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She grabbed the tray, set it aside, and took its place on my lap. “I talked to Everett.”
Her words shocked me enough to snap me from my self-loathing.
For a second at least.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and anchored her when she fell to the side a little. “How is he?”
“You could hear for yourself if you’d pick up your phone?”
“How is he?”
“Sad. Not because of Vincent. I didn’t think it was my place to tell him, but I did say you were sick. That’s why you weren’t answering your phone.” She bit her lower lip. “Basically, he’s been calling you for the past seven days, I finally caved and answered, and the first real thing I told him was a lie. Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” I was a shitty dad. I gave Elsa a hard time, but truth was, I failed at parenting, too. “Did he ask who you were?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?” When she didn’t respond, I pressed, “I’ll need to know, so I don’t contradict it.”
“I said…” She looked away from me. “I’m your girlfriend.”
The label fit us.
We weren’t in the fifth grade, where I’d bike over to her parent’s house with a handful of roses I’d picked myself and stutter out the question.
But if anyone deserved grand gestures, it was Ariana.
Open your heart to the people who love you… Promise me.
Vince’s last words to me echoed in my head. Just his words. No ghost this time as he reminded me to open my heart up, and I tried with everything I could manage to follow my promise.
He’d included Ariana on his list.
I tilted my head back and studied her. “Do you love me?”
An unfair question, at least now when I knew she worried about me. The question caught her off guard. She glanced to the ground and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
I let the silence stretch out for a few seconds before I shook my head.
“Don’t answer that.” I already knew how we both felt. “Answer it when you’re ready. When you know for sure.”
She hadn’t shattered my barriers. She’d broken them down one by one until they laid stripped away, and I hadn’t even noticed until I looked around and saw only her.
Here I am, Uncle Vince. Being a man of my word.
I tipped Ari’s chin up, so she looked at me.
“I love you. Not just because you’re amazing with Tessie, not just because you’ve helped out these past weeks, not just because you put up with me. I love you because you stare at my dimples when I smile. I love you because you genuinely care about people. I love you because you have so much fight in you. I love you because you’re patient. I love you because you don’t take my shit without dishing it back. I love you because your tongue is sharp but your heart is soft.”
She opened her mouth, but I shook my head.
“Don’t say it back right now. I want to hear it when you’re not worried about me.”
“Okay, but I will say it.”
“I know.”
She pressed her forehead to my shoulder, digging her nose into the crook of my neck and inhaling before pulling away.
