Page 107 of Beating Heart
“Oh, we’re doing this. Now that I know you feel the same way I do, it’s on, baby.” He flipped me onto my back and tickled me as laughter echoed around the room.
And we stayed up for hours talking about our dreams and our future.
And I fell asleep feeling the most content I had in years.
I didn’t know what the plan was, but I knew he and Cutler would be right beside me.
That’s all I needed to know.
Sleep took me, and I didn’t move until the sun had me blinking awake, and I heard a little voice in the room.
“Hey, Pops. Sunny slept over?” Cutler asked.
“She did. Is that all right?” Nash asked, and I squinted to see him coming out of the bathroom before he tried to hustle Cutler out of the room.
I pushed up to sit, chuckling at the oversized tee falling off my shoulder that Nash had given me to sleep in. I’d never spent the night here, but Nash said he’d be up before Cutler, and he’d say that he slept on the couch until he explained everything to him. I patted the bed for Cutler to come sit beside me. “Hey. Good morning, angel face. Don’t leave on my account.”
“I love waking up and finding you here. It’s even better than J.T. being here, but don’t tell him I said that.”
I pretended to zip my lips and laughed. “I won’t say a word.”
Winnie came flying around the corner and jumped into the bed, and Cutler fell back into hysterical laughter as Nash informed us that he’d already taken her out and run next door to get her food, so she’d had breakfast, as well.
This man.
“So, we wanted to talk to you this morning,” Nash said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, with Cutler between us and Winnie lying on her back across the bed.
“This is like a family meeting, isn’t it, Pops?”
My chest squeezed at his words and the way Nash’s gaze softened when he looked at his son. “Yeah, buddy. It is like a family meeting. Do you like having family meetings?”
“Yes. Because Sunny is my girl, and Winnie is my best friend, next to J.T.”
“Well, we were thinking about making things more official. You know how Emerson spends a lot of time with us, and we both like it?”
“I know, Pops. And you keep saying she’s leaving, and I keep telling you it doesn’t matter if she leaves, because I love her no matter where she is.” He scooched closer to me, leaning his head against my chest, and my arms wrapped around him. He smelled like coconut and sunshine and sweetness.
I loved this kid so fiercely that it caught me off guard sometimes.
That I could grow this attached in just a few months.
But I had.
“Yeah, you mentioned that a couple of times.” Nash chuckled. “And you were right. Me and Sunny talked about it last night, and we don’t want to say goodbye. So we thought maybe we’d enjoy this time while she and Winnie live next door, and then when she leaves, we’ll talk to her every day and go visit as often as we can.”
“We could go with her, couldn’t we?”
A lump formed in my throat. They’d both been so willing to just leave their lives to be with me. It made my heart ache, and I kissed the top of his head.
“I don’t even know if I have the job yet.” Or if I even want the job, if I’m being honest. After the interview and hearing the hours that I’d be working, it didn’t sound as appealing as it had when I applied for residency.
Maybe I was different then.
Maybe I hadn’t enjoyed life outside of work back then, the way that I did now.
I wouldn’t share the apprehension I was feeling at the moment, because I didn’t know what I’d do just yet.
“How about this,” Nash said, staring at both me and Cutler like we were his whole world. “We take it one day at a time. We know we want to be together, so let’s just make it happen, however we need to.”
