Page 63 of All Your Firsts Without Me

She giggles, “Fuck what other people think?”

I nuzzle my nose into her hair. “You’re exactly correct.”

“I’ve heard that a few times myself,” she sighs, resting her head back against my chest.

I pull my guitar in front of us, my fingers gently strumming over the strings. I sing quietly about love and family. About how sometimes sad times lead us to the absolute best things.

April doesn’t join me. She listens quietly. I press a kiss to her temple, knowing she has a lot going on in there. I’ve had over a year of dreaming about us being together and what that could potentially mean. We have the unique ability to spend our days and nights together doing what we love. We have the capability to make a family. She’s just now letting herself grasp at a life she never imagined she could have. She’d been certain there would be no life for her at all without David.

She blinks up at me, tears hanging on for dear life to her long lashes. I don’t stop singing until the sun comes up.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

April

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

I climb over Westin, reaching for my phone. He doesn’t open his eyes, but his hands seem to be awake because they grab onto my butt.

“Hello?” I answer a bit breathlessly.

“Hey, sorry to wake you so early but I got you in. They’re going to allow you an hour with him at four this afternoon.”

The room spins, my heartbeat thunders in my ears.

Westin’s hands stop massaging my bottom. His eyes fly open.

He sits up with me still straddling him, the phone pressed to my ear. “April?” Concern wrinkles his eyes.

Gently, he pulls the phone away from my ear. “Hello?”

I blink, my hands shaking as I listen to his half of the conversation.

“She’s okay. Shocked, maybe?” He runs his palm over the side of my face.

“Today?”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll see what she wants to do.”

We stare at each other as he listens to Giles on the other end. He’s taking care of it. I’m not alone. I have Westin. Everything is okay. It’s fine.

“Sure. Talk to you later.”

After he hangs up, he cups my face in his hands, his gaze bouncing all over my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah.” I try to climb off him, but he doesn’t release my cheeks, his grip only tightens. “No running.”

No running. Okay. Okay. It’s okay to not take this on all by myself.

“I forgot I asked Giles to get me a meeting with my father.” I wrap my fingers around his wrists.

“I’ll go with you,” he says with so much emotion in his voice that I know he would go to the ends of the earth for me.

It’s kind of scary. This is all happening so fast, yet it feels right.

I nod once.

He releases the breath he was holding. “Good. Good,” he says, placing his forehead to mine.

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