Page 204 of When a Soul Cries

But underneath all my jokes, I understood what had just happened.

She handed me the bag. She let Halo leave with me.

After everything Sol had been through, she trusted me alone with the person she loved most in this world.

That meant more than she probably realized.

I tightened my grip around the steering wheel and stared through the windshield.

Now I was driving across Crestmont with Halo in my back seat, headed toward my mama’s house, thinking about shit I had absolutely no business thinking about this soon.

Marriage.

Kids.

Family.

Forever.

“I’m trippin’,” I muttered under my breath.

Halo kicked both feet, making the toy beside her bounce wildly.

I glanced at her in the mirror and smirked. “Exactly. At least you understand.”

I’d tried explaining these feelings away more than once.

Maybe everything Sol had been through had triggered something protective in me. Maybe because I’d found her at one of the lowest points of her life, I’d started feeling responsible for making sure she was okay. Maybe I was confusing wanting to protect her with actually wanting her.

That explanation lasted about five fucking minutes.

Because I wanted Sol.

Bad.

And not just physically, even though that part was becoming its own damn problem.

I wanted to know who she was when she wasn’t surviving.

I wanted to know what music she played when she cleaned, what made her laugh until her stomach hurt, and what pissed her off besides me telling her what to do. I wanted to know what she used to dream about before life beat dreaming out of her.

And every time I imagined my own future lately, she somehow ended up standing in the middle of it.

I could see mornings. Holidays. Vacations. Arguments where both of us knew damn well we were wrong but refused to admit it.

I could picture her clothes mixed with mine because she lived there by choice, not because she needed somewhere safe to sleep.

Then there was Halo.

My eyes lifted toward the mirror again.

She had gotten tired of looking out the window and was now wrestling with that loose sock, both little hands wrapped around her foot while her face scrunched with determination.

A smile tugged at my mouth.

I could see myself raising her.

That realization had hit harder than everything else.