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Her heavy smile speaks to the trauma she endured, but she tries anyway. “I don’t know. I’ve been Eliza my whole life, but I suppose I could keep Sunny for this state.”
The sirens draw close. Within moments we’ll be bombarded, but none of it matters, not when I have her in my arms again. She’s every dream come true.
My Sunny.
Forever.
Chapter 30
Sunny
O
Of course, it takes f course, it takes months to sort out the mess. But Charlene turned on Tucker in less than a day in order to get a better deal from the district attorney. He’d planned to make her out to be the mastermind. After all, that’s what fairytales tell us. The evil stepmother did it. But this time, the true evil landed on my stepbrother. He’d set his sights on my inheritance from the moment Charlene started dating my father. It took years to earn my trust, but a sociopath like Tucker didn’t mind putting in the time.
Dad took time to heal. The injuries were extensive and Tucker’s patch job after shooting him was barely good enough to keep him alive. Weeks later, he’s finally back on his feet and starting to boss people around again, me being the chief example. I miss Sea Star Ranch, but I miss Rhett even more. He understood when I wanted to follow Dad home to make sure he could heal properly, and obviously, I needed to go home to help out with the investigation, but my heart aches to sit on the beach and watch the sunset with my head on his shoulder.
“Did you get Miss Geppy all set up?” Dad asks from his rocker. I’ve noticed when the most difficult clients need him, Dad is quick to feel exhausted and needs to rest.
“Yes. I explained the bill to her for the third time and managed to get a down payment.”
“Did she try paying with kid’s toy money again?” He smirks over his ice water. “The last one was pretty convincing.”
“These bills were pink this time, so she should really work a little harder.” I start to sink into the chair next to him. But he puts up a hand to stop me.
“Can you get the door before you sit down?”
I glance around, frowning. “The door? I didn’t hear anything.”
Dad pulls out his phone, reads the screen, and then smiles. “Oh wait, hold on,” the doorbell rings, “now, can you get the door?”
I laugh a little. He sure knows how to milk it. Knowing him, he ordered pizza and doesn’t want to walk to the door. “Yeah, Dad, I’ll get it.”
He’s getting around better. I know he’ll never not need me, but it’s getting to the point that I’ll need to bring up the topic of at least visiting California. I worry he’s not ready, but even if it’s only a couple days, I want to visit Rhett.
I grab my wallet from my purse as I make my way to the front door. At least the past weeks have managed to repair our relationship. It’s not perfect, but we’re headed in the right direction. I pull back the door without looking up.
“Okay, what’s the damage? How much do I owe you?” I search in my wallet for some bills, but the laughter from the delivery guy brings my head up.
“Didn’t know this was a paying position. Seems like I should interview before I get the paycheck, don’t you think?”
I throw my wallet to the side and dive into Rhett’s arms without so much as a hello. He tightens his grip. For the first time in weeks, I feel right again, like myself, but better.
“I’ve missed you.” Rhett barely pauses between kisses with his breathy whisper, but it still sends electricity down my spine. I pull back, pinning his face between my palms.
“I missed you too.” I rub my thumb over his cheek. “I had no clue you were coming.”
“That was your Dad’s idea to make it a surprise.”
“Well, I’ll get after him in a minute. I’ve got something else to do first.”
Rhett pulls away from me. “What?”
I quirk my eyebrows and pull him back to my lips, hoping he gets the message.
Rhett
I spent the week at her place. Instead of my Mom telling us what is and isn’t proper, her Dad took over the job. I hated leaving because I wasn’t sure when I’d see her again. Wasn’t I surprised when she ended up on my flight with me?
