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A hotel.
“Don’t you want me to stay?”
He frowns. “Of course I do. I just thought you might want to cool off too before we talk to him tomorrow.”
I shake my head firmly. “No. I mean… Yes, I do. But I want to cool off with you.”
He stares hard at me, eyes flickering. My body screams at me, telling me to go back to his place and take his seed, no matter what happens. It’s like the importance of getting pregnant with his child has doubled, trebled, now that our relationship is at risk.
“Okay then,” he says. “Let’s go. But maybe it would be better if you stayed in the spare room. Even after what just happened, Rory, hell…”
“I know.” It takes a massive effort not to reach out and grip onto him. “I feel the same. But we have to be good. We can’t do anything until we’ve explained it to my dad.”
“I agree,” Bennet says, but he can’t mask the tremor in his voice, letting me know he’s as hungry for my body as I am for his.
I sit at Bennet's kitchen table, my phone on speaker in front of me. Bennet sits across from me, his body taut, his wolfish blues flooded with concern as mom’s voice fills the room.
“Try and explain it to me,” Mom says. “Then I can talk to your father.”
“Do you think he’ll ever understand?” I ask, trying to repress the sob, the never-ending sob that threatens to rob me of my words.
But I can’t cry. I can’t make this about me.
“I’m not sure, sweetness. He was in a sour mood when he got home. All he told me was that he’d seen the two of you kissing.”
“I didn’t want him to find out like this, Samantha,” Bennet says. “I’m sorry.”
Mom sighs. “I’m sorry too.”
“That he found out like this or that Bennet and I are together?” I ask, way too eagerly.
But I have to know. Mom has always been the more accepting of my parents. Both are supportive and loving people, but mom’s always been the one who understood my high school troubles, who listened to anything I had to tell her growing up, no matter how uncomfortable.
“That he found out like this,” Mom says after a pause. “I’m still not sure how I feel about the two of you.”
There’s hope, at least, in her words.
“Okay, I’ll explain,” I murmur. “But Mom, I have to warn you, you might think we’re crazy.”
Mom laughs, giving me another flare of optimism. “This whole situation is crazy, so don’t worry about that.”
Swallowing, I look at Bennet. We were distant during the ride home, neither of us wanting to make contact after what happened with my dad. But now he reaches over and gives my hand a supportive squeeze, nodding at me to go on.
So I do. I tell my mom.
I start with the time we nearly kissed on my eighteenth birthday, and then tell her about the letter I put in Bennet’s mailbox. I explain about the letter he left me in my writing magazine – all while keeping out the steamy details – and finish with our date and our declarations to each other.
Mom takes a moment to process it all and then says, “So you two, this isn’t just a fling. You want to be together for the long haul?”
“Yes,” Bennet and I say at the same time.
“We want a family, Samantha,” Bennet goes on. “I’m not saying the circumstances are ideal, but Rory means the world to me. She is my world. I tried fighting my feelings for her. I really did. I knew it would complicate things. Hell, maybe that’s an understatement. But the pull is too strong. I…”
He trails off.
Was he about to say he loves me?
“This might put a different spin on things for Rick,” Mom muses.
“Can we come by tonight and explain it?” I say.
“I don’t think so, Rory. I know what he’s like when he gets like this. He needs to sleep on it.”
“What do you think about us, Mom?” I ask, desperation in my voice.
“Are you happy, Rory?”
“Yes,” I almost yell, my emotions getting the better of me. “I’m happier with Bennet than I can ever remember being. I want a life together. I was so stunned when he told me he felt the same. I don’t know what we’ll do if dad doesn’t give us his blessing.”
“And Bennet, did you mean what you said? You want to be with Lorelei, not just… it isn’t just a fling?”
“I want Lorelei and the life we’ve discussed more than I’ve ever wanted anything. I know it’s fast. I know there’s an age gap. I know things are complicated with Rick. But I can’t change how I feel. Rory is the one for me. The only one.”
I wrap both my hands around Bennet’s when his voice trembles with emotion.
