state of California, I am her
mother.”
“ You have custody of your
niece?” Now he’s confused and looking at me like I’m a crazy
person.
“ Yes.” My defense is
broken, I feel just as tired as he looks now.
He rubs his eyes with the palms of his
hands. “Why?” His voice comes out in a whisper.
“ Because as you already
know, I haven’t heard from my dad since I was a little girl and my
mom left me with my 15-year-old sister on my
18 th birthday. My sister got pregnant when she was 17 and refused
to give her up for adoption. When Harper was three months old, my
sister decided she wasn’t cut out to be a mom and went to Hollywood
to be an actress. That was nearly three years ago and I haven’t
heard from her since.” I’m ready to get in my car and leave. I
don’t think I can talk about this anymore, especially when he’s
looking at me that way…like I’m insane for taking on this
responsibility…
“ And Jackson?” He’s not
running, and a tiny bubble of hope pops up in my chest. I don’t
allow it to fully inflate just yet; we’re far from being
okay.
“ Jackson was my boyfriend
all through high school. He moved to San Diego to attend SDSU my
junior year. We did the long distance thing for a couple years,
then we decided that it wasn’t worth it anymore. We basically were
friends and I was keeping him from the dating scene so we removed
the titles and remained friends. He’s been there for me through the
whole thing with my sister and every one of Harper’s milestones and
mishaps. He means a lot to me, but I don’t have feelings of
anything more than friendship for him.”
Declan is staring me in the eye and when I
finish speaking he swiftly shakes his head and then walks right up
to me. He grabs my face in both of his hands and kisses me slowly.
His kiss is intoxicating. He tastes minty and cool, his lips soft
and lush. This is the kiss from all of the romance movies when the
girl finally gets her dream guy or the guy finally pulls his head
out of his ass and picks the real girl—their kiss is always
explosive, just like this one. I’m floating and I’m nowhere near
ready to come down. This is absolutely not what I was expecting. In
the back of my mind I’m secretly hoping that this is our first kiss
of many but the forefront of my mind is questioning whether or not
this is a sendoff kiss. I keep my hands to myself just in case it’s
the latter.
When we both need to take a breather, Declan
pulls back but continues to hold my face. “Ava Sterling, you are
the most incredible person I have ever or will ever know. I’m still
pissed that you’ve kept this from me for so long, but I guess I
understand where you were coming from.” He kisses me softly one
more time, letting his tongue part my lips. He glides around my
mouth like it’s nothing new to us. But it is, very much so.
“ Does this mean that
you’ll stay friends with me even though my life is chaotic and I’m
a mom?” I ask this beautiful boy that just made me float with his
kiss.
“ No, Ava. This means that
you’re mine and nobody else’s. This means that you’re going to
introduce me to your daughter and we will never again go a day
without some sort of communication. You can forget going another
full week. I won’t let it happen again. Got it?”
“ Yes, but Dec, now that
you know, it’s going to be different. Having a child is completely
consuming. It’s exhausting and there’s no time for fun.”
“ Sunshine, if you can take
on the role of parenthood while working full time and getting your
PhD, I can be your partner in crime. No more arguing about it. It’s
done,” he says with finality.
Relief washes over me and tears threaten to
spill over before his face turns hard once again and he continues,
pointing a stern finger at me.
“ One more thing—no more
fucking kissing Jackson the best friend. We clear on that,
Ava?”
I probably shouldn’t find this funny, but I
do. I manage to tap down the
mother.”
“ You have custody of your
niece?” Now he’s confused and looking at me like I’m a crazy
person.
“ Yes.” My defense is
broken, I feel just as tired as he looks now.
He rubs his eyes with the palms of his
hands. “Why?” His voice comes out in a whisper.
“ Because as you already
know, I haven’t heard from my dad since I was a little girl and my
mom left me with my 15-year-old sister on my
18 th birthday. My sister got pregnant when she was 17 and refused
to give her up for adoption. When Harper was three months old, my
sister decided she wasn’t cut out to be a mom and went to Hollywood
to be an actress. That was nearly three years ago and I haven’t
heard from her since.” I’m ready to get in my car and leave. I
don’t think I can talk about this anymore, especially when he’s
looking at me that way…like I’m insane for taking on this
responsibility…
“ And Jackson?” He’s not
running, and a tiny bubble of hope pops up in my chest. I don’t
allow it to fully inflate just yet; we’re far from being
okay.
“ Jackson was my boyfriend
all through high school. He moved to San Diego to attend SDSU my
junior year. We did the long distance thing for a couple years,
then we decided that it wasn’t worth it anymore. We basically were
friends and I was keeping him from the dating scene so we removed
the titles and remained friends. He’s been there for me through the
whole thing with my sister and every one of Harper’s milestones and
mishaps. He means a lot to me, but I don’t have feelings of
anything more than friendship for him.”
Declan is staring me in the eye and when I
finish speaking he swiftly shakes his head and then walks right up
to me. He grabs my face in both of his hands and kisses me slowly.
His kiss is intoxicating. He tastes minty and cool, his lips soft
and lush. This is the kiss from all of the romance movies when the
girl finally gets her dream guy or the guy finally pulls his head
out of his ass and picks the real girl—their kiss is always
explosive, just like this one. I’m floating and I’m nowhere near
ready to come down. This is absolutely not what I was expecting. In
the back of my mind I’m secretly hoping that this is our first kiss
of many but the forefront of my mind is questioning whether or not
this is a sendoff kiss. I keep my hands to myself just in case it’s
the latter.
When we both need to take a breather, Declan
pulls back but continues to hold my face. “Ava Sterling, you are
the most incredible person I have ever or will ever know. I’m still
pissed that you’ve kept this from me for so long, but I guess I
understand where you were coming from.” He kisses me softly one
more time, letting his tongue part my lips. He glides around my
mouth like it’s nothing new to us. But it is, very much so.
“ Does this mean that
you’ll stay friends with me even though my life is chaotic and I’m
a mom?” I ask this beautiful boy that just made me float with his
kiss.
“ No, Ava. This means that
you’re mine and nobody else’s. This means that you’re going to
introduce me to your daughter and we will never again go a day
without some sort of communication. You can forget going another
full week. I won’t let it happen again. Got it?”
“ Yes, but Dec, now that
you know, it’s going to be different. Having a child is completely
consuming. It’s exhausting and there’s no time for fun.”
“ Sunshine, if you can take
on the role of parenthood while working full time and getting your
PhD, I can be your partner in crime. No more arguing about it. It’s
done,” he says with finality.
Relief washes over me and tears threaten to
spill over before his face turns hard once again and he continues,
pointing a stern finger at me.
“ One more thing—no more
fucking kissing Jackson the best friend. We clear on that,
Ava?”
I probably shouldn’t find this funny, but I
do. I manage to tap down the
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