All Rhodes Lead Here

Come stay at the house with us.”
“Tonight?” I pretty much croaked.
The hand that had been on my throat for all of thirty seconds landed on my thigh. “I’ll drive you in the morning if your flight is still on. You won’t have to walk back and forth across the driveway,” he said, like it was a half-mile walk from the garage apartment to his house.
My own mouth twitched. “Sure.”
Rhodes stood and set that same palm on top of my shoulder. “Want to come over now? I’ll help you carry your things.”
“Sign me up.”

There was nothing about this man that was hesitant or withdrawn. He was quiet, yeah, but it had nothing to do with him holding parts of himself back. I loved how serious he was. How deep his thoughts and actions went.

When everyone started talking about a big storm that was supposed to roll in the day before Christmas, I didn’t think much of it. We had been getting steady snowfall every few days for a while. I’d gotten more confident driving in it, even though any time he could, Rhodes came to the shop and followed me back home.

!” a yell came from the house, surprising us both.
I peeked over Rhodes’s shoulder to find Amos standing at the doorway, still in his pajamas and looking even more sleepy.
“You okay?” he asked, confirming exactly why I’d come here.
Because it was a place where a sixteen-year-old and a forty-two-year-old who I’d only known for about six months worried about me more than people I had known for over a decade.

Whenever you’re ready, you’ll tell me?”
I nodded, and that was when I whispered, “I don’t kiss just anybody.”
The way he said “good” was probably going to be etched into my soul for the rest of my life.

But as I approached the garage apartment, I spotted Rhodes himself coming out of his house, this tight expression on his face that lasted about a second before he focused on my car. Then and only then did some of the tension ease off his features. Like relief. Was he relieved?

But more than all of that, I just wanted to get back to the life I knew now. The one that had built me back up from the place of indecision and confusion and fear that I had once been in. To the people who mattered.

Night, angel face.”

“Can I ask you something and you won’t get mad?”
His “yes” came a lot faster than I would have expected.
But I braced myself anyway. “It’s kind of personal.”
“Ask.”

Don’t mistake me giving you space as me not being interested. It’s not every woman I let into my bed, much less into my life, and even more into Amos’s life. Before you, it’d been nobody. So just because I don’t know what your mouth tastes like yet doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about it. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to. But Sofie would tell you I’ve got a big, fragile heart, and I think I do, so I need you to know what you want for my sake too, Buddy. Does that make it clear?”