The Invitation by Adriana Locke

Georgia

“It’s been an eventful day,” I say, looking into the camera while stopped at a red light. “I quit my new job because, unbeknownst to me, there is some very bad blood between the Downings and the Brewers. Well, it is worse than just an argument or clash of characters. But, while I don’t know where I stand with Ripley right now, I’d never do anything to hurt him. My loyalty lies with him.”

I tap my fingers against the steering wheel, thinking.

“Mom asked me if I’d talk to her today,” I say. “She sent me a text as I was walking to my car after quitting my job. I wanted to be a brat and tell her no because I don’t want to hear a bunch of excuses, really. And God forbid she actually takes responsibility for anything.” I frown. “Myla, let’s not use any of this, okay? I just need someone to talk to.”

I need Ripley.

“Ripley also called. It was the first time we’ve really spoken since the whole showdown with Mom in my driveway. He asked if I could swing by his house this evening and, of course, I said yes. Am I nervous? Yup. Do I know what he wants? No. Am I tired of living without him? Absolutely. I just hope he doesn’t get me over there and try to let me down gently. I don’t really think that’s what will happen, but he has to have had second thoughts about getting involved with my life’s drama.”

My heart aches as I consider the idea of not having Ripley in my life. Of not being his. I only got a taste of it, and it’s all I can think about. I just know that he isn’t like the other guys I’ve dated, because if Ripley breaks things off with me? I’ll be ruined. I’ve never felt that way before, even when I’ve blown dates off. Knowing he has that power over me is terrifying.

“Okay,” I say as the light switches to green. “That’s it for now. Wish me luck!”

I toss the phone on the passenger’s seat next to the purple gloves Ripley gave me, and head toward his house.

Ripley swings his front door open before I’m even on the sidewalk. He steps onto the porch, gripping the railing as if he might fall off it if he doesn’t.

His eyes are alight, yet tired. They’re without their usual sparkle and mischief, and to see a part of him be lost to this mess kills my heart.

And it makes me resolved to find a solution—and that solution begins with me.

My steps quicken as I grow closer. I practice saying a casual hello in my head. Instead, I fall into his arms without thought.

He pulls me close, so close that I can almost not breathe, and buries his head in my hair.

I close my eyes and feel him around me, and for the first time in days, I feel like I can relax. I’m not alone. For the moment, at least, I’m safe and don’t have to carry everything by myself.

“I’ve missed you,” he says, kissing my forehead before pulling back and searching my face like he hasn’t seen me for much longer than a week. “How are you? You look tired, Peaches. And thin.”

“Well, it’s hard to eat when you’re upset.”

He pulls me into another hug.

I press a kiss to his chest before leaning back, needing the safety in his eyes.

It occurs to me that this is the place where I’m the calmest. The happiest. The most untouchable. Along with those feelings comes a fear that it’ll be robbed from me. It’ll be taken away. I’ll be discarded. Never called again because I’m not worth the effort or loved unconditionally.

Still, I hope, because I have Ripley. I need to have hope.

Because I love him.

I’m not afraid to name the feeling that’s been fluttering in my heart lately. It’s been growing and changing, twisting into a sensation that takes up my entire being.

How can you not love someone who goes so far out of their way for you? Who has your back when you don’t know you need someone watching out for you? Who takes punches for you?

He loves me in all the ways he knows I need loved—in ways I don’t even understand. And I’m not sure he even realizes that he loves me. But it doesn’t matter. His actions speak louder than his words ever could.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear them.

He holds my face in his hands and kisses the tip of my nose. “Before we go inside, I have to tell you something.”

My spirits plummet.

“Today, I went and saw your mom,” he says.

My mouth falls agape. “You did what?”

“Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, I’m just …” I laugh in disbelief. “At least you’re still alive. Is she?”

He grins. “She’s sitting inside at the table, waiting on you.”

Excuse me? “I’m sorry. Did you say my mother is in your house?”

He nods.

“Your house?” I ask. “This one? She’s here?”

He nods again.

“Holy shit. Did you kidnap her? That’s illegal, you know.”

