Page 178 of Rush
"Is that a problem?"
"No, but it's a lot of pressure, like I have to get this right."
I set down my mug. "Get what right?"
"All of it. Being a good partner, being a good father, not fucking everything up."
"Rush, you don't have to be perfect."
"Don't I? Everyone's watching now, waiting to see if I can handle it."
I step into his space and touch his face. "You don't have to handle everything alone."
"I know."
"Do you? Because it sounds like you're carrying the weight of everyone's expectations."
"Maybe I am."
"Well stop. The only expectations that matter are ours. Not the club's, not my dad's. Ours."
He leans down and rests his forehead against mine.
"How do you always know what to say?"
"I don't. I'm just telling you what I need to hear too."
"That we don't have to be perfect?"
"That we just have to be present."
His hands go to my hips and he holds me there, breathing me in. This is what love looks like with Rush, I realize, not grand gestures, just this quiet presence.
He kisses me soft and slow, his hands steady on my waist. When he pulls back his eyes are clearer, less haunted.
"Thank you," he says.
"For what?"
"For being you."
I meet Maya at a café near campus that afternoon.
She's already there when I arrive, two coffees on the table.
"Hey," she says with a grin. "You look different."
"Different how?"
"I don't know, glowy? Happy? What's going on?"
I sit down and take a breath. "I'm pregnant."
Her eyes go wide. "What?"
"I'm nine weeks pregnant."
"Holy shit, Everly."
