Page 67 of Ruin The Friendship
“Hey,” I murmur, tilting her chin to look at me. “Whatever you decide to do, I’m here for you. I’ll be there no matter what.”
There’s a quick quiver of her lip before she composes her expression. “Okay. Thank you.”
I run my thumb over her cheekbone and give her an affirmative nod when she takes a deep breath and pulls away from me, running her hands over her thighs.
“Can I ask you something?” Lydia questions, her shoulders tense.
I nod warily. “Anything.”
“What are we doing here? Are we officially dating?” Her voice is timid, and I want to eliminate the hesitation with a single word.
“Yes. We’re together. There is no doubt in my mind that I want this to be long-term, Lydia.” I cup her cheek, my large palm practically engulfing her face, but I need this contact with her.
She melts into my touch, and I smooth my thumb back and forth across her skin.
“I thought so, but I wanted to make sure. Can I ask one more thing?”
“Absolutely.” I press a kiss to the tip of her nose.
Perhaps we’re doing things backward. I mean, we haven’t even kissed on the lips yet, but I know where I want this relationship to go, and I’m confident we’ll get there.
“I know with your job, it’s hard sometimes to keep things private, but can we try to keep our personal lives as private as we can? We don’t need to announce to anyone that we’re dating or having a baby. I don’t want people to be in our business any more than necessary.”
Her request is so easy to say yes to, even though I want to tell the world she’s mine. I want to have her on my arm, boasting to everyone that she belongs to me, but I want her to be comfortable, and if that means not being in the spotlight the way my life is, I’m more than happy to oblige.
“Yes. Whatever you need, Lydi-bug.”
“Thank you,” she breathes, her shoulders relaxing. “I mean, we’ll still go to your games and everything, but social media is just such a messy place. I don’t want to fuel any drama.”
“I get it, and I agree.” The press can be invasive, and I’ll do my best to protect Lydia and our baby from it. I’m only on social media the bare minimum, and the only people I want to know about our relationship and life together already know, so I have no problem with this.
I get out of the car before she can and open the door for her, helping her out. Before she can step away, I’m pulling her into a tight hug.
“I’m going to miss you,” I whisper in her ear.
“Same. But it’s only two days,” Lydia says into my neck. “Two days is nothing.”
It feels different. Leaving is so muchharder now.
“Two days. Then it’s Christmas. Just us.”
“Just us.”
We’ve been doing Christmas Day on our own for years now. Since my schedule is all over the place, it’s hard for my family to come up or for me to go down there.
The day after Christmas, we’ll get together with Calvin and Grace’s family for a little Christmas brunch, but the day of is our thing. We exchange presents and stay in our pajamas all day watching Christmas movies and eating our weight in Christmas cookies. Lydia will usually crochet me a hat or some mittens as one of my presents, but she makes them that day.
Lydia’s parents have never come to visit, and whenever she asked about celebrating the holiday together, they always said they had other plans or conveniently planned a trip on Christmas.
It’s our little tradition, and officially our last year as just the two of us. Next year, there will be a baby to love on. I can’t wait.
“Text me when you land,” Lydia says as she pulls free from my embrace.
“Always.” I kiss her cheek, feeling grateful that in just nine days, I’ll be able to kiss her for real.
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ICE CREAM MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER
