“You’re fucking incredible.”
I watch as he leans his head back on the headrest, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, he almost looks like he could cry.
“I never thought I could do anything without connections to the industry,” he says. “Fuck.Fuck, this is insane.”
“And I’m so proud of you.”
He smiles again and takes off his seatbelt. “Let’s go inside. I love you so goddamn much.”
As soon as we’re out of the car he stops me on the walkway to kiss me.
And then he kisses me again in the garage, before we push open the door to head inside.
Everything feels new, all of a sudden.
Like finally, Niko got the complete fresh start that he’d been searching for. And nobody deserves that more than he does.
“Boys!” Mom calls out from the kitchen as soon as she hears the door open. It smells like orange in the air, and as usual, Mom and Dad are cooking something together.
We head in and greet everyone, exchanging hugs.
But I’m also noticing things I wouldn’t usually notice.
I purposely look down, checking to see that my parents are still wearing their wedding rings.
Of course they are.
It’s silly to think they wouldn’t be… right?
“Niko, they just came out with a new racing game,” Aaron’s already telling him, showing him a video on his phone.
Emily looks a lot happier than the last time we saw her. I talk with her a little bit and find out that she’s seeing a new guy, and it sounds like her frenemy Cheyenne and her last crush are old news, by now.
We’re swept into helping out with dinner, then eating and getting stories from Aaron and Emily. My siblings drag Niko out into the living room afterward while I stay with my parents in the kitchen, helping to clean up.
“How are you guys doing?” I ask Mom as I rinse off dishes and hand them to her near the dishwasher.
Dad glances over at me as he’s sliding Tupperware into the fridge nearby. “If you’re asking about what I think you are, your mom and I are in couples counseling.”
My heart twists a little in my chest. “So you’re not…”
“We’re not splitting up, sweetie,” Mom tells me. “Emily caught us in some bad moments, when we were fighting about things around the house. But we were never intending on a split. She was having a really hard time, and I think she was worried about us.”
I feel the slight sting of a tear near the corner of my eye.
It takes me by surprise.
The idea of my parents potentially divorcing had been something I shoved away to a dark corner of my mind,filing it away into a box labeledjust don’t fucking think about it.
Now, it’s cracked open.
And I realize just how strange it would have been if my parents had been about to split up.
Until now, I’d never given much thought to the idea offamily. It had always just been a given. Now it feels like more of a gift. A privilege I’ve had for my entire life but had been invisible to me until now.
I hug Mom and then Dad, too, and help them finish cleaning up.
When I look over at Niko in the living room with my brother and sister, something tugs at my heart.
