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“What?” He buckled Brynn into her seat. It was so natural; it was like he had been doing it since the day she was born. He met my gaze. “Piper, what did she say?”
I cleared my throat. “I…uh…she thought you might want to live with…us.”
He only stared at me. A few seconds went by and I thought for sure his mom had been wrong. Why would he want to live with us? It wasn’t like we ever made it official. There was something there. Neither of us could deny it but to be tied down and so quickly…
Jaron made sure Brynn was buckled in safely before shutting the door. He took a minute. I almost thought he was going to bolt but when he opened the driver’s side door and sat beside me, I let out a breath of relief I didn’t realize I had been holding.
“I don’t want to force you into anything,” I said, wringing my hands in my lap.
“You know how I feel about you, Piper,” he finally said, covering my hands with his.
“I don’t want you to feel tied down.” I took a chance and looked at him then.
“I don’t feel tied down.” He brought my hand up to his mouth, the scruff of his beard tickling my knuckles. “I want this. I want you. I want her. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be in your car about to drive us to our house. Unless the house is yours and you just want me as a random hookup. Or some stranger who sleeps on your couch. I am pretty handy, so I can help with fixing up the place if needed too.”
“How about a babysitter?” I laughed lightly.
“That works.” He chuckled, lowering our joined hands to my lap. As quickly as the humor fell between us, it soon disappeared.
We had a lot to work through.
I just hoped both of us were patient enough for it.
Piper
Once we pulled upin front of my house, my heart started racing. I had only ever lived with my best friends. Never a guy. Before Jaron, I never even spent the night with a guy. It’s not that anyone I had been with never tried; it just wasn’t my thing. It didn’t feel right. I didn’t want the guys to feel like I was hinting for more when I wasn’t. But then Jaron came along and even though it only happened once, sleeping beside him felt natural. When I woke up the next morning, I realized that, and it scared me.
Now that Jaron was going to be living with me, even though I knew from the very beginning that it was a possibility, I never thought he would actually stay.
“You’re not mad?” I asked, waiting for my dad to blow a fuse.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why would I be mad?”
“Well, I’ve had a baby before marriage and…and Jaron and I could possibly move in together once he’s out.”
My dad sighed, placing his mug of coffee on the table in front of him. “Listen, I like Jaron. He was raised well and has a good head on his shoulders. He’s a better man than I ever could be and I’m glad that he’s yours. And what he did for you…” He shook his head. “That’s love, kiddo.”
“This is your place?” Jaron asked, slowing the car down.
“It is. But I guess it’s ours now. I moved in about six months into my pregnancy. My parents had been saving money for me to go back to school but that never happened. They gave me the money anyway and I used it as a down payment. It’s small but it’s perfect.”
“How small?” Jaron asked, pulling the car into the driveway.
“There’s a master bedroom, Brynn’s room, a smaller room that I’m just using for storage right now but would like to turn it into a library one day. It also has two bathrooms. It does have a finished basement though and…I actually have a surprise for you,” I said, leaving the car.
Jaron left the vehicle shortly after. “You have a surprise for me?”
“I do. The guys helped me set it up. It’s nothing big but I thought it would make you feel more at home.” The back of my neck heated. It wasn’t much but I wanted to do everything I could to make Jaron feel better, knowing the time he spent in jail messed with him.
I opened the back door and leaned in to get Brynn out of her car seat. Once she was in my arms, I grabbed the diaper bag and kicked the door closed. Heading up the sidewalk to the house, I stopped at the base of the front steps. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Jaron standing with his hands in his pockets, staring up at the house.
“Take your time, Jaron,” I told him. “There’s no rush. For anything.”
***
(Jaron)
I watched Piper take Brynn into the house. As much as I wanted to follow her, as much as I wanted her back in my arms, something was off. I couldn’t figure out what it was. But maybe she was right. There was no rush. Although I wasn’t a patient person, not everything needed to feel normal right away.
