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“I’ve written more music in the last few weeks than I have in almost a year. I sleep thinking about her. I wake up thinking about her. And every time something happens that I know she’d find funny, my first thought is that I need to tell her.”
I shake my head.
“I see snow and wonder if she’d want to skate. I hear a piece of music and wonder what she’d think of it. I walk into a room and notice the chair she always sits in before I notice anything else.”
Andrea’s expression softens.
“I don’t know exactly when it happened,” I admit. “I just know it did.”
I look at Lucan.
“I know she’s brave. I know she’s kinder than she lets people see. I know she’s spent years building walls around herself, and I know better than to assume I have the right to tear them down.”
My voice lowers.
“And I know she was lonely.”
I swallow.
“So was I.”
Andrea looks away for a moment. Lucan doesn’t move.
Finally, he asks the question I’ve been expecting since I walked through the door.
“What exactly are you asking us?”
“I want your blessing.”
Andrea’s eyebrows lift.
Lucan simply watches me.
“I want permission to pursue her properly. I won’t do anything she doesn’t want. I won’t pressure her, interfere with her career, or make her choose between me and her dreams.”
I sit back slightly.
“But I want the chance to love her like she deserves.”
Lucan leans back.
“Why?”
I frown. “Why what?”
“Why her?”
That’s the easiest question anyone has ever asked me.
“Because she makes me want to become better.”
I pause.
“Not someone different. Better.”
A faint smile pulls at my mouth.
“I don’t have to perform around her. I don’t have to be Khaos. I don’t have to be the man everyone expects me to be. I can just be Stephen.”
