“Birdie, what did I say?”
I shake my head again. “Nothing. You didn’t say anything, I promise.”
He eyes me with disbelief. “Well, that’s obviously not true, baby, because you’re crying your eyes out when we’re supposed to be having a fun date night.”
“I’m crying.” I hiccup, taking a breath and wiping my eyes. Derek joins the endeavor. “Because I’m happy.”
His calloused fingers pause on my cheeks, his expression bewildered. “You’re happy? And you’re crying about it?”
I nod my head. “Yeah.”
“Babe.” He laughs and leans in close, kissing my tear-stained face. “I’m happy too. I love being with you, you don’t need to cry, though.”
I sigh and finally look him in the eyes. There is so much concern and love in them that I practically feel it radiating out of his pores. “You said you didn’t have a daughter to take care of,” I start, watching his brows furrow in confusion. “Until now.”
For a moment, I watch him mull this bit of information over, and he bites his lip. “Okay. I… still don’t understand.”
“You said ‘until now.’”
Derek implores me with his eyes, a slight tinge of panic on the edges as he watches me. “Birdie, I love you dearly, and for my sake and the love you feel for me, I need you to explain how I fucked up so I can make it better.”
I laugh at his statement, and a bit of relief hits him, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips when he realizes he’s not in trouble. “You said ‘until now.’ Which means you now consider yourself a parent. Like a parent to Rora.”
He licks his lips and watches me for a moment. “I.” He pauses, clearly working over what he wants to say, and it’s my turn to panic. Maybe he didn’t mean it like that. Maybe I read way too much into it, and now I’m going to be embarrassed until my dying day and never ever see him again because of said embarrassment. “I love Rora,” he finally says, giving me a shrug. “I love you both. You’re myfamily, hell, your family is now my family. I would consider it an honor to be Rora’s stepdad someday.”
There’s some meaning in that statement, a big, profound one that I refuse to acknowledge out of fear of misinterpreting it, so I just smile at him, and he leans down, pressing his lips to my own and holding me close.
For several long minutes, we stay like that, kissing and holding each other, and there are so many things I want to say, to ask, to offer, but right now, I just want to hold on to this moment with just us, wrapped in a perfect, happy bubble.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“It’s the little things, ya know? Like them buying you a fresh bouquet because they’re thinking of you, or cleaning the kitchen after dinner so you don’t have to, or making the coffee in the morning. Little acts of kindness add up to very big impressions.” - Viviana
DEREK
I groan as I look at the statements laid out on the counter in front of me. There are too many of them.
For months I’ve been able to keep afloat. The work that Birdie has done for me has nearly doubled the amount of income I’ve been making, which is great, but not quite enough to keep us going for a long time.
I’ve also started working Sundays and taking off Mondays. Which is great for business and bad for a relationship.Though Birdie and Rora usually end up at the store on one or both weekend days, helping me with inventory and running the store.
Those are my favorite days, because, like my father taught me, I’ve been teaching Rora certain things about running a store. Birdie is a natural at the register and happily converses with patrons every weekend, and I swear, some people come in just to get a chance to say hi to the girls.
They’ve changed my life in more ways than one, but this is one of the biggest. The support and love they both show me on the daily humbles me and makes me take a serious look at the statements in front of me.
How do I keep sustaining this store and take care of the girls? It’s been months since we started dating, and her family and my friends have accepted the relationship so flawlessly that I bet both sides were waiting for a proposal any day now.
I’d do it tonight if I could afford a ring.
I rake my fingers through my hair, stress eating me from the inside out. I’d give anything to be able to afford even a comfortable home for the three of us, for a small, intimate wedding, for a decent ring, since she will be wearing it for the rest of her life.
I don’t know how I’m going to do it, and that stress is leading to a backlog of anger.
When my father got sick, he went to all kinds of doctors. He was hospitalized three times for fainting and dehydration, none of which I knew anything about.
But those bills have piled on, and even all these years later, I’m still working on paying them off. Every time I sent a payment, anger mounted.
“Hey bud.” I glance up, shocked to see Archer standing in front of me. I must have been so caught up that I didn’t hear the bell chime.
