Page 138 of Chasing After You
“I saw Allison at the last game. She showed up right before kickoff, demanding to be let in,” he says. I can’t help the little gasp that escapes, because this explains why he looked miserable during that game. “I always knew it could happen, but I never thought she’d actually show up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. You were right when you said I needed to face my demons. I was planning on going to see her after that game before postseason began, but she saved me a trip.”
Oh Henry.
My heart melts for him, this incredible man.
“I had them put her in a private room—actually, I think it could have been this one for all I know—until after the game. Allison made excuses, saying she’s doing better and wants to be a part of my life again. That’s what all the phone calls have been about.”
“What did you say?” I ask.
“I wrote her a check on the spot for five hundred thousand and asked her to pick: me or the money,” he says, running his thumb back and forth over the back of my hand. “She picked the money, which I expected, but I told her to never call me again, and if she did, I’d file a restraining order before the phone call was over.”
“This might be a dumb question, but are you okay?”
He chuckles, lifting our intertwined hands up to press a kiss to my knuckles. “Believe it or not, yeah . . . I’m okay. I thought I had this void in me because my birth mother didn’t love me enough to stay, but the truth is, I have a mother who picked me—whochoseto love me, regardless of biology.”
Tears spring to my eyes because that might be the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard him say. “I’m so happy for you.”
“The only thing I had left to do was convince you that we belong together, but I guess you came to that conclusion all on your own. I even made a list,” Henry says, and I laugh, wiping my eye as a tear escapes.
“You made a list?”
He smiles warmly, lighting up the whole room. “I did. I know how much you like checking things off, and everything on it seems inevitable for us, but it could be fun to check them off together.”
“Can I see it?” I ask, and my head explodes when he pulls it out of his back pocket, handing it to me.
Henry’s to-do list:
Convince Mirabelle to forgive me
Move in together
Propose
Take her last name
Adopt a dog
Kids?
Learn to salsa
Bonus points
Grow old together
Make a new list together
My vision floods with tears, and I didn’t think it was possible to feel this understood. Henry wipes my cheeks gently with his thumb. “Mon cœur,don’t cry.”
