Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

C olson

Can a heart have whiplash?

That was only one of a thousand thoughts that ran through my brain as I woke to the first bit of morning light streaming through the windows. Tully was on her side just inches away from me, her knees bent and her feet tucked into my shins for warmth. Her bandage was tickling my leg. Last night had been…intense.

Seeing Tully and Sofia in danger had nearly wrecked me, but seeing Tully cry had completed the destruction. And then I’d gotten angry. So fucking angry that she didn’t seem to understand just how much I loved her. I would have scorched the entire earth for her back when we were together. She merely had to ask and I’d have found a way to do it. But now? Asking me for something now that she’d left my ass for nineteen years? What the actual fuck?

So, yeah, my heart was sore this morning, feeling like it had gotten involved in a collision that left the organ whiplashed from experiencing every emotion known to man.

And fuck me, but I itched to stretch out my arms and pull her into my chest. I wanted to hold on to her and never let go, same as nineteen years ago. Had I learned absolutely nothing the last two decades? Was she forever going to be the one person who could destroy me, over and over again?

When the temptation to touch her got to be too much, I crept out from under the blankets, every bone in my body sore from sleeping on the ground. Silently moving about the living room, I picked up my boots and checked on the kitchen, glad the fire was truly out, but saddened to see the damage. One last peek in the living room showed Tully sound asleep, her hands stacked under her cheek. I gave myself exactly three seconds to drink her in without judgment and then I tiptoed out of the house, shoving my feet into my boots.

Leaves and sticks crunched under my feet as I walked over to the carriage house. I heard Hayes’s nails on the tile floor before I knocked gently on the door. Sofia called for me to come in, so I did, giving Hayes love before I moved further into the space. Sofia was already making a cup of coffee, looking far better than she had last night. She turned back to the small counter space in the kitchen and poured another cup for me, not bothering with cream or sugar. Since I moved back to Blueball, she and I would frequently share a cup of coffee on days I didn’t work.

“There’s my hero,” she said softly, handing me the mug.

I shook my head, feeling embarrassed for literally just doing what I got paid to do. It was like praising the garbage guys for collecting your trash at the curb. I collected a paycheck, that was praise enough.

Sofia sat down on one end of the only couch in the place and I sat on the other. She still had on her plaid pajama pants and cotton shirt from the night before, though she’d stolen the slippers Mom got me for Christmas last year that I never used. They looked comically large on her small frame.

“Don’t you brush me off, Colson Wolfe. You are the second-best man I know on this planet—rest in peace, Aldo, my love—and I’ll tell you every day if I want to.”

She gave me a stern look, to which I dipped my head in silent apology. We both sat and sipped our coffee for a few minutes, waking up slowly and completely comfortable in each other’s company. I waited until she’d almost reached the bottom of the cup before I addressed her house.

“I’ll help you get whatever you need out of the house today so you can stay here for a bit. I can probably do all the demo this afternoon after I do a few things for the fundraiser.”

Sofia shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. I want you to work on that fundraiser. I have a nice pot of money thanks to Tully sending me a monthly allowance. Can you believe that? My own child sending me an allowance.” She laughed softly. “Anyway, I’m going to use that to have some professionals come in. You’ve done enough. I’m just fine here for as long as it takes. But are you sure you and Tully are okay at Gigi’s? Have you asked her yet?”

I leaned over to place the empty mug on the floor, seeing as how I hadn’t bothered to get end tables. “If you mean Tully, yeah. She’s on board with moving into Mom’s place. And if you mean Gigi, you know she’ll say yes immediately. She wasn’t exactly happy I moved out. Plus I spend most of my nights at the fire station.”

I stood up and took my mug to the sink. “I’m going to head into Crazy Beans and get us breakfast. Then we’ll get your stuff moved over. Sound good?”

Sofia tilted her head, her halo of silver hair giving me insight into what Tully would one day look like. “God didn’t give me a son, but he gave me you.”

These damn Cassio women had me wrapped around their fingers. I came over, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek, insanely grateful the fire hadn’t harmed her in any way. “Love you too. Be back soon.”

And then I was gone, grabbing muffins, egg bites, and lattes from town. My hands were so full I had to nudge my truck door closed with the toe of my boot. Sofia was back at the main house, chatting with Tully at the dining room table. Tully looked like she’d gotten punched in the face overnight. Her eyes were puffy and red. Her hair though. Shoo-ee. That was the masterpiece.

“Hide any squirrels in there?” I asked, pointing to the rat’s nest her hair had become.

Tully rolled her swollen eyes, but I noticed the way her lips tipped up into an almost grin. She flipped me off. Sofia gasped and swatted her hand down. Tully said she wanted me to be mean to her. The best I could do was gentle teasing. Today at least, I had my emotions in check and could give her what she needed without getting pissed off.

We ate together, chatting about repairs, Tully offering suggestions for kitchen upgrades while we were at it, which I wholeheartedly supported. Sofia spent a lot of time in the kitchen baking her pies and deserved a state-of-the-art facility. Then we got Sofia moved over to the carriage house with everything she’d need for the week. Sofia asked if Hayes could stay with her, which I thought was best. Mom had enough animals at her place, and my boy was too old to fend off the wild geese. Tully called Em and was able to get Pip and Savannah’s promise to come over this afternoon to start working on repairs. All in all, things were coming along nicely.

I shoved some clothes in my own duffle bag at the carriage house and looked over at Tully, organizing a grocery delivery for her mama before we left. I gave Hayes some belly rubs one last time, promising to visit him every day while I was gone at Mom’s. And then it was time to move my ex-wife in with my mother and me. I shook my head, feeling like I was living in an episode of a daytime soap opera.

