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“Compromising again.” His expression softened. “You do trust beautifully,con bu?m c?a tôi. You don’t need experience to know the right thing to do. All you need to do is be yourself.”
His words made me glow.
“I’m really trying not to let my pride get in the way of us.” My fingers flexed over his. “But the lawyer you mentioned, how expensive is he?”
“You’re not paying for the lawyer.”
“But—”
“Addy.” Barry scooted his chair closer. “Things might seem fast to you, but to me they feel exactly right.”
“They feel right to me too.”
“Good.” He nodded. “If circumstances we couldn’t control hadn’t conspired against us, ABCR would have gone on to a record deal, largely due to your vision, and with means, we would have found our way to where we are right now sooner. I would have seen to taking care of you like I’m seeing to it now with the lawyer. In other words, let me take care of you. It gives me pleasure to do so. Just as I’m sure it gives you pleasure to do the same with me.”
“Yes, you’re right. Okay. Thank you, Barry.” The glow inside me warmer, I felt some of the cracks in my heart weld together, cracks caused by time and my mistakes.
“Don’t thank me for taking care of you. Taking care of you, I’m taking care of me too. We’re a team, yeah?”
“Yes,” I said. His care and affection were necessary components of my being. I needed them then, and I craved them now. “I don’t want to throw on the brakes, but—”
“You think it’s expected.”
I nodded.
“Let’s don’t be expected, Addy. It’s you and me together. Finally. We get to decide what we want to be.”
“But Martin ...” I exhaled.
“Fuck Martin,” Barry spat out. “He doesn’t factor. Not between us.”
My lips curved. I loved that he could say it, believe it. I could see the confidence glowing in his eyes. I could feel it and almost believe it too.
“Let’s do it, Addy,” he said.
“Do what, exactly?” I asked.
“Break the rules. Live our lives.” Spelling it out and doing it beautifully, he gathered my hands in his. “Be not just happy together, but extraordinary.”
Addy
The wordextraordinaryand the extraordinary way that Barry made love to me before I left his apartment made my feet feel as if they were hovering above the ground.
Even when I returned to my own apartment, I floated. I needed a change of clothes, and I had to talk to Rachel about the moving-in scenario he’d proposed.
“Hey,” Rachel said, greeting me from the kitchen when I stepped through the door. “How’d it go?”
“It went amazing.” I smiled, but it couldn’t contain my joy. “How did your day off go?”
“It went good.”
She glanced down, shut off the water to the sink, and came out into the main living space where I was. I got the idea she was hiding something.
“Is Claire okay?” I asked.
“Yes, I believe she is.” Rachel let out a breath. “We had a pretty big talk last night.”
“About what?”
