AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes,” she says. “We know now that it wasn’t the right way to think about it. To think about you.”
“No, it wasn’t, but I appreciate you admitting it now.”
“We mean it,” Dad answers. “If we could take it back…”
“Sometimes parents screw up so badly, but they can’t see it when they’re doing it,” Mom tells me. “That’s the hardest part of being a parent. The last thing you want is to hurt your child, but you inevitably wind up doing it anyway.”
“We really bunged things up with you,” Dad says. “You turned out to be this amazingly successful person, and I now see that you did that in spite of us, not because of us.”
“You did a lot of things right, too,” I answer. “And I appreciate what you were trying to do.”
“Are you okay?” Mom asks. “Now that the story is out?”
“Yeah, I’m great,” I answer. “In fact, I’ve never felt this good in my entire life. I feel like my life is finally starting.”
“Really?” she asks.
“Really. And I’m sorry that you’re going to take some heat from people. I hope it won’t be too bad, but I think the main thing is that I can help a lot of people feel better about themselves. And I can stop hiding, which is an amazing feeling.”
There’s a knock at the door and I hurry over, knowing it’s Allie. “Listen, I have to go, but I’ll call you when I’m back home.”
“Okay, we love you,” my mom says.
“And we’re really sorry,” my dad adds.
“I know. I love you too.”
I hang up and open the door, only to see Allie grinning at me. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Are you doing anything this evening?”
Taking her hand, I pull her into the room and let the door shut, then press her up against the wall. “I thought I’d spend the entire night showing you how I feel about you.” I nuzzle her neck, then plant a slow, soft kiss on her collar bone.
She lets out a little moan. “That sounds nice, but I have to be up early because I’ve got a big presentation to give.”
“That’s going to be a problem because I have a lot of feelings.” Kissing my way up her neck, I murmur, “Big ones.”
“Is that so?” she asks, capturing my mouth with a kiss.
“Yeah, it is. But if you’re worried about being tired, we can always wait for a more opportune time.”
She grins at me and bites her bottom lip. “That’s why coffee was invented.”
“Really?”
“It’s a fact,” she says, unbuttoning my shirt. “The first person to ever grind up and brew coffee beans had just been on a sex-bender.”
“Is that so? I had no idea.”
“I’m a bit of a history buff, so…”
I burst out laughing, then say, “Now who’s the liar?”
“Me, I’m the liar, but we should only allow it for comedic purposes.”
“Deal. Otherwise, complete honesty.” I pick her up under her knees and kiss her hard before carrying her over to the bed. I set her down on it and she lies back, looking absolutely perfect. I lie on top of her and rub her jaw with my thumb. “To be completely honest, I’ve never in my life loved someone the way I love you, Allie. I have never been as happy as I am right now, knowing you’re giving me a second chance. These past days without you have been awful. I’ve never felt so alone, so hopeless—because I knew without a doubt that you’re the one for me and I couldn’t have you. I couldn’t talk to you or listen to you or know what you were doing. I couldn’t watch you work or share in your excitement or tell you how proud I am of you.”