“You ready, roomie?”

Tully straightened from the refrigerator where she was taking stock of my two condiments and moldy loaf of bread. She shot me a look like she didn’t appreciate my humor. Her eyes were less puffy now that she’d been up and moving around and she’d wrangled that hair into a messy bun high on her head. I tried my best not to watch her in those skintight jeans paired with an oversized T-shirt. Every time she bent over, the shirt would ride up and show off that ass in a pair of expensive jeans. Seriously, the curves had only gotten better over the years. I was a guy, so of course I noticed, but we also had a bit of a truce going right now. A temporary, unspoken agreement to be friends, and I didn’t want to ruin that by getting caught checking her out.

I waited outside on the stoop while Tully said goodbye to her mama. She came out, shutting the door quietly and hoisting the strap of her designer duffle bag over her shoulder. I’d never understand why women spent crazy amounts of money on brown leather bags with somebody’s ugly-as-shit logo stamped all over it. But that wasn’t my business. What was my business was taking that strap right off her shoulder and putting it on mine. We may not be together any longer, but there was no way in hell I was going to let Tully carry her own bags when I had two perfectly good arms.

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue with me. See? Progress. We traipsed across the land again, Tully walking a little slower than normal as she favored her injured foot. I put everything in the back of my truck before we separately drove our vehicles over to Mom’s house. I supposed I should have called her first, but I forgot amidst all the other things we’d been doing this morning.

Mom came out on the porch, eyeing both our cars. Her face lit up like T-Swift herself had come to visit when she saw Tully climbing out of her Range Rover.

“Tully, baby!” Mom rushed down the stairs and swept Tully into her arms, ignoring me entirely. “What are you doing here? I heard you were back in town.”

I eyed the two of them with annoyance. “I’m good. Thanks for asking. How are you?”

Mom frowned at me. “Oh, shush.”

She turned back to Tully and the two walked back into the house, arm in arm, both of them talking a mile a minute. I huffed out my irritation to the pine trees lining Mom’s property. Bessie let out a moo like she understood my irritation. She didn’t like sharing Mom’s attention either. I grabbed our bags out of the back of my truck and headed up the porch steps, marching right past the chatting women to deposit Tully’s bag in the new guest room Em had built not long ago.

“Mom! Can I take my normal room upstairs?” I called out from the base of the stairs. I’d been staying in my old childhood room, which was essentially a closed-in loft space, since I moved back to Blueball. Thanks to the slope of the roof, I could only stand up in the very middle of the room.

“Oh no, honey. I converted that space to a sewing room!” she hollered back.

I came back into the living room with my bag. “Since when do you sew?”

She lifted her nose in the air, glasses jammed into her hair like a headband. “I’ve always sewn. I just didn’t have room with you boys taking up all the space. Now I have a whole room!”

I frowned. “Well, where can I stay, then?”

Mom squinted at me. “Stay? You’re staying with me again?” Her face transformed into a beatific smile. She rushed over and hugged me, trapping my arms at my side. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Her glasses were jabbing me in the chest. I shook my head and saw Tully watching us closely. “I didn’t know I had to say a magic password to get you to hug me.”

“Oh, you…” Mom grumbled, releasing me and stepping back. “So, what’s going on?”

“You didn’t call her?” Tully sounded a bit accusatory.

Honestly, I hadn’t thought this out. The two of them would band together against me. I could already feel it. They’d always gotten along. Well, except when I told Mom Tully was divorcing me. Mom had taken my side and explained to Tully that while she loved her too, she needed to be there for me in the aftermath.

“Mom. Sofia had a small electrical fire last night.” Mom gasped and I kept going. “She’s fine. We’re all fine. But I moved her into the carriage house, which means Tully and I need a place to stay for a week or two. Can we stay with you?”

Mom beamed, hands clasped like she was saying a prayer of thanks. “Absolutely! This will be so much fun! Like a sleepover!”

I shook my head. “No. Not like a sleepover.”

Mom pushed my arm toward the hallway. “Go put your stuff in the yellow room.”

Mom had painted Warrick’s old room yellow after he and Em had moved into their own place. It wasn’t a mellow yellow either. More like neon. I grimaced, but obeyed, trekking back down the hallway to dump my bag on the double bed. It would be like sleeping on the surface of the sun, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. I glanced at the wall separating my room from Tully’s. There wasn’t possibly enough two-by-fours or thick enough insulation between us to keep me from lying there at night listening for her.

When I came back out, Mom had Tully cornered on the couch. “I really think firemen holding geese will be just the thing they need to go viral. Don’t you?”

“Mom,” I groaned.

Tully nodded. “I’m not sure about geese, but maybe a furry dog or cat?”

I shook my head, eyes wide, motioning my finger across my neck while Mom’s back was turned. Tully’s gaze flicked up and over Mom’s head to see me. She rolled her lips inward, trying not to laugh.

I dove in before Mom could come up with any further harebrained schemes for my fundraiser. “Sorry, Mom, but Tully and I have to go. We need to take pictures at the station and make some flyers. Can I bring home dinner for all of us?”

Mom stood up, disappointment written all over her face. I felt kind of bad. She’d been lonely since Dad died. “Grass?”

I nodded and gave her a hug, kissing the top of her head. “Of course. I’ll get your favorite. See you tonight. Maybe we can all watch a movie and make popcorn?”

Mom’s face lit up and I felt like less of an asshole. Tully joined me as we walked out to my truck, both of us assuming I’d drive us to the fire station. I’d always been the one to drive when we were together.

That whiplash feeling was back. We were living together. Working together. Spending time together.

If I wasn’t careful, I was going to fall in love with my wife all over again.

Ahem. Ex -wife.