My body calms, my stomach soothes, and my mind falls silent as all thewhat-ifsfade into darkness.
“Love like this is too rare and too precious to let go of,” Xander murmurs against my lips, kissing me again and pulling back. “I’m never letting you go again. Judgment be damned.”
I surge forward and kiss him again, repeatedly, until his words remind me of the paper in my pocket. Leaning back, I fish it out and hand it to him. “Fred gave me this.”
Xander takes one of my hands in his and threads our fingers together as he opens it, his eyes darting back and forth while he reads down the page. “Wow. This is… where did he find this?”
“He said he submitted one himself.”
Xander’s head lifts. “Himself?” Just as he asks it, a knowing look comes across his face and our eyes lock briefly. “June.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected. Fred always seemed lighter when she was around and the night of your crash, I’m pretty sure they were coming back from a date.”
“Wow. I didn’t know until June drove me home and she was asking me all of these questions.” I press my lips together and my heart starts to beat wildly. “Will you sign this?”
Xander kisses my damp cheek. “Do you even need to ask? Get me a pen. I’ll sign everything and anything that keeps me by your side.”
“What if it’s not enough?” I sniffle. “What if they don’t care and you lose your job anyway?”
Xander tightens his grip in my hand and rests his forehead against mine. “I nearly died falling down some stairs. I nearly lost you, Snow.”
“I nearly lostyou.”
“My point is that life is terrifyingly short and I don’t want to spend another second of it denying myself something that makes me happy. If the hospital doesn’t like that, then I don’t care. They can fire me. I can find other work. Or maybe…”
He trails off and nudges his nose lightly against mine.
“Stay-at-home dads are kind of hot these days, aren’t they?”
38
XANDER
“Snow?” Letting myself into my apartment, I linger by the door and try to detect where she is from the sounds within the apartment.
Despite driving me home after being released from the hospital, Snow suddenly rushed away from me when we stepped out of the elevator and sprinted into the apartment with a wide smile on her face.
“Go away!” she calls from somewhere deep in the apartment. “It’s not ready!”
“Where am I supposed to go?” I call back.
“I dunno, just not here!”
“For how long?”
“Five minutes? Just—” Suddenly, her head pokes out from the living room doorway, her hair flying and her cheeks flushed. “Stay away from the stairs, okay?”
“Okay. Five minutes.” I chuckle to myself and exit the apartment, walking down the hall toward Auriela’s place. Rustle suddenly darts out from somewhere and sprints alongside me, making it to Auriela’s door first and meowing loudly.
Auriela opens the door just as I reach her apartment and she beams up at me. “Xander!”
“Auriela. I came to say Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas! How are you feeling?” The wrinkles around her eyes deepen as she looks me over. “When your sister called me and told me about your accident, I was so worried. Although I thought it was finally time to steal these babies from you.” She leans down slowly and reaches for Rustle, who arches up into her hand and then darts into her apartment.
“I’m fine,” I assure her. “Nothing that won’t heal by the new year. I’m sorry if Thea worried you.”