His laugh fills the air, and it’s music to my ears. It might be the music just before his perp walk, I don’t know, but it’s music anyway.

“I’m glad you’re entertained by this,” I say. “But I need more of an explanation.”

His feet straddle mine as he brushes a strand of hair out of my face. “She and I had a talk. We talked about my dad and what a monster he is. I told her that I understood she was leery of me, and that I wouldn’t get between the two of you. But also, that I would always be there for both of you.”

I bury my face in his chest again, fisting his shirt in both of my hands. He sways back and forth with me in his arms.

“She asked me to help her apologize to you,” he says softly.

I jerk back. “What?”

“She’s nervous. She’s scared. And you don’t have to accept anything she has to say—that’s why we’re doing it here. I can kick her to the curb so fast she won’t see straight.”

I laugh nervously. “She’s really in there?”

He nods.

“Wow.”

“I don’t want you to feel tricked,” he says. “It all happened so fast, but I didn’t want you worrying while you came here. When you think of coming here, I want you to eventually feel happy. Like you’re coming home.”

Tears well up in my eyes.

“And I thought that if I could catch you outside, I could give you the option of seeing her or not,” he says. “You can go. You don’t have to do this. I’m on your side always and forever.” He kisses me softly. “But I don’t want you to leave. She knows that. She knows that I’m doing this because …”

His cheeks flush. Ripley blushing? That’s a first.

“Because what?” I ask him.

“Because I love you.”

My breath hitches as the tears that I fought to contain spill down my face. “Are you serious?”

“I’m totally serious. I’ve loved you for a long time, I think.” He smirks. “Not when you were arguing with me about the existence of pickles. Or about how many steps are in Jeremiah’s house.”

I laugh, elated at hearing those three words from him.

“I didn’t tell your mom that I love you,” he says. “I wanted to tell you first, although I think she got the picture.”

His hands find mine and he strokes my palms with his thumbs.

This is the feeling I never knew if I’d ever experience. I didn’t know if this kind of thing was out there for me. But it was—it is—and it was right in front of me the entire time.

“I love you,” I say, smiling from ear to ear.

His brow pinches together as if he didn’t hear me clearly.

“I love you,” I whisper again.

“You do?” He laughs, almost as if he’s in disbelief. “You love me? Really?”

I laugh, too—also out of disbelief. How can this crazy man not see how lovable and amazing he is? “Yes, I love you. Of course, I love you, Ripley.”

“Thank God.” He pulls me in for another hug. “Now, what do we do about your mom?”

I take a deep breath and step away from Ripley, but my fingers instinctively grasp for his.

“We should video this for the show,” I joke. “It has the potential to get super high ratings.”

“Not that high. I’ll remove her before it gets that froggy.”

I wish we were going inside alone. The only place I want to be is in his arms somewhere … maybe with food. And a nap. Heaven knows that I need both. But I need to take care of this situation with my mom because our patterns of behavior are unhealthy. And then the enormity of what Ripley just said hits me.

“When you think of coming here, I want you to eventually feel happy. Like you’re coming home. I’m on your side always and forever. Because I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time, I think.”

Coming home. To Ripley. To the man I love. To the life I once dreamed of and now dream of again.

One that I never thought was possible.

I want this so much—more than anything.

It’s time to move forward … by letting go of the past.

“Let’s get this over with,” I say, leading him inside.

He rushes to open the door for me. Always the gentleman.

“Waffles!” I say, laughing as he leaps in circles like a ballerina. “Hey, buddy.”

He barks before jumping so high he nearly makes it into my arms.

“Don’t jump on people,” Ripley says, shaking his head. “We’re working on that.”

I bend down and pick him up, and he licks my palms. Then he scurries up my chest and puts his little nose in the crook of my neck and sighs.

Yeah, buddy. I’m happy to be back, too.

Ripley leads me into the kitchen with his hand nestled in the small of my back. I don’t feel like a stranger here anymore, nor do I feel like a visitor. I belong here. I feel it in my bones. Home.

We round the corner, and I spot my mom standing at the windows overlooking the valley. Her arms are pulled over her stomach, and when she turns to me, I see the sadness painted on her face. It kills me.

