Page 152 of Never After Us
The way her hand comes up to my jaw.
The way her mouth opens just a little, like she wants more.
The way her tears slide between us, warm, honest, devastating.
Heart-level truth.
And it hits me so hard I forget where the world ends, and she begins.
And then, there’s this little voice that stops everything.“So you love him, huh?”
We both jerk apart.
Mila stands two feet away, in pajamas covered in cartoon moons, holding the stuffed frog under one arm and a toothbrush in the other.
Mara makes a sound that doesn’t exist in any human language.
I freeze.Completely.My hands are still half on her waist, and I drop them like they’ve burned me.
“Mila,” Mara says, too calm, which is how I know she’s panicking internally.“Why are you awake?”
“It’s seven-thirty in the morning,” she replies, as if this explains everything.“Also, I heard voices.”
Mara drags a hand down her face.“You heard nothing.”
“I heard something and saw you two kissing,” Mila insists.Then she looks at me.“Do you love my mom now?Or does that happen later?I need to know the schedule.”
I cough so violently that I nearly swallow my own tongue.
Mara glares at me like this is somehow my fault.
“It’s too early for this,” she mutters.
“It’s seven thirty,” Mila insists.
“TOO EARLY,” I groan, because fuck me now.We’ve been so careful.
It’s not like this isn’t forever with me, but are we ready to say something like,Hey, we love each other and yes, this is the beginning of our family?
Mara scoops Mila up and marches her toward the bathroom.“Brush your teeth.Slowly.Very slowly.Like—sloth slow.”
The kid shrugs.“Okay.But I still think you love him.”
Mara disappears down the hall with her, sputtering something that sounds like a threat and a prayer mixed together.
I stand there in the kitchen with her aunt’s letter in my hand, the imprint of Mara’s mouth still tingling against mine, my chest pounding like I ran a marathon barefoot.
And I know—clearer than anything I’ve ever known—that I’m gone for her.
Completely.Irreversibly.No return flights available.
And the day hasn’t even started yet.
ChapterSixty-Three
Mara
“You love him?”Mila asks as she brushes her teeth, speaking around the foamy toothpaste as if this is a perfectly normal morning conversation.
