Page 104 of Pulse
“Brunch, huh?”
He chuckles and shrugs.
“I’m going to let you both go,” my father says, shaking Troy’s hand again. “Take care of my daughter, and I’ll see you Saturday?”
“Let me run it by Dahlia first, then I’ll let you know.”
My father hugs me gently, careful to avoid my injuries. “If you need anything, call me. You are my priority. I can’t fix my mistakes, but I can try not to make any more.”
“That’s all any of us can do.”
“I’ll see you.” He waves and heads to his car.
“Hey!” I call after him, as Troy slips an arm around my waist.
My father looks at me, his hand on the door.
“Thanks, Dad.”
He nods, his face wrinkling, and ducks in the car. We watch him drive away.
“What’s Saturday?” I ask as we return to my house.
“He wants to go golfing.”
“You golf? With your temper?”
He chuckles, shutting the door behind us. “I don’t love it. But when you’re with the Landrys, it’s a skill you somehow acquire.”
I busy myself packing up some of my things in the kitchen. Troy packs up my books in the living room. I love that he didn’t question that I needed them to go first.
I think through everything that has happened over the past week and how much my life has changed. It could’ve gone so horribly. I could’ve lost everything—even my life.
Things can change so fast. In the blink of an eye, in a heartbeat, things can go one way or the other. How much time did I waste on mediocre boyfriends? Mom and my dad wasted their whole lives hoping something would happen and theycould be together. Alexis wasted the past three years trying to con her way into an inheritance.
I watch the man I love pack my romance books in totes. My very own hero.
I don’t want to wait to have the life I want. I want to live it now … with him.
“Hey,” I say.
He looks up. “Yeah?”
“I’m just letting you know that I want to have your baby.”
He drops a stack of books into the tote. “What are you telling me?”
“That I want to have your baby. I want to point at you across the soccer field and tell the other moms that you’re my baby’s daddy. I want to see you standing in the middle of the night feeding our daughter. And I want to watch you teach our son … not to drive. I’ll do that.”
He bursts out laughing.
“We didn’t have that childhood, but we can have that life together. That’s the life I want…with you. So what are we waiting for?”
He walks toward me, unbuttoning his shirt. “I’m not.”
I laugh as the door opens, and Morgan and Travis walk in. Troy’s face falls, and I laugh harder.
“Did we interrupt something?” Travis asks, looking between us.
