Page 53 of Release Me

“Yes, I’ll let you know.”

She climbs out the car, holding the door open like she doesn’t actually want to go. “Sebastian?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for today, for your help with finding a place. You went out of your way for me. You always go out of your way for me.”

More tears gather in her eyes. Their appearance sends a quake through my soul, but it’s the waver in her voice that sends my self control sliding off the edge of a cliff. Within seconds, I’m out of my seat and around the car, pulling her into my arms and letting the tears skating down her cheeks soak into my shirt. She surprises me by wrapping her arms around my back, allowing me to hold her.

“You’re so good to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” she gasps into my chest.

I press a kiss to the top of her head. “You won’t ever have to find out.”

When she pulls back to look at me, her eyes wet with tears and her full lips quivering, I wish I could say more, give her more, promise her more and feel confident that she was ready for it.

“You really mean that don’t you?”

I don’t even have to think about my answer to that question. “Yes.”

Her response isn’t verbal but physical. It starts with a determined blink and then a slow ascent on her tip toes that brings her face level with mine. I suck in a shocked breath and force my body to go still, my heartbeat to go quiet. Doubt flirts with the corners of her mouth, and for the briefest of seconds, I think she’s not going to go through with it.

It being whatever she’s planning on doing to me. It could be anything from a kiss on the lips to a literal kick in the teeth and it wouldn’t matter because as long as it’s coming from her, I’ll be glad to have it.

She puts me out of my misery a minute later with a kiss that lands at the corner of my mouth. Her scent invades all of my senses, momentarily stealing my ability to truly appreciate the feel of her lips on my skin. By the time it comes back around, Nadia is walking away from me. The wide legs of her black pantsuit swinging back and forth with every stride, teasing me with fleeting views of her ankles as she moves away, draining perhaps our most important moment of all its potential.

My mind is still on Nadia when I walk into my parent’s house, but I’m not so preoccupied that I don’t notice the quiet. The silence that indicates my siblings’—and more specifically Luca’s—absence.

I find Mom and Dad on the couch, sharing a bottle of wine and what’s left of a grazing board. Mom’s face lights up when she sees me, and she starts to rise from her seat next to Dad, but I wave her off.

“Don’t get up, Mom. I’m sure you’re tired from all the cooking you did today.”

Apparently, brunch was quite the experience, surpassing the level of expansive culinary complexity we’ve all come to expect from Mom.

Dad puts his arm around her waist, pulling her close. “She is tired, but I don’t think it has anything to do with brunch.”

My stomach turns at the insinuation. “Dad, please. I don’t need those kind of images in my head.”

“Oh grow up, Sebastian. How do you think you got here?”

“Dropped off by a stork?”

Mom cackles. “You weighed thirteen pounds when you were born, I don’t think a stork could have carried you.”

“You’re probably right.”

“So what brings you by, son?” Dad asks. “Your mother and I were enjoying a quiet evening alone.”

“Everett! Don’t say it like that, you’ll make him think we don’t want him here.”

“I don’t want him here right now. I want an evening alone with my wife.”

I scrunch my nose up, more offended by the sexual innuendo in his words than anything else. “And I’ll make sure you have that right after you two answer a question for me.”

“What question is that?” Mom asks, crossing her legs and leaning back into Dad’s hold. He curves his arm around her waist and lays a kiss on her temple.

The two of them look so relaxed together. More relaxed than I’ve seen them in years. There’s always been an ease between them, but this is something different. Something peaceful and accepting that comes with decades of marriage and four children. I wonder if I’ll ever have anything like that. It was never going to happen with Talia. We’re too much alike. Neither of us knows how to bend, how to give, how to compromise, and we never made each other want to learn. Our marriage rested comfortably in the challenge of being opponents while never accessing the intimacy of true partnership.

I can look at my parents and tell that’s what they have. It’s not something I’ve ever noticed before, and I can’t tell if I’m aware of it now because Nadia’s presence in my life has made me think about how I would do things differently the second time around or because they’ve just started openly displaying it.

---