Page 69 of The Do-Over
Thea had to laugh. “I promise you get used to it,” she said. “It’s not so bad when it happens gradually over a couple of decades. It’s just hitting you all at once. And being out in the cold probably isn’t helping, by the way. Will you please come in before you get hypothermia? I can’t take you to the hospital in this and you know it.”
Rob grinned sheepishly. “You’re right,” he said. “I was being moody.”
“I’m making coffee. Come be moody in the kitchen. I won’t even try to talk you out of it.”
“You’re the best, you know,” Rob said. “You’ve always been the best.” He came in and closed the door behind him.
“The best what?”
“The best…everything.” He was quiet for several moments. “You know…what I told you about my dad?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry I never told you that before.”
“Rob, you don’t have to apologize. You were under no obligation—”
He held up a hand. “I’m not apologizing,” he said. “I’m saying…I’m sorry I didn’t. I wish I had. You were the only person who would ever have understood. You’ve always been the only one who understood, no matter what was going on with me.”
“Rob, you must have been going through hell. I had no idea what it was like for you. I wish I had figured it out. I should have figured it out.”
“Don’t be silly. There was no way you could have.”
He reached out and took her hand. His grip was gentle, and she could feel that he expected her to pull away.
She should pull away. She knew that.
“What are we doing?” she whispered.
“I shouldn’t have left you, Thea. I should have stayed when you asked me to stay.”
“Rob, no. Please don’t question that. You needed to get away from your father, and you did. That was more important than us.”
She was remembering all kinds of things now. The way Rob had never wanted to be at home—she’d chalked that up to normal teen angst. She’d known even then that the good relationship she had with her parents was unusual for her peer group. And his father had never come to the ball games, but Rob had always told her that he was just busy, and she had believed that. There was no reason to think he would lie about it.
But he had been.
All that time, he was covering up this secret.
“God,” she remembered. “You had bruises. You told me they were from basketball when I saw them, but…”
He shook his head. “You don’t get bruises like that playing basketball.”
Thea pressed her hands to her face. “I should have gone with you. You needed to get away. I should have known. I should have gone to Chicago.”
“You couldn’t have known, Thea. Don’t do that to yourself.”
“I’m so sorry, Rob.”
He stood and pulled her into his arms, and in spite of every impulse that was telling her to resist, she went.
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “We’re together now.”
This time, when he kissed her, she didn’t pull away. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around him, and she allowed herself to get lost in the familiar touch and smell.
The heat built quickly, and it was no surprise at all to her when he broke the kiss and gasped, “My bed? Or yours?”
She took his hand and led him down the hall.
