Page 96 of Trusting Easton

“What are you talking about?”

“Letting you break my heart again.”

“Nova, I never wanted that to happen. I was just a kid. You know I didn’t want to leave you.”

“I know that now, but I didn’t back then. I think part of me didn’t believe it until I got to know you again.”

“And now what do you think?”

“I think you’ll break my heart. But this time I’m prepared for it. Well, I’m not prepared, but I know it’s a possibility.”

“I don’t want that to happen.”

“I don’t either, but I’m not going to let the fear of that happening keep me from being with you. This might be my only chance to feel this way, so why would I give that up?” I roll my eyes, smiling. “This is really sappy. I’m going to stop talking now.”

“It’s not sappy. I feel the same way. I knew I’d never be the same if we got together and then it ended. I knew my heart would be destroyed. But I never doubted wanting to be with you. It took me years to find you, and there was no way I was giving up without a fight. Even if we were just friends, I wasn’t going to let you push me away unless I knew for sure it’s what you wanted.”

“All those times I told you to leave, you never thought I meant it?”

“You meant it, but it’s not what you wanted. Like you said, you were trying to protect yourself, avoid the pain of losing me all over again.”

“And now here I am.” I look down. “About to lose you.”

“You’re not losing me.” He grips my hand. “You’ll never lose me again. I’ll be in your life for as long as you let me. You could go find some other guy, get married, have a couple kids… I’ll still be here. We’ll still be friends.”

I look up at him. “You promise?”

“Yeah, but don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Go off with some other guy and get married, have his kids.”

“Why?”

“Because that guy should be me.”

I smile as I imagine that. Easton and me, married with kids? With a dad like him, they’d be really cute kids. And he’d be a great dad. He’d have them on ice skates before they could even walk.

“You got quiet,” he says. “Did I freak you out saying that?”

“No. I was imagining it.”

“What?”

“You, as a dad.”

“And? Do you think I’d be good at it?”

“I think you’d be great at it.”

“Why? You’ve never seen me around kids.”

“I still think you’d be good at it. Do you even want kids?”

“Yeah, I want a whole hockey team.”

“Are you serious? How many kids is that?”

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