“I’m yours? I’m your girl, your girlfriend?”
“My best friend. My everything, Sorrow McCabe.”
“Aw, Trace. I love you too. I’m so happy.” I throw my arms around him.
“Good, that’s good, baby girl. Now, let’s get back inside the gym. I’m ready to tell the fucking school that you are my girl. Touch you, so much as give you the side-eye, and I will rain down hell on them. Understood?”
I nod, my heart soaring. “Understood.”
And boy does he.
Trace grabs that microphone like he owns it, and with a glare on his face, he declares proudly and loudly that I, Sorrow Sophia McCabe, am his girl, his girlfriend, and most importantly, his best friend.
It’s the best day of my life.
Or so I thought.
30
Trace
“Warm enough?” We’re under the covers and on top of a buttload of covers in the bed of my truck. No way will I let my truck’s bedliner dig into my girl’s back.
“I am, thank you for asking.” She snuggles into my body. I tuck her hair behind her ear. “You did great with the graduation speech.”
“You made it happen, Sorrow. I would’ve never accepted had it not been for you.”
“Do you think the students will be less judgmental about the tragedies behind the smiles? The hurt hidden beneath the I’m all rights? Do you think they’ll look out for one another rather than tear each other down?”
I smooth my hand over her hair. “I hope so. All in all, they’re good people. Sometimes they forget in this thing we call living.”
“How’s Millie?”
My dad’s secretary. The one I thought he was having an affair with. “She’s doing well.”
“The twins?” My twin sisters, whom Millie is carrying. She’s a surrogate for my parents. It was the reason her arms were looped through his. She was in the early stages of the pregnancy, and he didn’t want her to slip and hurt herself.
“Growing.”
“I’m surprised your parents didn’t tell you sooner. It would’ve taken care of the part about you thinking your dad cheated on your mom.”
“I spoke to them like you suggested I do.”
It was a difficult conversation. My parents were home, and Dad was barbecuing near the pool while Mom swam on her back, her face tipped to the moon.
What she did reminded me so much of mine and Sorrow’s time in the pool that a dam broke inside me, and I tore into my father, in front of my mother, and accused him of having an affair with his secretary. That’s when my parents dropped the proverbial bomb on me. I would be a big brother by fall with twin sisters on the way.
“And?” She tips her face to me. Wide eyes. Pouty mouth. Cute nose. A stubborn jut to her chin. My sweet Sorrow is stunning, and I can’t believe she said yes to being my girl. I kiss her forehead. Sorrow McCabe is truly the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
“They wanted everything in place first. You know, all the logistics?”
“I don’t. Explain. I’m curious.” She snuggles closer. “We’ve never had younger siblings. Something we have in common, and now, you’ll be a big brother, and I get to help you with them.”
I run my hand over her hair again and kiss the top of her head. Sorrow is such a good woman.
“Things like who stays home with the babies. Hire a nanny or stay home full time with the business. Take the babies with when they travel or travel less. Separate nursery or put cribs in their huge ass master bedroom. That kind of logistics.”
“That’s a lot to think about,” she says.
