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Not that I could do much to protect him from anything if he needs protecting.
But here I go again, worrying like I always do and only when he’s not around.
A car pulls up out front, and I feel my heart leap. Before he even gets out I know it’s him.
A little late for someone who said they’d be right over, but he’s here. He’s here!
I clumsily try to launch out of the stupid wheelchair, almost busting my other ankle in the process.
The waiting area is empty but I still feel self-conscious. Not wanting to embarrass or get Xander into trouble by leaping straight into his arms.
But he doesn’t seem to want anything else.
Leaving his car running and the door open, he makes a direct line for me through the front doors and scoops me up, squeezing me so tight with both his huge arms I can barely get a word out or a breathe in.
“I love you too,” is the first thing I have to tell him, and feeling him groan with pleasure at the news, he shifts his grip on me, swinging me up so one arm supports my legs.
Like he’s carrying me across the threshold.
Today, that threshold is an entrance/exit to a campus medical center but it’s a start.
Waiting for him, and especially after seeing that little girl all alone, I know what I want in life now more than anything.
A family. I want to be the mom I never had, and be one half of the mom and dad that little girl maybe never had either.
And I only want it with Xander, nobody else. And if I come to blows or even lose my dad’s love and trust in the process, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
“You okay?” he asks me again, brushing my hair back before easing me into the front seat like the most fragile object in the world.
“I’m better now. Now that you’re here,” I tell him, and he kisses me.
We kiss until the car behind his honks, the driver holding both hands in the air in question as we both observe a line of traffic backed up behind us.
“Let’s get some lunch,” Xander says, buckling me in and striding over to his side of the huge sedan.
Big guy, bigger car I guess. I don’t recognize the make but it looks immaculate, very sexy, and very big. Just like its owner.
It purrs out of the drop-off zone and in moments we’re humming towards the town center, with Xander seeming to have already decided where we’re going to eat.
I can’t take my eyes off him the whole way. Watching him drive, watching him do anything, I feel that pleasant ache in my chest again, wanting to tell him over and over that I love him.
That I know I’ll love him forever.
And in a weird, can’t explain how kind of way, it already feels like I’ve loved him forever.
Like we’re picking up where we both left off somehow.
“Where’s Orion?” I ask, glancing over to the huge back seat, figuring we might be picking him up on the way.
But Xander’s face tells me everything I need to know.
Ugh.
I try to hide my disappointment, but I guess Xander can’t fix every problem just by being around.
“I thought...?” I start to ask. I kinda have to. I’m gonna need the details to tell the Patterson’s, who’ll be gutted of course.
And it’ll be all my fault.
“I almost had him in the campus cruiser,” Xander explains patiently. “But he got spooked, bit me, and ran towards the woods. We can go look for him later if you like,” he offers.
A perfectly reasonable thing compared to my own doom and gloom reaction.
“Well, like you said,” I add, cheering myself up. “He’ll come home when he’s hungry.”
One of Xanders’ huge mitts slips off the steering wheel and reaches over for mine, giving it a gentle squeeze.
It’s all the comfort I need, and in moments I’m quizzing him about where we’re going to eat.
“I’m assuming they’re open,” he muses to himself, letting me know he hasn’t been for a while, but he used to eat there a lot.
“When I first came to...” he trails off, giving me another strange feeling inside like he’s almost said too much and stopped himself.
“When I came to the college,” he says, finishing his sentence, calmly braking and swerving to avoid another car going the wrong way.
He gives me a little smile after we’re set straight again, and once again I gladly forget about wanting to know more.
Palazzo’s isn’t a place I’ve heard of, but the side of town I’ve been staying on is kind of where I hang.
The Patterson’s is closer to the bus to campus and there’s a mini-mall and supermarket right around the corner.
Plus, Mrs. Patterson being who she is, stocked two deep freezers with enough food for a family of six for a whole year, insisting I eat it.
