The days of him and his brothers talking about all the beautiful women they met and enjoyed had vanished. Now it was marriage, babies, buying houses—adulthood in a nutshell.
Seth gave Sara a wan smile. “I’m fine. How are you?”
After that, Seth mostly listened as everyone talked about their lives, their jobs, the usual types of things. Harrison and Sara were debating whether or not they wanted to find out the gender of their baby, while Mark and Abby were enjoying the latest foal that had been born on Mark’s ranch.
Rose found him after a while, looking happy but a little out of her element.
“Where’s Lizzie?” he asked her. He frowned. “She didn’t abandon you, did she?”
“No, she just had to go nurse Bea. Everyone has been perfectly nice.”
“Have you met my mother?”
She laughed. “Not yet. She’s been too busy, I guess.”
Lisa Thornton found them both soon thereafter. With her icy beauty and imperious stare, Lisa inspired admiration and fear in everyone she met. Her adult children still found her formidable.
“Seth, there you are. I haven’t seen you in ages,” Lisa admonished as she hugged him. “What have you been doing with yourself?”
“Sorry, Mom. I’ve meant to stop by,” he lied. He gestured toward Rose. “Have you met Rose DiMarco? She’s Heath’s younger sister.”
Lisa held out a hand that had a large diamond ring on her finger. “Rose, it’s so nice to meet you. You live next door to my son?”
“That’s right,” Rose said as she took Lisa’s hand. “I moved in about a month ago.”
“Excellent. Well, I hope you two enjoy yourselves. I have to find your father.” She patted Seth on the arm and hurried off.
Seth stared after Lisa, nonplussed. “That was—”
“Anticlimactic?” Rose supplied.
They both looked at each other and laughed. Maybe the rumors about Lisa not being quite as intense were true.
Seth and Rose drank and talked, and Rose lit sparklers with Sara’s son, James, before the fireworks show. Now eight years old, James was bright and growing like a weed. Although Harrison was his stepfather, he’d become more of a father to James since his marriage to Sara. James even called him Dad, despite his real father’s protests.
“You have to do it like this,” James said, demonstrating for Rose. “Right. Watch me, okay?”
Rose stood and watched, her expression serious, as James showed her the proper way to make swirls with the sparkler. James was so intent that he didn’t even notice Rose grinning at Seth.
God, I love her, Seth thought, realizing he was smiling like a fool right now. As he watched her play with James, the two of them making figure eights that seemed to be burned into the very air, he almost blurted out the words right then. He loved her so much it hurt.
When James ran off to get a hot dog, Seth almost took her into a private corner to tell her. But then Dave Thornton got up and yelled, “The fireworks are starting in five minutes! Get to your places, everyone!”
Seth froze, but with the crowd moving to get the best spots, Rose didn’t notice. They found themselves next to Megan and Caleb, everyone talking and laughing before the show began. Since the Thorntons were outside the city limits, they were able to do their own show—and even if anyone objected, they knew too many people in town to get themselves slapped with a fine.
Seth gritted his teeth, steeling himself. When the first firework went off, he closed his eyes.
At first, he thought he was fine. He wasn’t shaking, and he knew where he was. He felt Rose against him, and he heard her gasps at the bright colors and explosions overhead.
But as the fireworks went on and on, seemingly without end, he realized he was shaking. He was afraid he was going to throw up. When a firework burst multiple times in a row, crackling like gunfire, he pushed whoever was behind him aside. He couldn’t breathe; he gasped for air.
Finally, he broke free of the crowd, and he didn’t even see where he was going: he just ran until he collapsed onto his knees, his hands over his ears as the explosions went on and on.
Chapter Seventeen
One moment Seth was next to her watching the fireworks, the next he was pushing his way through the crowd. He disappeared from her line of sight for a moment.
“What’s wrong?” Caleb yelled over the latest firework explosion.
“I don’t know! I need to go after him.”
Rose ducked under someone’s arm and headed toward the Thornton house. She saw a door close, and she went inside the house, which was mostly dark except for a dim light from the hallway. She’d gone through a back door that led into a mudroom. She waited a moment and then heard footsteps. She ran after the sound.
She discovered Seth in a room upstairs, his head in his hands. She glanced at the decor and realized that this must have been his childhood room: there were posters of rock bands on the walls, a giant but old stereo on a table near the bed, and a scattering of rudimentary wooden figurines. She almost smiled when she saw the desktop computer still sitting on the desk.
“Seth.” He didn’t respond, and she sat down next to him on the bed, careful not to startle him. “Seth, it’s me. It’s Rose.”
He just shook his head. When a firework went off, he flinched, the sound echoing through the house. Rose could even feel the walls shake from the blast.
Seth seemed to close further in on himself, like he could protect himself from the thoughts ricocheting in his mind. Rose’s heart shattered as she watched him.
“Seth,” she said again. She touched his arm, but he wrenched away from her.
“Go. Away.” His voice was raspy and harsh, and she barely recognized the sound. “Go away.”
“I’m not leaving you like this. I’ll stay for as long as it takes.”
He didn’t answer.
The grand finale of the fireworks was the worst: the explosion and the pat-pat-pat continued on and on, and with each sound, Seth shuddered.
“I’m here,” she said, because she didn’t know what else to do. “I’m here. It’s me. You’re safe. Can you hear me?”
When the fireworks ended, Rose breathed a sigh of relief. After what seemed an eternity, Seth began to uncurl himself, and when she saw his expression, she almost cried. He looked battered and drained and so vulnerable she wanted to take away all of his pain.
She understood that kind of pain all too well, and she never wanted someone she loved to know what it felt like.
She reached out and put a hand on his arm. A second later, Rose found herself pushed away so hard that she fell onto the floor as Seth wrenched himself away from her. Jumping up, he yelled, “Don’t fucking touch me!”
Rose stared up at him. In that moment, she knew that he didn’t know where he was. Her heart pounding, she whispered, “I’m sorry. I won’t touch you again.”
“Can’t fucking touch me,” he muttered. He tugged at his hair, his eyes wild, and Rose just waited, praying he’d return to himself.
When he did, he stared at her in shock. Then his face twisted with horror.
“Rose—goddamn. Are you okay?” He helped her up, and she felt him tremble. “Did I hurt you?”