Page 99 of Between Us

“Stella Brynn Miller,” he confirms with a small smile, his eyes moving between my face and hers.

“Wow,” I whisper. There aren’t words big enough to express everything I’m feeling, though the most important pushes through. “You’re going to be a great dad, Grady.”

With a soft expression, he shrugs lightly. “I hope so.”

Turning my head, I smile at Adrian, letting my eyes linger on him affectionately for a couple of seconds.

When I look back at the screen, Grady has a knowing smirk on his face, except he doesn’t say anything. We talk for a couple more minutes, but I know it’s probably hectic with our parents and Arielle’s, along with the nursing staff. So, it’s a quick call—one that eases more of the tension.

I hang up with my brother and instead of putting my phone down, I open the group chat to text my friends. It’s a quick promise that I’m okay and will call them tomorrow. They both reply within seconds, but it’s only to tell me they love me and to call whenever.

Adrian’s reading the short exchange over my shoulder and whispers into my ear, “You’ve got a lot of people who love you.”

Nodding, I throw my phone onto the bed and lay on my back.

“I love you,” he adds.

A small, tired smile tugs at my lips. “I love you too.”

“How are you feeling?”

Twisting my lips, I think his question over, wondering the same thing. I knew showering and eating were the first steps I needed to take, and it did help. The anxiety of waiting to hear from my brother, and the guilt of ignoring my friends have settled too.

My eyes move along Adrian’s handsome features I memorized months ago. He didn’tfixanything today, but he stood with me when my instinct was to push everyone away. And that means more than anything else.

“Better,” I answer with a small, resolute nod. “Not one hundred percent, butbetter.”

“It’s a start.” Rearranging the laptop so it’s propped next to me and his body is curled around mine, he starts the next episode. “And tomorrow’s a new day.”

Looking over my shoulder at him, I revel in the fact this man not only noticed me, he is so openly devoted to me. I never thought I’d be this lucky, but I fight my nature to question it, choosing to enjoy it instead.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Blake

MymomandIare in the kitchen, making sugar cookies while she quietly sings along to the Christmas music playing in the background. It’s a tradition we’ve had for almost a decade now.

Every Christmas Eve morning, we makebiscochitos. It’s something she’s been doing with her mom since she was a little girl. But one year, Calypso Davies asked if we could try making decorated sugar cookies too.

Calypso, her little sister Vivi, and I used to spend all evening with our moms just like this. They’d be drinking sangria and singing along to Last Christmas, while we ate way too much sugar, and made more cookies than our families could eat. We’d go pass them out around town the day after Christmas.

It’s been a few years since our families spent Christmas together—at least since I was fourteen and before Grady went off to college. But even by then, we’d all started to grow up and grow apart.

As we started spending the holidays as individual families, my mom and I never fell out of our Christmas Eve tradition.

The butterflies in my stomach are new though and have been fluttering around since I woke up this morning. I thought after we had sex, there wasn’t going to be a lot of big firsts anymore. But I was wrong.

Because spending Christmas together for the first time feels monumental. And I hope it really is just the first of many.

Fingers crossed.

The doorbell rings as I’m just starting to knead the next batch of dough. My head whips up at the sound, only now realizing how late in the afternoon it is. It’s one of those activities that makes time fly.

“I’ll get it,morrita,” my mom tells me and gently rubs my back. I smile at her over my shoulder and try to get my nerves in check.

It’s almost five p.m. when Adrian gets here; it’s still earlier than I expected since he worked today. My dad isn’t home yet, but he typically stays until everyone, minus the overnight staff, has already left on holidays. So, I don’t really expect him back until closer to seven when we sit down to eat.

The soft sounds of my mom and Adrian talking flitter into the kitchen, except I can’t make out the words until they’ve rounded the corner.

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