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I hear Faye gulp from the couch, but I somehow keep my gaze away from her.
“If I told you I didn’t approve, told you that you couldn’t be together, ever, what would you do? Think about your answers.”
I sit back, doing as she says. It’s clearly important to her, and she deserves to have her request taken seriously.
“Dad?” she says after a pause.
“I think I’d do as you asked. I’d leave Faye alone…for a week, maybe a month. But then the pull would become too strong. I’d be too miserable without her. Out of respect for you, I’d do my best – I swear I would – to fight my feelings. But after a while, I know I’d fail. I can’t win. Not with Faye. The only way to stop it would be to leave the country for longer this time.”
Lola looks at me closely as I speak, listening intently.
“Okay,” she says, giving nothing away.
“You’re going to make an amazing doctor, Lola,” I tell her.
She smiles slightly. “Why’s that?”
“Because you’ve got one hell of a poker face. No accidentally giving away bad news.”
She turns to Faye. “Same question.”
Faye bites her lip, then lets it go. She’s got sweat sliding down her neck, reminding me of…
But I won’t think about that now. Just the uncertainty on her beautiful face, the way she reaches up and twists hair around her finger, tells me how nervous she is.
“Same answer,” she murmurs. “I’m sorry, Lola. If you want the complete truth, that’s it. I’d try like heck. Maybe I’d even move too. But this thing, this relationship, us…it feels….”
“Unique,” I say when she trails off.
“Just ours,” she adds. “Yeah, exactly.”
Lola sits back, looking between us, then slowly, another smile spreads across her face. She doesn’t try to fight this one.
“I want to give you my blessing,” she says, and a tight ball of hope starts thrumming inside of me. “I want to tell you I’m onboard. But I need to know something.”
“Anything,” I say.
“What, Lola?” Faye asks at the same time.
“If you break up….”
“Never,” I growl instinctively.
Faye nods in agreement, but Lola raises her hand.
“Let’s just say if,” she goes on. “People break up. It happens. I need to know it won’t come between us. Me and you, Dad, we can’t change because of this. And me and you, Faye. Okay?”
“Yes,” I tell her confidently, choosing to ignore the part about breaking up.
That’s never going to happen.
“I’ll always be here for you,” Faye says. “And I’m so, so sorry.”
Lola stands, walks over to the couch, and sits next to her friend, next to my woman.
She wraps her arms around her, the two women embracing.
“I forgive you,” Lola says, looking up and smiling at me. “Both of you.”
For the first time in my life, I understand the expression.
My heart soars.
It’s floating, flying up out of my body, sparkling with love, the future, and all the joy we’re going to share.
