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“I’ll be ready.” She flops onto her back and watches me cross the room toward the door. “I love you,” she calls after me right as I pull the door open.
“And I love you,” I tell her, giving her one last long look before forcing myself to leave; knowing if I stay a second longer I may never make it out of this room.
Finley consumes me in the best fucking way possible. But sometimes it’s hard to make myself do anything when all I want to do is be with her.
I jump slightly as I enter the living room, having not expected Claire to be up yet.
“You’re up awfully early,” she observes, lifting her cup of coffee to her lips.
“I’ve got some things to take care of for my mom today. What are you up to? Lazy day?” I take in the way she’s curled up on the couch, her legs covered in a throw blanket.
“Until I have to get ready for work it is.” She sips her coffee. “I don’t function until I absolutely have to.”
“You sound like your sister,” I point out.
“Speaking of, how is our girl this morning?”
“She seems good. Getting stronger every day.”
“Thanks to you.”
“To me?” I question.
“Before you came back into her life it was like she was trying to find a reason to care. Now all she wants is to be better so that she can be with you. She really loves you, I hope you know that.”
“I really love her.” I grab my jacket off the back of the chair and slide it on before stepping into my shoes.
“Well, have a good day, Abel.” Claire gives me a half wave as I make my way toward the door.
“You too, Claire.” I nod, exiting the apartment moments later.
——
“You were incredibletonight.” Finley presses against my side as we make our way up to her apartment.
It’s just after one-thirty in the morning and while I can tell she’s trying to play it off like she’s fine, it’s easy to see how exhausted she is.
“Thank you.” I kiss the side of her head when we stop outside her apartment door. “Here.” I take the keys from her hand and quickly unlock the door before handing them back to her.
“I just don’t get how you can do that,” she says, following me inside.
“Do what?”
“Play in front of all those people. Isn’t it nerve racking?”
“Maybe when I first started out, but now being on stage feels like second nature.”
“Well you’re a natural up there, that’s for sure.”
I snag her hand and guide her through the dark apartment, not flipping on any lights until we make it to her bedroom.
She holds her hand over her mouth and tries to stifle a yawn as she slides out of her coat and shoes.
“You look like you’re about to keel over.” I chuckle, draping my jacket over the foot post of her bed before kicking off my shoes.
“I don’t think I’ve been up this late in a long time,” she admits, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
Tonight has been incredible. Everything about it. It’s the first time we’ve really gone out for any length of time since our first night together. It’s kind of hard to process everything that’s happened since then.
