Page 91 of Make It Without You

“I can’t believe you’re here.” I cry.

“Where you go, I go,” Adam pulls back and looks me over. “I won’t let you face the hard times on your own. You’ve got me.”

Nodding my head, I wrap my arms around his waist. Nuzzling into his chest as I reality that he showed up when I needed him makes the love I have for him soar to the skies.

“Emily?” I hear behind me.

My body freezes as I remember my parents. Pulling back from Adam, I look up at him. “Ready to meet my parents?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” Adam places a kiss to the tip of my nose before I turn around and face my parents.

“Mom? Dad? I’d like you to meet Adam.”

Adam

Idrum my fingers on the steering wheel along to the beat of a Kendrick Lamar song. It’s a Wednesday and Emily has been back home for a couple of weeks. Seeing her distraught over the loss of a person who was like a grandmother to her, was something I never thought I would have witnessed. Tack on me meeting her parents, which went smoothly, and she was exhausted.

“Mom?Dad? I’d like for you to meet Adam. Adam, these are my parents,” Emily says as she introduces me to her parents.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” I offer as I hold my hand out for them to shake.

“Likewise. Honey, why don’t we all go and get lunch?” Emily’s Mom offers as we’re still mingling in front of the church.

Emily slides her hand into mine as more of a reassurance that I’m here than for comfort. Or maybe it’s for both. “Yeah. That sounds good.”

We all walk towards the parking lot as Gloria’s family has already left for the burial site. I pull my hand from Emily’s and wrap my arm around her shoulder instead.

“Thank you for coming,” she tells me as I steer us towards my rental car.

“I know you said not to. But baby, I don’t want you to have to face the hard things alone.”

When we get to my car, I open the door for her. But Emily turns before getting in. “I love you. I don’t mean it in a surface-level way.”

I duck my head so we’re at eye-level and peck her on the lips. “I know what you mean.”

She kisses me before ducking into the passenger seat.

“So where to?” I ask when I’m in the car.

“Our go-to has been this restaurant that has a garden terrace and looks over Central Park. They have really good food.”

Putting the car in drive, I have her tell me which way to go. I’ve never been to New York and this isn’t my ideal first time to want to come here. But I’m hoping these few days here with Emily will allow her and I to explore and be a real couple without the prying eyes or being terrified to show affection.

It takes us about thirty minutes to arrive at the restaurant. Emily was nervous being around Dylan, but I’m shaking in my suit at being around her parents. From what she told me, their relationship has been slowly building. But I can’t separate the parents they are now from the parents they were when she was a kid.

“How did you two meet?” Emily’s Dad, Mark, asks us.

“I went into his bar after the ‘Meet the Teacher’ event at school. Turns out we had a connection that wasn’t known until he showed up for a parent-teacher conference.”

“Oh? You’re a dad?” Her Mom asks.

“Yes, ma’am. I have a son,” I respond.

Emily’s Mom’s face lights up when she asks to see pictures of Dylan. I show her one of him on the first day of school and then one of the three of us at his baseball game a couple of weekends ago. Her Dad asks about my owning a restaurant and claims that they’ll have to make a trip. Not just for my business, but for Emily as well.

After lunch, Emily insists we go for a walk in Central Park. I’ve never been so I enthusiastically agree.

“That went well,” Emily states when we’re well into the park.

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