Page 108 of Under Water

“This place is nice,” she murmurs, hitching her hip against the cabinets.

I turn and smile. “Yeah. I’d love something like this for me and Elio one day.”

Her tone is careful with her next words. “And Easton?”

My eyes widen. “You are way too good at that.”

“No,” she answers with a laugh, then moves me out of the way and starts to fix her own espresso. “I just know you. I know the tone you get when you think you’re in love.” She stops, then hits the button before turning to me. “And I know the tone you get when you’re actually in love.”

“I wasn’t ever in love with Neal,” I remind her.

She rolls her eyes. “I know that. But you are with Easton. It’s different. And yesterday, he was all Elio could talk about. The man is his fucking hero.”

I want to be hurt by that, but Easton deserves that title. He’s been everything I had ever wanted in a partner. He’s embraced all the sides of me and every facet of my life—even the ugly parts. And he’s never made me feel like I’m unworthy.

“I’m scared,” I tell her after she gets her tiny mug of liquid caffeine and sips it. “I keep thinking that it’s all going to go to shit. That everything I’ve known about him for years is just a lie, and he’s waiting to show me his true colors.”

“Oh, honey.” She sets her cup down and pulls me into a hug. “I get it, but those people at your work would not lie to you. And they wouldn’t love him as much as they do if he was a bad guy.”

I’m not so sure I believe her. I’ve seen good people protect bad ones time and time again. But I want to trust in my gut and in everyone else.

“Are we doing group hugs?” comes a sleep-rough voice from the doorway.

I lift my head to see Easton standing there with his curls wild and pillow creases on his cheek. His eyes are half-lidded and bleary red, and he’s watching me and Daphne hold each other with his head tilted to the side.

“Can I get in on that?”

Daphne rolls her eyes, but she motions him over, and he slips against us. Her arm winds around his waist, and mine sits a bit higher than hers, and Easton hums happily before kissing my neck.

“Is this weird since we’ve never met?” he asks Daphne.

She laughs. “No, darling. It’s perfect.”

Elio wakes up soon after Easton, and I let Daphne handle his morning routine as Easton and I stand hip-to-hip making breakfast. I can hear his excited chatter as she gets him dressed for the day, and after a moment, Easton looks over at me with a smile.

“He really loves her.”

I nod, smiling back. “Yeah, he does.”

“Does he ever…I mean, does it make him angry that she’s not around?”

I let out a puff of air. “Sometimes, I think. When he misses her enough that it hurts. But it’s been this way since he was a baby, and she’s proven again and again over the years that all he has to do is say the word, and she’ll hop a plane to be here.”

Easton’s smile goes small and sad. “That’s nice.”

“Are you jealous?” I keep waiting for him to be upset or insecure about Daphne, and for a moment, I think I’m about to be proven right when he nods.

“A little. I wanted that, when I was a kid. I wanted my parents to look at me just once with something like love in their eyes.”

I realize he’s not talking about being jealous of Daphne, but of the relationship Elio has with me and her, and I ache for him.

“I wanted to feel like I was more than some social obligation they had to fill,” he goes on. “A few months ago, I was lying in my bed, trying to remember the last time I heard either of them say they loved me, and I realized I’m not sure they ever did.”

“Easton,” I whisper, setting my knife down.

He shakes his head and tries for a smile, though he doesn’t quite manage it. “It’s fine. I mean…it is what it is. I can’t make them love me, and I’d rather them be honest about it than blow smoke up my ass so I’d be crushed later on when I found out it was all a lie.”

I take the whisk out of his hand and pull him into my arms, dragging him into a kiss. “It’s not fine, and you’re allowed to be not fine about it. Your parents suck.”