Back to You by Leighton Rose

of me) and decided to take a nap. I had settled into the most perfectly comfortable position with Riley in my arms and was almost asleep when my damn doorbell rang.
     
    “Fuck,” I muttered as I reluctantly got back out of bed and went to answer the door wondering who in the hell it could be and incredibly irritated at having my nap interrupted.
     
    “Can I help…” I started to snap at the intruder as I opened the door but stopped dead in my tracks when I locked eyes with the person standing on my porch. “Alex,” I whispered, stunned out of my goddamned mind.
     
    I stood there and stared at him staring back at me. I was dreaming; I had to be dreaming. There was no way Alex was standing on my porch in the middle of the day. He lived in Texas.
     
    “Hi, Tyler,” he said softly, breaking the trance I was in and surprising me by pulling me to him and hugging me so tightly that it took me a second to respond. As soon as my brain started functioning again, I latched on to him, grasping desperately at his shirt, trying to get as close to him as possible. It was so surreal to feel his hands on my skin again, and since I’d thought I’d never have the opportunity to touch him again, I decided I was going to revel in that hug for as long as I could, consequences be damned. I inhaled deeply. He smelled exactly like I remembered him and my heart began beating so fast I thought I might pass out.
     
    Oh. My. God. He was really there.
     
    After a couple too-short moments he let me go and I stepped back into the doorway again. “W-w-what are you doing here?” I asked stumbling over my words, still in complete disbelief at the sight in front of me.
     
    “Austin called and told me about Grammy. I’m so sorry, Tyler. I know how close you two were,” he said gently.
     
    Had I just heard that correctly? “Wait… my brother called you?”
     
    “Yeah, yesterday afternoon. We drove straight through to get here.”
     
    “Well, I guess that sheds a little light on why he’s been acting so fucking peculiar around Riley and me since yesterday.” I couldn’t decide if I wanted to kill my brother for doing that or thank him for making the call. “So, I guess that explains why you’re in Lincoln, but it doesn’t explain why you’re standing on my porch right now.”
     
    “I didn’t want to ambush you at the funeral home tomorrow night, Ty. I wanted you to know that I was here so that I didn’t cause you more stress than you’re already going through, and I doubted that calling you was going to do any good.” Alex shifted his weight from one foot to the other, leaning up against the door jamb.
     
    “No, probably not.”
     
    I sighed and rubbed my temples. For as long as I could remember, I’d made a wish while blowing out my birthday candles but none of those wishes ever came true, but when I’d said I didn’t wish to see Alex again, I was lying. That was totally my wish and with him standing in front of me, within reach for the first time in two years, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to hug him again or punch him in the face. And I wasn’t a violent person at all.
     
    The next words out of his mouth blew me away and then pissed me off at the same time. “And to be completely honest with you, there was no way that I could wait one minute more to see you again, Tyler. I had no idea if you still lived here or not, but we’ve been in Lincoln for nearly twelve hours and it’s taken every ounce of willpower I have not to try to find you sooner. I’ve missed you so much.”
     
    Wow, he missed me that much? That’s so sweet. I started to smile at him before a thought hit me. Wait a minute. Did he just say we ? He said we , right? “Did you say we ?”
     
    He looked unbelievably sheepish, which just irked me even more. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
     
    “So, what? Did you bring your boyfriend with you to go to my grandmother’s funeral? How incredibly classy, Alex.” Seriously, why did people have to be