Page 105 of Wilde Ride

My heart felt like it shattered. He felt guilty about feeling happy. “Buddy, it’s okay to miss Brooke and still be happy. She would want you to be happy and have fun with your friends.”

He nodded. “She’d like Ms. Emeline.”

“I think she would too.”

“Are you going to marry Ms. Emeline?”

I nearly choked. “What? Rhett, we’ve only just started dating. I think it’s a bit too soon to be thinking about that. Besides, we just moved here, and we have to get settled in and start our lives.”

“But you gonna keep dating Ms. Emeline, right? I really like her.”

“You’re going to, not ‘you gonna’.”

He nodded. “Yeah, that.”

I chuckled. “I really like her, too, and I hope so. Come on, let’s get you finished up so Emeline can read you that story.”

By the time I had gotten Rhett dressed, Emeline appeared at the door to his bedroom. “I followed the voices,” she said.

Rhett got up on his knees and held out a book. “This one, Ms. Emeline. It’s new!”

She sat down on the bed and looked at the book, reading the title. “Mr. Maple: A Guide Dog’s Journey, by Paul Castle. Sounds good!”

“Grammy bought it for me, and we haven’t read it yet.”

“She won’t mind if I read it to you?”

Rhett shook his head. “Nope! Daddy was gonna read it, but now you are.”

I watched as Rhett got snuggled in next to Emeline. As she read, they talked about the drawings, and Rhett asked questions about what a guide dog does. Happiness welled up in my heart as I watched the two of them.

The sound of the garage door opening caused me to carefully slip away and head downstairs.

Mom was putting a to-go container into the fridge.

“How was dinner?” I asked before leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.

“Lovely. How was the Mexican restaurant?”

“It was great.”

My father walked into the kitchen. “Where’s Rhett?”

I wasn’t entirely sure how my parents would react to the news of me dating Emeline. I had a feeling I would get the it’s-too-soon speech, or maybe they’d even think she was too young for me.

Looking up at the ceiling, I replied, “Emeline’s reading his new book to him.”

Both of my parents stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me. My mother smiled. “Emeline’s here?”

Nodding, I said, “Rhett wanted to make sundaes, and he mentioned how Emeline made such great ones. He asked if she could come back to the house, so that’s what we did.”

My parents exchanged a knowing look before returning their attention to me. “So is this official?” Mom asked.

“Is what official?”

She folded her arms over her chest. “Don’t play that game with me, Levi Tucker. Are you two dating? I mean, she went out to dinner with you boys, then came home for sundaes?”

I sighed. “We’re dating, yes.”