Page 23 of Silver Lining Love

She blinked up at me, obviously completely unaware that I’d arrived. “How did you get in?”

“Alice let me in, but not before she did a three-point identity check.” Her face softened slightly, and she grinned.

Then I noticed that tears were pooled in her bottom lids. My heart slammed into my chest. “What’s wrong?”

“Alice, can you go to the bathroom and wash your hands? Oh, and tell Mikey pizza’s here and to wash his hands, too.”

Her little eyes widened. “Okay, but he’s not gonna wanna come out.” She shook her head, looked up at me, and whispered, “Cause of his blue eye.”

I nodded in understanding as if I had a clue what she was talking about.

When she left, I turned back to Whitney. “Blue eye?”

She sighed as her head fell back. “He got in a fight at school today. He’s got ablackeye but the other kid has a broken rib and dislocated jaw. He had to go to the hospital. I just got off a Zoom call with the principal. The family of the other kid wanted to press charges but the principal advised against it because it was self-defense. Apparently, some kids got the fight on their phones and the other kid punched Mikey first.”

She paused for a moment, and I was just about to tell her how many fights my brothers and I had been in growing up when her bottom lip began to tremble, and tears began flowing down her face.

Without thinking about the consequences, I crossed the room in three steps and pulled her into my arms. She melted against me as she cried. I held her tightly, one hand cradling her head as she bawled into my chest and the other running up and down her back, trying to comfort her.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

“No it’s not,” she sobbed. “I’m fucking everything up. I’m ruining these kids’ lives.”

“No, you’re not. They lost their parents. There’s bound to be some fallout from that. You’re doing everything you can. You’re doing an amazing job. Do you know how many times my mom got called into the principal’s office because I got in a fight? Or one of my brothers?”

She shook her head against me as she sniffed.

“Neither do I, because I lost count. It happens. Kids fight. And it’s not just boys. My mom got called into the office when my baby sister Harmony was in first grade because a girl who was three times her size was bullying her best friend, Destiny. Harmony told the girl to meet her after school. Then my sister filled her lunch box with rocks and waited for her on the playground after the bell rang. When the principal found her pacing around the asphalt, she explained exactly what she was doing. She told him that she’d filled her lunchbox with rocks and was going to hit the girl over the head. He called my mom.”

Whitney leaned her head back and her eyes lifted to mine. “She filled her lunchbox with rocks?”

“Yeah, she said that she knew there was no way she could take her, so she used what she had. Harmony is nothing if not resourceful.”

She smiled and just like the first time I’d seen her smile, my entire world narrowed to a pinpoint where the only thing that existed was her. “I think I’d like your sister.”

So did I. I had an overwhelming desire for them to meet. And not just Harmony, I wanted my entire family to meet Whitney and the kids.

I’d never taken a girlfriend home before. I always thought it would send the wrong message. Whitney and I weren’t even a couple, but I had no qualms about what message bringing her home to my family would send. If anything, I wanted to send that message loud and clear.

I reached up and brushed some stray strands of hair off of Whitney’s face. As I tucked them behind her ear, her smile faded as her lips parted and her eyes widened.

Just like the night before, her lips were calling me like a siren on a stormy night. My hand continued running up and down her back. She melted against me and one of her hands rested on my chest.

Her teeth sank into her pouty lower lip as she took in a shaky breath. I wasn’t sure if it was out of nervousness or not, but it was sexy as hell, and my body took notice. I tried to tell myself that nothing was going to happen, but the man downstairs was starting to stand up to see for himself.

The last thing I wanted was to be in an inappropriate state when the kids came in. I was just about to step away when Whitney’s hand flexed on my chest, and she whispered my name, “Wyatt?”

I could hear the question in her voice and without considering the fallout, I responded. I lowered my head. Her breath fanned my face and my lips brushed against hers as I asked, needing to be sure, “Is this what you want?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

I pressed my mouth against hers and for a split second, nothing else mattered, nothing else existed.

“Pizza!” Alice screamed as she ran into the kitchen, followed by Michael, who seemed just as enthused. “Pizza!”

Whitney stepped out of my arms and we both blinked at one another. I could see that there was a little bit of fear and uncertainty in her stare. This was not the time to talk about what just happened, but I had a feeling that there were things that needed to be said.

I’d just crossed a line, one that I’d been careful not to get near for five years. And now that I had, I was more scared than ever that I’d cross it again.

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