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“Relax,” he says, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I’m just teasing.”
I say nothing else, not wanting that conversation to get deeper. Not yet. I’m not even sure what tomorrow will bring when it comes to the two of us. I just want to enjoy what we have while we have it, without any pressure.
I join him in picking up the mess, keeping my eyes down.
It’s his turn to be comforting and he stops my reach with a hand over mine. His thumb brushes against my skin.
“I think that’s great. Plenty of people are parents that shouldn’t be.” He could say that again.
We're quiet until everything is back in its place, and we head for the kitchen. Miles grabs a bottle of wine, one of my favorites, and then two glasses from a cupboard. I never even told him, it's either a coincidence, or he noticed that little thing about me too.
“What really happened there? If you don’t mind me asking. I never understood why you were so young and had nowhere to go.”
I exhale sharply, and take a seat on one of his barstools in an attempt to get as comfortable as I can while telling a story that makes me feel the opposite.
“They never wanted to be parents. My mom didn’t find out she was pregnant until it was too late. I guess her period was never regular so she had no reason to think anything was off. Didn’t get sick, didn’t get much of a bump until the end. She went to her doctor one day for something unrelated, and then she left feeling like that was the worst day of her life.” I clear my throat, refusing to get emotional over a reality I’ve faced plenty of times. “I never understood why they didn’t just put me up for adoption, but they never changed their minds on me. I was an inconvenience. I was left home alone all the time, way younger than I should’ve been. When I started staying with my friend most days, they were pushing pretty hard to make it permanent.”
I don’t look up to meet his gaze, which is surely horrified.
“How did they get away with that?”
“I let them.” I shrug. “Linda, Jade’s mom, let me. She wanted to help, and she knew getting them in trouble wouldn’t help anything. I didn’t want revenge. I was just happy to be somewhere I wasn't alone.” I smile at that, hoping it covers up how deep that pain still goes. I’ll always be insecure about my place in other’s lives. There’s nothing worse I could be than an inconvenience.
“You deserved so much better.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know how the hell you kept it together.”
“You thinkthatwas keeping it together?” I try to make it sound like a joke, but he sees it for what it is. “It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. I was always so jealous of my friends with their tight-knit families. I was definitely jealous of yours.”
“I wouldn’t call my family tight-knit.”
I raise my brows at him. “Even after you moved out, you got together for dinner once a week. That’s more than I could've imagined from mine.”
He pulls me by my hand, out of my seat so that our bodies are pressed together.
“Speaking of more than you could’ve imagined.”
His arms wrap around me, pulling me even tighter into him as his lips travel down to meet mine.
The best kind of hug.
"You've got family now," he whispers. "You have people that would do anything for you."
"I know," I whisper.
And I mean it, too.
With the fork in my hand, I stab a syrup covered bite on my plate and shove it in my mouth.
“I really do hate waffles,” I say around a mouthful.
He chuckles and shakes his head.
“You sure do look like you’re enjoying these for some reason.”
I take another bite, giving myself time to come up with a snarky response. He's so good at everything he does, I honestly doubted him when he said he made the world's best. Now I'm questioning what other foods I could end up liking if he's the one that makes them.
The doorbell rings before I come up with anything. It takes a minute for the realization of what that means to hit me, but then I freeze. We both do. I hear muffled voices on the other side, none that I think I recognize right away.
I wait for Miles to move, to go answer it, but he doesn’t. He looks even more panicked than I’m feeling.
