Page 74 of Fire Island
“You don’t have to coddle me, baby. I’m fine.”
Studying my face, she leans on the side of the table after placing the tray between us.
“I—” She angles her head with a wobbly smile. “I just can’t get over this, for you. I can’t process that this is happening to you. I hate it.”
I reach for her, and she steps closer. I push the chair back and tug her between my legs, looking up at her brown eyes, tight with emotion for the man in front of her.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel,” I say.
Confused and angry would be two emotions I can identify. But at the same time, I mourned Ava. I said my goodbyes. The lingering hurt for me all revolves around Reese. Or, more accurately, the absence of him. The absence of me inhislife.
Replaced by some stranger Ava’s parents no doubt thought was a better alternative.
“Do you want to see him?” Evie asks, palming my face.
“More than anything,” I mutter.
She smiles at me, scrunching her nose. A gesture I know means she is trying to hold back tears.
“Hey, you don’t worry about this old man, baby girl. One day at a time.”
I’ve had my pity party, my meltdown moment, finding out Ava is alive. And the way the sight of me broken wrecked this gorgeous little woman will forever be etched into my memory. My heart.
I will do everything I can to make sure she never endures a drop of that pain ever again.
She nods, but she’s shaking now.
“Hey, come here.” I pull her down onto my lap. Brushing her hair behind her ear, I trace the incredible angles of her face. Sliding the glasses from her nose, I place them on the table. Her eyes dart, studying my expression. I can only imagine what’s going through that brilliant mind of hers.
“What if having Reese in your life means I can’t be?” she finally asks.
I tilt my head, frowning.
I’m lost.
She presses her palms to my chest. “Cal, I’m barely seven years older than your child.” Her chin wobbles.
Right.
She is.
“What if it’s too weird, and you have to choose?” Her hand covers her mouth, and she struggles to hold it together.
I cup her face with my hands, hers falling away. “That isnotgoing to happen. You and me are nonnegotiable. You got it?”
“But—”
I shake my head, jaw feathering. “No buts. This right here, you and me, this is it.”
She groans but nods.
“NowI feel like an old man.” I chuckle to lighten the mood and her wobbly smile splits as she slaps my shoulder. But she slows, her hand tracing the muscles of my chest.
“You don’t feel like an old man to me...” she breathes.
I drag her mouth down to mine. She opens for me instantly, and I devour her, growing harder by the second. I grip her ass and lift her onto the old table.
This I remember, we have beenherebefore.
