Chapter 22
RHETT
(Six years later…)
I’m watching Frozen for the hundredth time with Danny tucked into my side. She’s rubbing a piece of my shirt caught between her thumb and forefinger, her eyes glued to the screen.
When the movie gets close to our part, she scrambles to her knees and wildly slaps at my chest.
“Get ready, Uncle Ledge!”
I watch her take a deep breath, and I start to sing along with her on the soundtrack. I watch her little face as she concentrates on getting the words right.
Her voice gets stronger as we near the chorus, and she squeals with laughter as I scoop her into my arms and dart up from the couch. I spin us around the living room as we both shout at the tops of our lungs, “Let it go. Let it go. Can’t hold it back anymore.”
By the time the song is finished, I’m out of breath. I fall back on the couch, and Danny snuggles into my side again.
We continue to watch the movie as if we didn’t dance and shout like a couple of crazy people just a few seconds ago.
As the credits start to roll, Danny looks up at me. “When are you going to find your Elsa, Uncle Ledge?”
I’m not about to ruin Danny’s little romantic heart, so I say, “I’ve already found my Anna, but right now she’s having an adventure.”
Danny claps her hands. “Oh, you like Elsa’s sister. Ooooh. I can’t wait until she’s back and she can tell me all about it.”
The smile fades from my face, and I whisper, “You and me both, Princess.”
I told Danny I found my Anna because the character reminds me more of Evie than Elsa does. It was the easiest way I could think of to explain it to Danny.
I sit and watch as Danny falls asleep before I slowly get up and cover her with the Little Mermaid blanket lying over the back of the couch.
On my way to join the gang where they’re barbecuing, I grab a beer from the fridge. I pop the cap off and take a sip as I step outside.
“Did she finally fall asleep?” Della asks, looking tired as hell where she’s sitting with Christopher sleeping on her lap. His one leg is up against her chest.
“Let me take him so you can have a breather,” I say, setting down my beer and picking up my godson.
“I swear, if it weren’t for you, I’d be crazy by now,” Della says a she gets up and stretches out. She presses a kiss to my cheek and walks towards the house.
“Della, where are you going?” Carter yells from where he’s standing by the barbeque with Jaxson, Marcus, and Ryan.
“I’m going to go pee before my bladder explodes,” she yells back at him.
“Please grab me a beer on the way back.”
Della glares at him before she disappears inside the house. I take a seat by Miss Sebastian, Mia, Willow, and Leigh.
“She wouldn’t let me take Christopher,” Miss Sebastian whispers to me. “She was waiting for you to come outside.”
The smile on Miss Sebastian’s face tells me she’s not upset about it, but instead proud of me.
“If I could have kids, I’d only trust you with them as well. I don’t blame her.”
As Della comes back outside, I smile when I see the beer in her hand. She waves it in the air. “Come fetch your drink.”
Carter comes over, but instead of going to Della, he heads in my direction.
“How’s my little-man doing?”
“Carter Hayes,” Della snaps. “Don’t you dare touch Christopher. I just got him to sleep.”
“But you just handed him to Rhett?” Carter says with a look of confusion.
“Because he is the only other person whose arms our children will sleep in. The second you touch them, they wake up and then I have to start all over again.”
I smirk at Carter as he takes the beer from Della.
Then I start to smell something just as Christopher begins to wiggle in my arms.
“Oh, hell no. Take your kid,” I say as I dart up and pass him to Carter. “I draw the line at changing diapers.”
I take a few steps back, almost falling over the chair I was sitting in, which makes everyone burst out laughing.
“Scared of getting your hands dirty?” Miss Sebastian teases me.
∞∞∞
By the time I get back to the hotel, I’m exhausted. Mia and Logan offered to stay with them, but as much as I love my niece, I don’t want to be woken by her crying every few hours.
I rented out my place when I moved to LA. Everyone thinks it’s because I wanted to help Jaxson and Marcus set up the new business, but it’s because Evie is there.
I haven’t seen or spoken to her in… fuck, I think it’s been six years. Yeah, I last saw her when I was twenty-two. I turned twenty-eight last month.
Damn, it still feels like yesterday though. Marcus tends to drop something about Evie here and there, and it’s pathetic how I’ve become dependent on him just so I know what’s happening in her life.
It’s small stuff.
“I hear Evie’s doing okay.”
“Evie’s still single.”
He will whisper it when walking past me, or while we’re getting coffee in the mornings. I’ll just nod, so he knows that I’ve heard him.
Like I said, it’s pathetic. If I were half the man I claim to be, I’d be knocking on her door and making her mine.
But I’m not the man everyone thinks I am.
I’ve become the man I used to warn Mia about. I spend my Saturdays at an exclusive club where I fuck random strangers. Lately even that’s starting to lose its appeal.
With all my friends settled down, I’m forced to face the horrible truth that I’m alone because I let the only woman I’ll ever love walk out of my life.