He was staring at me now, so I shifted to face him, propping myself up on my forearm. Adam reached out and ran his fingers over my beard.
“What’s going through your mind, Rockstar?”
He cleared his throat to speak, and then he paused like he didn’t know how to put it into words. “I guess it’s just now hitting me how much my life has changed in the last five months. I’m not used to things working out like this. I guess part of me is still just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Don’t sell yourself short, darlin’. I know your life’s been hard, but you’ve weathered all that beautifully. Now you have more family than you know what to do with, and none of that is going to change. They’re not going to suddenly wake up and decide not to be your family anymore.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, and I love it. I love Jayden texting me twenty times a day. And I love that both of my dad’s text or call every day. I latched onto them so quickly. I’m almost afraid they’ll get tired of me.”
I shook my head vehemently. “That’s not going to happen. I watched the way you interacted with them and how they responded to you; it was clear they love you. Your cousins weren’t asking about your career or success; they wanted to hear about ordinary life. That’s part of being family—when you’re down, they’ll stick around and support you. The people from Long Beach will never leave you, Rockstar. No matter what.”
Adam smiled knowingly in response. He then asked, “I was thinking about what Logan was saying, about having kids. How they wanted them, but the time was never right. Is that something you want to do?”
“Yeah, I actually do. I’m not in any hurry, but someday I want that. What about you?”
Adam took a deep breath and nodded. “I think I do. But not while we’re touring. I don’t want to miss an opportunity, like Logan was talking about, but I can assure you there won’t be any little Adams coming out of the woodwork. I only swim in one pool.”
I burst out laughing at how he put that.
“What I really want is for some kid with a life like I had to have the joy I’ve found. I don’t care about having babies. My life was really good after Claire and William stepped in and took me. I want to pay that forward.”
I smiled. “Yeah, I like that plan, Rockstar.”
As I leaned in to kiss him, Avery and Miles ran onto the beach, shouting about breakfast. I stood up and offered my hand for him to take.
“Let’s go, babe. Grandma has breakfast ready.”
Adam took my hand and stood. We slipped our shoes back on and reach for each other. Avery took my hand, while his new buddy Miles held his. The four of us walked toward the house, giving us a preview of what life could look like in the future.
I planned to do whatever it took to give him the life he wanted, surrounded by a loving family and more joy than he could even imagine.
CHAPTER27
ADAM
I wason top of the fucking world, literally on cloud nine. All I wanted to do was shout from every rooftop about how incredible my life was.
We returned to Portland after Christmas and began long rehearsals for our tour. My life was better than ever and sometimes I still found myself waiting to wake up from what had to be a dream.
My dads were coming up next weekend, and I was excited for everyone to meet them. I’d invited everyone to my place and asked Claire to help me have it catered. I didn’t want her to cook because I wanted her to enjoy it.
So, the day I FaceTimed her to discuss helping me find a caterer, she set me straight.
“Sweetheart, cooking is my love language. You know this. Plus, I didn’t get Christmas with you this year.”
I laughed and thanked my lucky stars for having her as my mama. “Thanks Mama Claire,” I said, feeling so incredibly blessed.
“You know you can drop the Claire, right? I’ve never pushed it because your mom was, well, you know, and she will always be your mom. But I’d love it if my other son called me mama. And now that you have your father and stepfather, there’s no competition for the term.”
Secretly, I’d always wanted to call her that, but for some reason, something held be back from doing it. I realized then that despite not being related by blood, she was the only mother I’d ever really had.
“Okay,” I nodded. “Thanks Mama. I’ll give you my credit card to pay for everything.”
Looking into her kind eyes, I realized right then that I’d always had a mom. Even when I hadn’t seen it. “Thank you, sweetheart. Now I need all the details. I can’t wait to meet your dads.”
I spent the next half hour telling her everything about California, my dad’s, cousins, uncles, and Michael’s family. She looked genuinely happy for me and, of course, she peppered me with questions about what they liked to eat. We spent the better part of the afternoon making menu plans.
“Think I can talk Michael in to helping?” She shot me a knowing smile, and I felt my cheeks heat. “He sure knows what he’s doing in the kitchen!”
