Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“I think about it all,” I go on, passion imbuing my voice. “Every moment. The good and the bad. I want this. In realistic and grown-up terms. It started as a crush, but there’s no reason that has to define it.”
“Hell, sis,” Adam says, smiling, the sight so welcome it’s like sunlight through clouds. “You’re going to be a huge podcaster one day. I just know it. You speak so well.”
“It’s not just talk, though,” I say. “It’s the truth.”
“If I told you to stop now, what would you do?”
“Go insane,” Bryson says. “I’d have to leave the country. This past year on the West Coast has been torture. I’ve missed Harper every day, even if she had no clue I wanted her, and I had no clue she wanted me.”
Adam turns to me, and I answer, “Yeah, go crazy. Lose my mind. I don’t want this to end.”
Somehow, Adam’s smile grows wider. I feel like I’m looking at a mirage, and at any second, it could fade away.
“And you’re both sure? Completely?”
“Completely,” Bryson and I say at the same time, our combined voices powerful.
“Then I’m happy for you,” Adam says.
I leap to my feet, Bryson doing the same at my side.
“What?” Bryson says, stepping forward. “Are you serious?”
“You heard Eva,” Adam replies. “She believed in this relationship. I had to know it was real. You protected Eva in the orphanage. You protected Harper when it mattered against those evil men. I know you’ll do right by her.”
“I will,” Bryson says, his voice cracking as he offers Adam his hand. “You have my word.”
Adam looks at his best friend’s extended hand for a moment, then grabs it and pulls him into a hug. Slowly, as they embrace, a smile spreads across my face.
Lightness blooms in my heart and visions rise in my mind of the future. It’s all going to be okay.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Bryson
“It’s your last chance to tell me no,” I say, grinning at Adam across the dining room table.
He sips on his coffee, scratching something on his crossword before meeting my eyes. “You waited like I asked. I’m done standing in your way.”
It’s been two weeks since he showed us the video of Eva, sharing the fact he knew about the relationship and giving us his blessing.
That evening, I took him aside to ask a very important question.
His permission, his blessing…
“You’ve got it but wait two weeks. I’m already sure this is real, but for something this big, I need to be doubly sure.”
We’ve sunk into something like a rhythm as the days have worn on, with me helping Adam out with his work. We stay at a hotel so Harper and I can share a bed sometimes. We stay here sometimes too, but we still sleep in separate rooms out of respect.
Soon, we’ll have a place of our own. I’ve already called the West Coast and told them I’m not coming back. My heart was always in the east.
“Will you be able to reestablish your practice?” Adam asks, for what feels like the fiftieth time.
He feels guilty about stealing time away from my business.
“Your blessing is all I need,” I tell him. “Don’t worry about anything else.”
He nods. “How are you feeling about later?”
“Proud,” I reply without hesitation.
Harper and Tiffany recorded a podcast about her experience with the drugging gang a couple of days after Adam gave us his blessing. It exploded in popularity as none of their podcasts have before. So much new attention that Harper seized on the chance to book a venue for a live show. There’s going to be a Q and A section at the end.
I’ve already got my tickets, since watching my woman throw herself into her passion is one of the best parts about being together, and it fuels my excitement for the future. I know I’ll be there to support her each step of the way, protecting her, no matter what life throws at us.
“Me too,” Adam says with a soft smile.
Since the truth came out about me and Harper, my friendship with Adam has improved. It’s in the little things, the looks and gestures which bring us back to the old days of our friendship when Eva first introduced us.
“But I meant about the other thing.”
My hand strays to my pocket, touching the ring box through the fabric of my jeans.
“I don’t want to steal her moment,” I say, “but I want the whole world to know how much she means to me.”
“It’s not stealing it. It’s adding to it.”
Adam laughs. It’s such a sudden laugh accompanied by a wide grin. I tilt my head at him, and then it strikes me why. It’s the way he used to laugh before Eva passed.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, grinning just because he’s happy, or at least not currently swallowed by grief.