Page 50 of Westward

I moved forward and cupped her face, kissing her softly. “How about this? I’ll go pick up the food we put in the fridge, and we can heat it up here.”

She looked around the small room dubiously. “Would it be safe?”

“I might have to buy an extra microwave to make that happen, but let’s do that. Give the kid some hearty soup, and I’ll bring you whatever you need. And then tomorrow, we can bring him back to my place.”

A place I wanted to be our place, but I didn’t say that.

Her eyes widened. “Atlas.”

“As much as it would be amazing for you to give him a place to stay, you’re a teacher, and this town will get weird. I know it’s not how it sounds, but you know this town.”

She winced. “That is true.”

“It’ll get weird anyway, if I bring him in, but I’m not taking no for an answer, and Will is no longer couch-surfing with idiots. I have space, and he can recover there. And then we’ll figure out what the fuck to do after that.”

Tears slid down her cheeks, and I cursed. “Baby.”

“I sometimes forget, you know.”

“Forget what?”

“How amazing you are.”

“That should be something you should always know,” I teased. Although with the way that Thatcher had reacted, it didn’t seem I was too amazing in everybody’s eyes.

“I’ll figure out how to feed you guys, because I know you’re not leaving his side, and then we’ll take this step by step.”

“Not exactly how I thought our night would go.”

I ran my hand along her cheekbone, images of exactly how our night had begun flashing through my mind. “I have no regrets.”

She sighed, hooking her fingers in my belt loops again. “I don’t either. And that scares me.”

I kissed her temple and then stepped away, knowing that we needed to get going if we were going to get the kid fed before midnight. “I’ll talk to my parents too. We’ll formulate a plan. Mom and Dad are great with plans.”

She grinned then and nodded. “That is right. Your parents are fantastic.” Her eyes widened. “Are we telling them…”

“I don’t think we need to give them details,” I said with a laugh. “But I’m not hiding this.”

“And what is this?” She held up her hand.

“Not the time for that conversation.”

“Okay, we’re not hiding it, and I don’t think we can because I sort of blurted it out in the waiting room.”

I laughed. “Yeah, you did.”

“Okay, no hiding, but well, I’ll deal with that later. Will matters first.”

I nodded tightly, then kissed her other temple. “Yes. Will first. And I’ll be back, okay? I promise. I’ll come back.”

And although I was just going to get soup and a few things that they might need, I knew those words. I hoped she understood the meaning behind those words. And when the sadness touched her gaze, I knew she did.

But it didn’t matter. Because I was going to prove to her that we could make this work.

Even if I had no idea how to make that happen.

Chapter 11