Page 105 of Lick
“I know you do. But that’s for me to decide now.” I turned back to my husband, keeping a firm hold on his hand. “And my husband isn’t going anywhere. You need to accept that.”
Nate walked around the table, gave Mom a kiss. “Thanks for dinner.”
“One day,” she said, looking between the both of us, “when you have your own children, then you’ll understand how hard it is.”
Her words pretty much wrapped things up. My dad just kept shaking his head and huffing out breaths. I felt guilty for disappointing them. But not bad enough to return to my former ways. I’d finally reached an age where I understood that my parents were people too. They weren’t perfect or omnipotent. They were every bit as fallible as me. It was my job to judge what was right.
I picked up my handbag. It was time to go.
David nodded to both my parents and escorted me out. A sleek new silver Lexus Hybrid sat waiting by the curb. It wasn’t a big SUV like the ones Sam and the other bodyguards used. This one came in a more user-friendly size. Behind us, Nate and Lauren climbed into his car. Nothing much was said. Mom and Dad stood in the house’s open doorway, dark silhouettes from the light behind them. David opened the door for me and I climbed into the passenger seat.
“I’m sorry about my father. Are you upset?” I asked.
“No.” He shut my door and walked around to the driver’s side.
“No? That’s it?”
He shrugged. “He’s your dad. Of course he’s going to be concerned.”
“I thought you might have been running for the hills by now with all the drama.”
He flicked on the indicator and pulled out onto the road. “Did you really?”
“No. Sorry, that was a stupid thing to say.” I watched my old neighborhood passing by, the park I’d played in and the path I’d taken to school. “So I’m a college dropout.”
He gave me a curious glance. “How does that feel?”
“God, I don’t know.” I shook my hands, rubbed them together. “Tingly. My toes and hands feel tingly. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Do you know what you want to do?”
“No. Not really.”
“But you know what you don’t want to do?”
“Yes,” I answered definitely.
“Then there’s your starting point.”
A full moon hung heavy in the sky. The stars twinkled on. And I’d just upended my entire existence. Again. “You’re now officially married to a college dropout who makes coffee for a living. Does that bother you?”
With a sigh, David flicked on the indicator and pulled over in front of a neat row of suburban houses. He picked up one of my hands, pressing it gently between both of his. “If I wanted to quit the band, would that bother you?”
“Of course not. That’s your decision.”
“If I wanted to give all the money away, what would you say?”
I shrugged. “You made the money, it’s your choice. I guess you’d have to come live with me then. And I’m telling you now, the apartment we’d have on my salary alone would be small. Minuscule. Just so you know.”
“But you’d still take me in?”
“Without question.” I covered one of his hands with my own, needing to borrow a bit of his strength just then. “Thank you for being there tonight.”
Little creases lined his perfect dark blue eyes. “I didn’t even say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“You called me your husband.”
