery to come…

“Doc? Honey?” My heart forgets itself as she lightly scratches her nails over my stubble.

It feels so good that I can’t help but squeeze her hips as I bring her flush to me. My pulse pounds through my veins as she inhales deeply, squeezing her eyes shut with a low, savoring purr that makes my chest warm.

“If I am more than enough for you,” Avery murmurs, stare blinking open on mine, “you are everything I could ever want or need. You are all I’ve ever dreamed of, and I wish that life had brought you to me before I made all the wrong choices because I would’ve loved you no matter what, and I would’ve never let you go.”

That right there, the look in her eyes as they bore into mine, it’s what makes her unlike any other woman I’ve ever known. She means every word, and it only makes me want to hold on to her as steadfastly as the moon holds on to the tide. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I do exactly that, and I don’t let go until Jo comes to remind us of dinner.

“Stupid pizza,” Avery grumbles under her breath as we pull apart. “I’m not even hungry.”

“Your stomach disagrees,” I chuckle at the loud rumble of her belly.

“Stupid belly.”

“We need to keep your energy up. I don’t want you falling asleep on me.” My whispered tease earns me a light elbow to my stomach along with a gorgeous glow to her cheeks. “The night is long, sweetheart, and cold.”

“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll keep you warm.” The quip gives me pause.

Avery hasn’t ever called me anything other than Rhett or Doc. Which in itself is sort of weird because she loves to tell me how much she likes that I call her sweetheart and sunshine. This is a first I haven’t given much thought to, if any, but the effect it has is staggering. My entire being feels lit up like the Fourth of July. With my heart sputtering and my chest struggling to contain its wild erratic beat, I sit beside her at the dinner table with Iris opposite me.

It takes a few slices of almost cold pizza to get her chatting again. But by the time I give her the warm cookie dough she loves, she’s beaming up at me.

“Addams Family, champ?”