Page 59 of Reckoning

“We have the area ready to replant what was destroyed. If our delivery truck comes in tomorrow, we’ll begin replanting the day after, okay?” he said.

“Yes, that works,” she said, and made more notes. “Everything is looking great. Have a good evening.”

Twenty minutes later, the house was silent. The last work crew was gone, and she pulled up the tracking app on her phone to make sure her dad hadn’t had a change of plans. From what she could tell, he still had a good hour or more of driving to get to his destination.

That’s when she sent Tate one more text.

Dad won’t be home until after dark. The workers are gone. You’re there, and I’m wishing you were here. Is this the day?

And then she waited.

We’re about to find out. Give me fifteen minutes.

Briar froze. She put this in motion. Now she had to be ready. She took the fastest shower ever, and her hands were shaking as she was trying to get dressed. Finally, she gave up on underwear, put on a pair of shorts, yanked the T-shirt over her head, and was stepping into some flats just as the doorbell rang. To date, the trip downstairs was the scariest, and the most long-awaited, moment of her life. All she kept thinking was, it was bound to happen, and then she opened the door.

* * *

Tate pocketed his phone and went into the house.

Abel had already gone back to work, and Lilith was cleaning up the kitchen.

“Mom, I’m going to meet Briar. She just got a letter from Tulane, awarding her a four-year, full-ride scholarship. We have stuff to talk about and plans to make.”

Lilith knew Tate was still bothered by what had happened this morning, and this was something good to shift his focus.

“Tell her congratulations from us. That’s wonderful.”

“I will,” Tate said, and walked out.

He could have driven his mother’s car but chose to walk across the park because he needed to think, weighing his want against the logistics. Everything within him was saying, This is right. It is time, and once he saw her house in the distance, all doubts were gone.

His heart was pounding as he jogged up the sidewalk and then onto her porch and rang the doorbell. This day had been a long time coming and—like every other milestone of their lives—meant to be.

* * *

Briar opened the door.

Tate walked in, closed and locked the door behind him, and then opened his arms. She walked into his embrace without speaking.

“Second thoughts?” he asked.

“No. Just unsure of the unknown. I know how it happens, but I don’t know what to do,” she said.

“I read a book,” Tate said.

She laughed. “And I’m protected, so whatever happens, we should be good to go.”

They clasped each other’s hands as they walked up the stairs and into her bedroom, then closed and locked the door. She took one last glance at the tracking app on her phone to check her father’s whereabouts. Satisfied that he was still on his way up a mountain, she put it on mute and turned around.

Tate had kicked off his boots and pulled the T-shirt over his head.

Briar sighed. A man stood before her, waiting. When she started to take off her shirt, he moved.

“I’m not wearing underwear,” she said.

“All the easier to undress you. Let me,” he said, and ran his hands beneath the shirt, then grasped the hem and pulled it up and over her head. “Just like in my dreams,” he said, then took her hands and put them on his chest. “This is still us, Briar, just without barriers.”

It was his heartbeat beneath her palm that tipped the scale. It was racing. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. She put his hands on her breasts.