Page 97 of Let's Be Forever

Her gaze flickers to my hand on top of my pocket. “That’s where you put it?”

“I wanted to keep it somewhere safe, somewhere I could carry it with me everywhere I went.” I fish out my wallet and show it to her. “She called me daddy today. That was…I really liked that. I hope she doesn’t stop.” I hold up four fingers.

“I don’t think she will.” Anna scoops a spoonful of the coconut cake with the passionfruit gelée. It has toasted coconut crumble and coconut meringue buttercream. “She loves you.”

“I really love her.”

Anna stares at me as if I had given her the serum to live forever. Stars twinkle in her eyes, and a smile so fucking bright stretches across her face.

“Maya’s back in my life.” She holds up five fingers and stuffs the spoon into her mouth.

I do the same and drop my forehead to the table, chewing slowly. “Fuck my life, this is insane. Are you kidding me, Anna? Baby, my love, this is delicious.” I sit up and swallow. “Can we have this at our wedding?”

Anna chokes on her cake. “You want to—” She clears her throat. “Get married?”

I already have a ring.You designed it, you just don’t know it, I want to tell her, but I don’t want to freak her out.

We’ve talked about it before, but it’s been a while. She could have changed her mind.

“With you, if that’s something you’d want to do, but we don’t have to talk about that now. We can whenever you’re ready.”

“It’s something I want.” She glances at me briefly before she scoops up the piece of the pink champagne cake.

My heart stutters. That gives me so much hope.

“When did you and Maya start talking again?”

“She showed up a few weeks before I saw you again. She’s not talking to our parents anymore.” She sets her spoon down, grabbing her water bottle. “They weren’t happy about her not wanting to go to medical school and ending her engagement.”

I grab her hand, twining our fingers. “I’m sorry. I hate that for you both.”

“It’s okay. Some days I do miss them, but it’s better that I’m not talking to them or seeing them.” She takes a long drink. “Itwas draining trying to meet their expectations. I was constantly second-guessing if I was doing enough. It sucks, yeah, but I’ve never felt happier. I know Maya feels the same way. And even though neither of us is talking to them, we have each other, so that’s positive.”

That makes me think about Thea. We don’t see each other often, but we’re pretty close. “I’m glad you have her. She’s great with Rosie.”

“She is, isn’t she?” She chuckles but abruptly stops. “She heard us the other night. We’ve not only traumatized your sister, but mine.”

It’s not our fault Thea decided to come over unannounced when I lived at the penthouse in New York.

“Speaking of Thea, she’d love to meet Rosie one day.” She’s asked half a dozen times already, but I wanted to earn Anna’s trust first.

“Does she know?”

“She knows everything.”

“She’s not mad at me for blocking her number, is she?”

“No, if anything she’s sorry that our parents put you through that. She also wanted me to tell you…” I roll my eyes, hearing her smug voice in my head. “That I’m a dumbass for leaving you and that if you take me back, I will never do anything stupid like that ever again.”

Anna snickers. “Did she really tell you to tell me that? And she can meet her whenever she’d like.”

“There was more to it, but that’s the short version of it. She really likes you. She almost stopped talking to me when I told her about the breakup,” I admit shamefully. “I wish I hadn’t been so stupid.” I sigh, wiping my palms on my thighs. “Hockey has been my whole life; it’s all I’ve ever trained for, worked hard for. When they told me that I likely wouldn’t play again, I had a panic attack. And it happened before you showed up that day.”

She takes my hand in hers, but she doesn’t speak, and I’m certain she’s sayingtake your time.

My chest feels tight at the memory. “It wasn’t the first time, but it had been the first one in a while. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t stop that from happening again.” My throat constricts, making the words hard to get out. “My father was mad. He said I was weak because that’s never happened to him or anyone in the family. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, and I couldn’t either.”

Her hands tighten around my fist. “You were just hurting. There was nothing wrong with you.” She doesn’t sound like she pities me, but more like she’s devastated for me. “There never has been.”