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A tiny laugh escaped my lips and I sealed them shut. I needed more.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I love you, Addison. You make me ridiculously happy. And I hoped that maybe you’d consider coming back home. With me. With us.”
I sniffed, and realized with some surprise that I’d begun to cry. This. This was what I wanted too, it was all I’d ever wanted. To be a part of something, to be wanted, to have a family. “I’d like that,” I whispered.
Michael stepped closer, slipping his hands around my waist. “I hated it when you left,” he said, his voice a rasp.
“Me too,” I said.
Michael pulled me close, our chests meeting and our faces inches apart. “God, I love you,” he said.
And in the space before our lips met, I told him the truth as I’d just come to realize it. “I love you too. Both of you.”
My arms wrapped around him, and I kissed Michael Tucker for a long time there on that New York City sidewalk as leaves drifted on the autumn breeze around us.
As my mind began to settle, I realized there were two people standing next to us, staring. One of them was Daniel.
And because this was how my luck seemed to work, the other was Luke.
“Addison?” His beard had grown in thicker, and he wore a flannel shirt that did nothing to hide the softness that had increased around his middle. He looked worn and pale.
I kept Michael’s hand in mine as I faced the man I’d believed I had loved. And I was almost relieved to find that I felt nothing. Maybe a distant fondness for an old friend.
“Luke,” I said, unable to keep the giddy feelings for the man at my side from coloring my voice. “How are you?”
“Um. I’m good,” he said, looking uncertainly between me and Michael.
“This is Luke?” Michael asked, his voice low, angry.
“I’ve uh, I’ve been meaning to get in touch,” Luke said, ignoring Michael. “I’ve missed you.”
“Oh,” I said, realizing a bit late that this was probably not what Luke had been hoping for. “Yeah, you should give me a call sometime,” I told him. I turned and reached for Dan’s hand, and he stepped near to my other side, squeezing my fingers. “But right now, we have to go.”
“Oh,” Luke said, taking a step back, almost as if I’d slapped him. “Okay.”
“Good to see you,” I called over my shoulder as we turned. “Should we get ice cream?” I asked Michael and Dan, pulling them south toward my favorite tiny dessert place.
“That was your ex, right?” Michael asked. “And you want to get ice cream?”
“More than anything,” I said. “As long as it’s with you guys.” A warm reassuring happiness was blooming inside me, expanding and swelling until it seeped through my limbs and filled me completely. I felt more full and happy and complete than I ever had before.
37
Tween Truths
Michael
My plan had been to drive us all back to Singletree that night in the Corvette, to take Addie back to the house, and to show her what she meant to me in every way I possibly could.
But a Corvette really only has two seats. And Dan wasn’t a little kid anymore. He couldn’t really huddle in the back for the five-hour drive back to Maryland.
So we ate ice cream and pie at Cafe Lalo, walked slowly back to where I’d miraculously found parking for the car, and said goodbye. And then Dan and I had driven home, the mood in the car far more upbeat than it had been on the drive there.
“Are you going to marry her?” Daniel asked me as we neared the big house I now considered home.
“I don’t know, Dan,” I told him. “For now, I’m just going to do my best to show her that I care about her.”
Daniel grinned on the other side of the car as he gazed out the window.
