Page 120 of Bless My Body

not good enough for you?”

My head falls back with laughter. “Are you kidding me?” I ask. “You not good enough for me?”

She nods solemnly. “You have your whole life planned out. You know exactly what you want.

Your family…” She looks away from me at the mention of my family.

“What about them?”

“I don’t think I’ll fit in with them. I’m not sure they like me.” The look on her face is one I’ve

never seen in her before. She looks unsure of herself. Celine is never unsure of herself. She always

goes in with full confidence with everything she does. I hate that I’m the reason she’s feeling like this.

My stupid family.

“Celine, I don’t care what anyone else thinks about you or me or us. It’s no one’s damn business

what we do, and I especially don’t care what my family thinks. This is our life, not theirs.”

She swallows, and I finally see a flash of relief on her face.

“Your mom…”

I crinkle my brow. “What? Did she say something to you?” She nods. “What did she say?”

She doesn’t say anything for a long pause, but then in a voice smaller than I’ve ever heard from

her, she tells me, “That I should leave you alone so you can find someone good enough for you.”

“Goddamn it.” My mom needs to stop sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. “Why didn’t you

tell me?”

“I thought maybe it was true. That maybe I should leave you alone.”

I shake my head. “No. Absolutely not. You are the one thing I actually want in life. The one thing

I’ve picked just for me. I never want you to leave me alone, ok? Even if you don’t want to have sex

anymore, I always want you in my life. However you’ll let me.” I grab her and bring her on my lap.

She straddles my waist and wraps her arms around my neck. I pull her in as close as possible, trying

my best to hug my reassurance into her.

We sit like that for a few minutes, neither of us saying anything. I could hold her all damn day and

never get tired of it.

She pulls back and looks me in the eye. Her features look calmer than they did just minutes ago.

The spark in her eyes is coming back.

“I think I want to try,” she tells me so quietly it feels like a whisper in my ear.

“Try what?”