“You thought we were going to break up?” I asked through gritted teeth. Daniel’s eyes widened hearing the anger in my voice. “If you had just picked up your phone—”
“Right, so, I was in the wrong for not picking up your phone, but in my defense, my ex-girlfriend had just shown up demanding to get back together and my current girlfriend was part of the conversation. Sue me for thinking you wouldn’t want to be a part of all that drama.”
“Are you going back to her? For the same reason you felt the need to continue talking to her?” I asked. That was what I was afraid of; him going back to her because he felt an obligation. The same way he had felt obligated to continue talking to her.
“Of course not!” Daniel said vehemently. He stood up and walked to me, kneeling in front of me. He grabbed my free hand in both of his, gripping it tightly and looking up at me with imploring blue eyes.
“I love you. You have to believe me.”
“I do believe you. I love you. I just…” I stopped and swallowed. Daniel waited for me patiently, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles.
I took a deep breath. “When Cecily said the two of you had an agreement to get back together, it just made me realize one of my worst fears. I know I shouldn’t let my mother’s relationship affect me, or have any bearing on my relationships. I am in love with you. I was afraid.”
“You have nothing to be afraid of. I felt this strange sense of obligation to, I don’t know, to be civil with her. I thought that after three years if our relationship didn’t work, we could still be friends. I was trying hard not to be like my parents.” His lips twisted up into a bitter smile. “Whether we want it or not, our parents messed up relationships have some effect on us. All we can do is try not to be like them.”
I dropped the sandal and it clattered to the floor. I wrapped both arms around Daniel’s neck and held on to him tightly.
“I love you,” I said again.
Daniel wrapped his arms around me and pulled me off the bed and onto his lap. We kissed fervently, desperately, expressing our love just as much with our mouths as we did with our words.
“What about the fact that you told her you two can try again?” I asked. That part still bugged me.
Daniel looked up at me, his gaze meeting mine and then flitting away.
“Honestly, I don’t remember saying something like that. But now I’m thinking my words could have been misconstrued. My entire childhood has been spent watching relationships fail. Some people can’t keep plants alive, in my family we can’t keep relationships alive. And it’s not just one or two people, it’s everyone. Between all of us, I think maybe two marriages survived. I thought I could do better. But as soon as I was out of there, I realized how much I was fooling myself because leaving Chicago felt like the best decision of my life. And it led me to you.”
I sighed. That part I did understand. A part of me cringed each time I thought of how my mother’s relationship and her death still affected me after all these years. It had an impact on my romantic relationships and I was a grown woman. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to be friends with his ex when I was still on friendly terms with some of mine. Hell, I had even baked wedding cakes for two of my exes!
“I’m happy you found me. I would have preferred you didn’t ruin my favorite dress in the process,” I said, teasingly adding the last part.
“I offered to buy you a new one. A dozen new ones,” Daniel protested.
“Yeah, yeah. It wasn’t so bad. Maddie’s dry cleaner is a magician. The dress is good as new.”
We fell into a peaceful silence. I put my head on Daniel’s shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around mine, pulling me in closer.
“So…my mother’s boyfriend cheated on her a lot and eventually when I was eleven, she killed herself,” I said quietly. I felt Daniel still beneath me and if it weren’t for the thudding of his heart under my hand, I would have thought he was made of stone.
“I understand now that there were probably a lot more reasons that led her to that decision, but as a child, the only person I had to blame was myself and him. I spent years thinking that I should have tried harder to pull her out of that life. She wanted to be a singer, she had the voice of an angel. Sometimes, when I’m lying awake at night, I think I can still hear it. Other times, I think I must be hallucinating how she sounded. You’re not the only one who’s still affected by their families’ choices.”
Daniel pressed his mouth on top of my head.
“We make quite the pair, don’t we?” He said.
“We’re not bad. I mean, you did help me get over my fear of water and I admitted I love you. I think we make a great team,” I said, kissing the corner of his mouth.
“Does this mean you’ll let me convince you to go sky diving?” Daniel asked, a teasing lilt to his voice. I looked up at him.
“Ha! Not in this lifetime, bud. If we’re still together in the next, I’ll consider it.”
I looked up at him, my chin resting on his shoulder. I traced a finger along his lips.
“I need you to be honest with me from now, okay? No more secrets.”
“I’ll never keep a secret from you, that I can promise. I promise to be obsessively honest and tell you every single detail about my day,” he said.
“That probably won’t be necessary. I’m not going to tell you everything that happens with the girls. That’s top secret.”
He kissed me softly, his lips like a soft brush against mine.
“How did you know I was here? I mean, staying at this hotel?”
He sighed. “Emily. She knows people at Netflix.”
“That was nice of her,” I said. “I don’t know why you and Sienna keep complaining about her.”
