“Exactly.” I rest my head on my knuckle and smile at Brin. “He’s the best person I’ve ever known, Brin. I love him. I don’t want to lose him.”
“You won’t. Regardless of what happens next, you won’t lose him. I can promise you that.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I shake out the idea of possibly losing Fletcher over this whole thing and change the subject completely. “Your eye looks a lot better.”
“A lot of ice. I swear, whenever I have downtime, I have ice on my face.”
“I can’t believe that happened. Only you and Declan would end up in a situation like that.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I don’t recommend it.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“You’re still coming to Home Depot with me tomorrow, right? I’ve got to get a new door before I miss another test because of it.”
“Yeah, I think I’m picking up Ember, and we’ll meet you there.”
“Perfect. I need to get a door that looks just like the one those eggheads broke, and you know how indecisive I can be.”
“Oh, trust me, I know.”
She snatches the popcorn bucket out of my hands, “Just play the damn movie.”
forty-one
Fletcher
When will the guys be home?” Tate sits on my bed, fidgeting with her hands.
“I’m not sure.” I drop her bag on my desk chair before taking the spot next to her on my bed. “Zeke might be home; his car was outside, but I didn’t hear him when we came in.”
“Okay.”
“Tate, what’s going on?” I place my hand over hers, and the fidgeting stops.
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something.” She doesn’t look up at me. “And it’s really hard to bring up, but I don’t want to just brush it under the rug and—”
“Tate.” I lock my index finger under her chin and turn her head to look at me. “You can talk to me about anything, you know that, right?”
“You want a family.”
It’s all she says.
I should’ve talked about this with her earlier. I knew that when it was brought up, the conversation made her uncomfortable, but I was hoping my words would provide enough clarification to alleviate her concerns.
“Tate—”
“Do you really think you’d be happy not having that? If it were just you and me, would that really be enough?”
“That would be enough.” I cup her face between my hands. “I promise.”
“I won’t be hurt if it’s not, Fletcher. I would hate for you to give something up because of me.”
“I’m not giving up anything, Tate. You and me, it’s all I’ve ever wanted. So what if we don’t have kids? Or, maybe in ten years or fifteen years, you’ll change your mind, and we’ll have one.” She goes to say something, but I scoot closer, making sure she can see the truth within my eyes. “Or maybe you won’t. And that will be okay. I’ll have a crazy talented partner who’s out touring the world, supporting me in my dreams up until the day I retire.”
I brush the tears off her cheeks.
“I love you. I will always love you. And I’ll support you through everything, Tate. When all of your singing videos go viral, and you get a record deal because of your talent, I’ll be at every concert.”