But I have to stay strong.

“Do you want me to stay here or go into the other room?” Ripley whispers in my ear.

I grab his hand and hold it, signaling for him to stay. He doesn’t move a muscle.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Mom says, her tone uneven.

“Hi, Mom.”

She drops her arms and sighs. “I hope you’re not upset that I’m here. I’m second-guessing everything now and I don’t know if it’s right to be here or not.”

“It’s fine. But why are you here?”

She glances over my shoulder to Ripley, as if she gets strength from him, too.

“Georgia … I’m sorry,” she says simply. “I’d like to list all the things I’m sorry for, but I’m pretty sure I’d wear out my welcome before I got through them all.”

“Probably,” Ripley mutters just loud enough for me to hear.

“Honey, I’m going to start seeing a therapist next week,” she says.

My eyes widen.

“There are a lot of things I need to unpack, as they call it.” She grips the chair in front of her. “And I need to do it before it ruins a lot of lives.”

“I think that’s smart,” I say carefully.

“You deserve better from me,” she says. “And, truth be told, I’m not sure if I even realize all the ways that I’ve probably failed you. I’m sort of numb right now.”

I snuggle Waffles, feeling his little breaths against my neck. “What changed? I want to believe you, Mom, but this is quite the one-eighty.”

She’s never been this self-aware, which is painful.

She holds her hands out to the side to emphasize her point. “I have nothing. Just like you said. I don’t have a man in my life. I have no friends. No real job. No future. And I’m on the verge of not having my daughter, either.” She frowns. “When you didn’t call like you always do, it gave me some time to think about the things you said. It hurt to hear that, but I needed to.”

“I’m sorry for hurting you. I want to say it wasn’t my intent, but that might be a lie.”

“I understand. If I had a good man like you do and someone tried to chase him off, I’d probably be a little mean, too.” She winks. “You can be a little mean anyway. But you learned that from me.”

My lips twitch, almost forming a smile.

“I’d hung up the phone to the therapist’s office when Ripley knocked on my door,” she says, looking at him. “I understand why you love him. He’s really hard not to like.”

He squeezes my hip softly, as if he’s uncomfortable with the fuss about him.

“Yeah, he’s hard not to like,” I say, tilting my head back and smiling at him. “He’s really hard not to love.”

He places a sweet kiss on my lips.

“I don’t want to keep you two,” she says. “I know you have a lot to talk about, too. But I hope you’ll accept my apology, Georgia.” Her voice cracks. “I love you, sweetheart.”

I set Waffles on the floor, much to his chagrin, then I embrace my mother.

Her body shakes as she cries. This is a woman who feels the depths of losing everyone she loves. My heart hurts for her. She might have caused all of the things that have happened to her lately, but everyone deserves a second chance.

God knows I’ve been given enough of them.

“I love you, Mom.”

She pulls away, her eyes wet with tears. “Honey, you have no idea how much I love you.”

“I have a little idea.” I smile at her, holding her at arm’s length. “We’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.” I hug her again. “Why don’t I call you tomorrow and we can make plans to have dinner?”

“I’d really, really like that.”

She presses a kiss to my cheek. “I have a car picking me up soon, so I’ll see myself out. Enjoy your night.”

“You can stay,” I say, although I hope she declines. I need time alone with Ripley.

Mom chuckles. “I need to go.” She gives Ripley a quick hug, whispering something in his ear that I can’t hear. It makes him laugh. “Goodbye, you two.”

“Bye, Mom.”

Waffles barks at her.

“Goodbye, Ms. Hayes,” Ripley says. “Would you like me to walk you out?”

“You stay here with my daughter, or I’ll snap right back to mean Felicity.”

We all laugh. It feels very, very good.

She goes down the hallway and we don’t say a word until the door closes. Together, we let out a sigh of relief.

I take a step toward Ripley, but he takes one back.

My heart skips a beat.

“I have something I want to ask you before you touch me,” he says, giving me a soft smile. “And it has to be in this order because, if not, it’ll take me far too long to get back to this. Because I’m going to have a hard fucking time letting you go.”

