Page 72 of Offside Angel

I’ll have to tell him about the locker eventually. But not until I’m sure it was Dante who did it. There’s no sense freaking everyone out if it was some random, senseless prank, after all.

I’m halfway lost in my head, trying to decide what kind of search I’d need to do to find out if teenagers are pranking people with strawberry jelly, when Aiden’s voice cuts through my thoughts.

“This is my dad.” He loops one arm around Zane’s leg and then loops the other around mine, tugging on my knee. “And this is my mom.”

The record that is my life scratches.

I stand perfectly still, afraid that any tiny movement might shatter this obvious daydream I’ve stumbled into.

“It’s so nice to meet Aiden’s parents.” Mrs. Wilson shakes Zane’s hand and then holds her hand out to mine, oblivious to the riot of thoughts bouncing around my head. I don’t move until Zane nudges me gently in the side. I finally take her hand and she grins. “Aiden talks about you both all the time.”

I should be listening. Mrs. Wilson is telling us how great Aiden is doing in class and how many friends he has. She’s rattling off a list of accolades and praise that I would be absolutely giddy to hear if I wasn’t deep in an existential spiral.

Zane answers for both of us, saying all of the right things, I’m sure. Even though, again, I’m existentially spiraling.

Mrs. Wilson points Aiden towards Gallagher’s self-portrait and the two of them head over to admire his classmate’s work.

As soon as Zane and I are alone, he turns me towards him. “You’re freaking out.”

“Nope. I’m fine.”

“You’re not.” He massages warmth into my arms. “But you should be. Aiden loves you.”

“But I’m not his mom,” I blurt.

It hurts to say it. To admit the undeniable truth out loud.

“As much as I want to be, I’m not. And I’m not sure I should let him call me… that. What would Paige think?”

“I have no idea what Paige would think. Because she’s dead.” I gasp and Zane just shrugs. “She isn’t here. But you are. I don’t intend to erase Paige or lie to Aiden about anything, but I’ve told you from the beginning that you’re good for Aiden. He loves you.”

“I love him, too. Of course I do. But?—”

“You can stop there. That’s all that matters. You love him. As far as I’m concerned, he’s as much yours as he is mine.” Zane pulls me against his side, and I can see the whole gym. All the families that look as normal here as we do. “We all belong to each other now, Mira. And nothing is going to change that.”

Zane’s words stick with me the rest of the night. While I admire Aiden’s family portrait and we walk around, hand-in-hand, to look at all of the science projects.

On the ride home when Aiden recaps every single moment from the entire event, even the ones we were there for, while Zane squeezes my thigh across the console.

Especially when I poke my head in Aiden’s door as Zane is putting him to bed.

They’re huddled under the blankets with a book between them. The reading lamp in the corner casts them in a soft, yellow glow.

“Goodnight, buddy.”

Aiden smiles so hard his eyes go squinty. “Goodnight. I love you!”

Emotion clogs my throat and it takes two tries before I can squeeze the words out. “I love you, too.”

I slip across the hall to my bedroom and, alone in the quiet, give myself permission to imagine this forever.

I may not know what a normal family looks like, but surely I can figure it out. Hell, maybe we already have. Maybe this is it!

We all belong to each other now. Nothing is going to change that.

Can that be true?

I lean against the door under the weight of a future I want, but don’t know if I can have, until I need to do something.

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