Nina’s brow scrunched in confusion at first, but then it registered. She rose from the rocking chair, the shawl falling to the porch, and Nina stepped close to her, unsure and awkward. Elle put her arms around her sister and hugged her.
“You’re going to survive life without Henry. You deserve better than someone like him, anyway. We both do.”
Nina crumpled in her arms at that and pressed her face into Elle’s shoulder. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Tears slipped down Elle’s face, her muscles unknotting. “I’ve missed you, too.”
And that was the truth. Elle had felt the loss of her failed marriage. But she’d mourned Nina more. She didn’t know if they’d ever be able to recapture the relationship they’d had before Henry, but maybe they could find a new path where they could be in each other’s lives.
Nina sobbed softly and they stood holding each other for long minutes. The sun peeked over the horizon, slanting warmth along Elle’s back, and hope bloomed fresh inside her. The start of a new day…and maybe the start of a lot of other things in her life.
Only when their mother stuck her head out the door did they pull apart.
“Come on, girls,” her mom said softly, her eyes brighter than Elle had seen them in a long time. “It’s time for breakfast.”
Chapter 23
Lane climbed out of the car after pulling up in front of Elle’s house and set her bag on the porch. Elle busied herself digging her keys out of her purse. The entire road trip home, they’d managed to stick to safe topics like Elle's new truce with her sister and if her mother needed anything before her surgery. They'd dutifully avoided talking about the state of their relationship—or if there even was going to be one.
He wasn't going to take back what he’d said on Friday night. He'd been honest. But he also wasn't going to force the issue. She'd had life-changing shit thrown at her this weekend. He didn’t plan to add to the pile. He could push her boundaries in the bedroom. He wouldn’t on this.
“I want to try,” she said from somewhere behind him.
He turned, distracted. “Try what? Visiting home more?”
That had been the last topic they’d covered, and he figured she was ruminating over it.
She frowned and hitched her purse higher on her shoulder. “No. Try with you.”
“Try what with me?” he asked cautiously.
She straightened her spine, looking somehow fierce and adorable at the same time. “Dating…with intention. And an open mind.”
An open mind. Which meant an open road. None of the rules and restrictions they’d been messing with. Freedom. His lips curved on their own. “Yeah?”
She exhaled and squinted toward the pond in the distance, as if looking at him was too much. “Yeah. I think…”
When the sentence drifted off and she still wasn’t looking his way, he reached out and touched her elbow. “You think what, doc?”
She tipped her head back and looked at the sky like she wished she could beam herself up to some other place. “I think you make me happy, okay?”
The words hit him right in the sternum, unexpected and breath-stealing. He made her happy. But the perturbed look on her face had a laugh rumbling out of him. “You sound kind of pissed about that.”
She groaned and finally looked at him, those bright blue eyes drilling right into him. “I am, a little. This wasn’t the plan. You were supposed to be…”
“Just a hot piece of ass on a lonely Friday night?” he supplied with a smirk. “Let’s face it, I’m still that on every night of the week. All is not lost.”
She snorted. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”
He crossed his arms, all too pleased. “Nope.”
“Fine.” She rolled her shoulders, looking ever the put-together doctor, though anxiety flickered in her eyes. “Yes, you were supposed to be a hookup. You weren’t supposed to matter. You weren’t supposed to make me want things I’d given up on. And you definitely weren’t supposed to make me feel…lost at the thought of you walking out of my life.”
His heart gave a hard thump in his chest, all desire to joke draining out of him. He took her hands in his. “Doc…”
“I don’t know if I’ll be any good at this because Lord knows I’ve made a disaster of it so far, but I want to try. I want to be happy…with you.” She shrugged a shoulder. “You know, if you want that, too.”
He laced his fingers with hers and pulled her to him, guiding her hands around his waist. He gazed down at her, a surge of affection welling and nearly choking off his words. “I want that. So much. You make me happy, too, doc.”