“Hurry then. You’re wasting time.”

He grins. “The last time this was proposed to you, you left the guy who asked, so, I know I’m taking a risk by bringing this up. But I love you, Peaches. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to prove to you that I’m in this for the long haul. For forever. I don’t want there to be a second in your life where you have room to remotely consider that I’m not serious about this. About you. About us.”

I force a swallow, my anticipation growing. I don’t know where he’s going with this. Part of me says to run—but a bigger part of me demands that I stay.

“I did a little renovation to one of the bedrooms downstairs this week,” he says. “I turned one of them into a reading nook. I didn’t know exactly what that was supposed to look like, but it turns out Bianca had tons of ideas.” He rolls his eyes, making me giggle. “I hope you love it.”

“You built a reading nook for me? Here?”

He nods. “Because I hope you’ll consider moving in with me.”

“What?”

My brain hadn’t had the chance to think this far in advance. I didn’t dream of him asking me to move in with him. I’m caught off guard and I don’t know what to say.

“I’m not pressuring you,” he says, “I’ve waited over ten years. I can wait a few more. Theoretically.” He winks. “But, as far as I’m concerned, we both live here. The only reason I’m not asking you to marry me is because I know you’ll say no. But, I hope that one day, you’ll say yes.”

“Ripley.” I blow out a breath, surprised. “I don’t know what to say.”

“The word yes would be good.”

I consider his request. Is it too fast? Is it the right choice? Do I want to do this?

Slowly, the answer becomes clear.

This is my dream—the one thing I’ve been too scared to even dream of. But Sutton apparently manifested this for me. How can I say no?

I won’t. I’m going to say yes. But I can’t give in that easy.

“I have demands,” I say.

“Name them.”

“Pancakes. I want a puppy named Pancakes,” I say, thinking on my feet.

“Fine.”

“No more hiking. Ever.”

He snorts. “Trust me. That’s already done. I’ll never hike with you again.”

“Sugar.” This one will get him riled up. “I need sugar in my life, Ripley.”

He grins mischievously, folding his arms across his chest. “It’s terrible for you.”

“So? I’ve been eating it for thirty years. I think stopping sugar at this point would probably shock my system and make me die. Do you want to be responsible for that?”

“Maybe we can find some healthy candy and snacks.”

I shake my head. “No. I want real candy. Chocolate. Sugar for my coffee.”

Waffles paws at me until I follow him to his snack drawer. He’s such a smart little thing.

“Some chips—not all the time,” I say. “And chicken nuggets. Oh! Frozen pizzas are literally half of my diet. I can’t just never see one again.”

I pull open the drawer where Waffles’s snacks are kept and get him a treat.

“Do you want a drink?” I ask Ripley.

He shakes his head, amused.

“So where do we stand on this food issue?” I ask, needling him until he responds. His lack of participation in this conversation is no fun. “We can barter.”

“Grab me some sunflower seeds, will ya? I just bought a new bag.”

“Sure. Sunflower seeds aren’t a bad snack, but they’re not really a snack. I think we just need to redefine what a snack is to you.”

I open the pantry and burst out laughing. “No, you did not!”

Then I open the refrigerator and freezer and laugh even harder.

Tears flow down my cheeks in a mix of both humor, surprise, and love.

Not only are there cookies, but there’s a bag of real sugar. Fruity cereal. Frozen pizzas and chicken nuggets.

All of my favorite things are here—including my most favorite of all. Him.

“Looks like I’m moving in,” I say, dropping the phone as Ripley grabs me into a hug.

“It pains me to have that junk in my house, you know.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

Waffles barks at the commotion, making me laugh.

Ripley’s mouth is on mine. His hands on the waistband of my shorts and then his lips trail down the side of my neck as if he has to touch me everywhere immediately.

“Hey,” I say, giggling as he kisses the crook of my neck. “You better stop filming, or this is going to be X-rated really quick.”

He pulls back, smiling from ear to ear. He picks up my phone and hands it to me, and then I shut it off.

“I love you, Ripley Brewer,” I say, beaming with happiness.

“Not as much as I love you, Peaches Hayes.”