Daniel kissed my neck and trailed kisses along the expanse of skin revealed by the gap in my robe. He pulled at the tie with one finger, pulling it loose and sliding his hand under the robe and along my skin.
“Emily never does anything out of the goodness of her heart,” Daniel mumbled. “Let’s not talk about my sister right now.”
I pushed him away with a lot of effort. I wanted to know what it had cost him.
“What did she want in return?” I asked.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does. You just said no more secrets.”
Daniel pushed my hair back behind my ear, letting his eyes linger on my face. He had a soft smile on his face that belied his happiness.
“She wanted my grandmother’s house,” he said in the end.
My mouth fell open. He loved that house; he had told me as much. He might not have enjoyed every day he spent there; he still hoped to one day raise a family there. Maybe even our family. And he just gave it away.
“You love that house,” I whispered.
“I love you more.”
A sense of pleasure rushed over me hearing him say that. I never knew that love could feel like this, that just a mere chemical reaction could be so pleasurable and bring so much joy. I felt connected to Daniel in a way I had never felt connected to anyone.
“But the house—”
“It’s not more important than us,” he said. “Besides, all I told Emily was that I will speak with our grandmother about leaving the house to her. What our grandmother does will be her decision.”
He pulled me into a tight hug, and I breathed in deeply, completely safe, and at peace. With every beat of his heart that matched mine, I knew no matter what happened, we would always stand by each other.
Epilogue - Daniel
I woke up at 4:59 am and reached to shut off the alarm just as it started to ring. I groaned, rolling over and letting my arm rest on the empty side of the bed. Which hadn’t been empty when I had gone to sleep. Two months of living together and I still couldn’t figure out how Eve managed to wake up, get out of bed and get ready for work without me realizing it.
I yawned and threw off the blanket, shuffling my way to the bathroom. It was still full of steam
, the mirror foggy around the edges. Eve must have just stepped out. I worked through my morning routine quickly, hoping to catch Eve before she left.
This has become our daily routine. She still woke up at 4:00 in the morning but she had cut down her hours, so she was home at a reasonable time. Her week-long guest stint for Baking with Caroline had been such a success, Caroline Bishop wanted Eve to go back and host with her. Sugar Bliss was busier than ever, which meant Eve spent most of her time working or worrying about work. Our morning time together was sacred.
She had already poured me a cup of coffee, which she left sitting next to hers on the island. Eve was on the phone and blew me a kiss as she got the carton of creamer out of the fridge for her coffee. I grabbed her arm, pulling her close to me and kissing her neck. Her citrusy scent was especially strong in the morning and it woke up my body and senses better than any coffee could.
“Yup, I’ll talk to Daniel when he’s up…. I think you’re giving me more credit than I deserve… Yes. Yes… No, you don’t have to…Of course. See you then.”
The call ended and Eve put her phone on her counter next to us.
“Good morning,” she whispered against my mouth. I didn’t think I would ever get tired of this. I felt more settled than I had in the longest time. Every time I came home to her, heard the sounds of her puttering around in the kitchen, or found her watching some god-awful show on Netflix, I felt happy. And not once did I feel the urge to turn around and walk back out. Even when we fought—and we had fought a lot when she first moved in—I knew there was nowhere else I would rather be, no one else I would rather be fighting with. I wasn’t even annoyed that every time I thought about Eve, I was waxing poetic in my head. I was that far gone.
“Who was that on the phone?” I asked.
“Your mother. Lisa, that is.”
“And what did she want?”
“She wants you to come to LA for the weekend after I’m done with my shoot and we spend the weekend with the family.”
It was too early in the morning for this.
“An entire weekend? With my family? Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
Eve pouted. “If I can deal with you and Sienna, I think I can handle the rest of the Reid family.”
I kissed her. I did not doubt that she was right. She would have the family wrapped around her little finger in no time. And then I would never be free of them. As much as I loved my family, I could only handle them in small doses.
“I love you,” Eve said. My heart expanded in my chest.
“I love you, too.”
“Even though I left my shoes in the hallway last night?” Eve asked, smirking and arching an eyebrow.
I rolled my eyes. It was one of the things we had fought about when she first moved in and I still sometimes found her shoes in the hallway instead of the shoe rack in the coat closet. Small steps.
“Even though. No matter what. Nothing is going to change the way I feel about you.”
Eve gave me the brightest smile and stepped out of my arms to make toast. I picked up my coffee and took a sip, watching her work. We might never have intended things between us to escalate to this level way back when we first started dating, but our relationship was the best thing that happened to us.
About the Author
Veronica Adler lives with her family, and spends most of her time creating imaginary worlds. For more information on upcoming books, follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
You can connect with me on:
https://twitter.com/VeronicaAdler2
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Not My Type : Golden Girls 1 Page 25