Page 47 of Forever Mine
Dad angles his head, and I can feel his eyes boring into me again. “How can you be sure, Elijah? Not to sound like an asshole, but I thought the same thing about your mother. She was the love of my life, but as it turned out, I wasn’t hers. Youand Julien have so much growing to do. People changea lotduring their twenties. What you want now may not be what you want in five or ten years.”
My knee-jerk reaction is to disagree and say that would never happen. But he’s right. I have changed a lot over the last five years. Julien, more so. But what has never changed was the way we loved each other. It only grew more profound and everlasting.
“What about Pamela?” I ask.
He hasn’t said it outright, but I know he loves her. Worships the ground she walks on. He’s happier than I’ve ever seen him. Their ten-year age difference isn’t even a consideration. And it’s not one-sided. Pamela is crazy about Dad. Absolute adoration and love, complete with hearts in her eyes every time she looks at him.
“Pam is…” His sigh is a little dreamy, and it makes me smile. “Pam is…everything. If I didn’t see a future with her, I wouldn’t have asked her to live with us.”
And that right there is why my father is the most amazing person in the world. Notlive with mebutlive with us. He puts me first and includes me in every decision. Most of my friends look at their parents and are determined to become the exact opposite. My mother lies within that spectrum. I willneverbe like her or treat my kids the way she treated me. But Dad? I only pray that I turn out to be half the man he is.
“Julien wants us to move in together.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you’ve been living together for months.”
I snort-laugh at his dry observation. “I told him that I wanted to wait. I’m not ready to give up all this yet,” I say as I sweep an arm out, gesturing at the dorms.
Dad affectionately bumps my shoulder. “Then why rush into marriage?”
I bump him right back. “Being engaged doesn’t mean we’ll be hitting the red eye to Las Vegas for a quickie wedding. There’s no rushing involved. Some people are engaged for years before they make it down the aisle.”
His stubble pulls at my hair when he nods. “That’s true.” Shifting on the tailgate, he captures my face between his hands, his expression soft, yet serious. “I know you don’t go into things without overthinking them to death. I trust you, and I will support you a hundred percent in whatever you do. I like Julien and can think of no better man who I would be proud to call my son-in-law. My only wish is for you to be happy…andfor you to be sure.”
A million times yes to both.
“I am.”
“Hey!”Ash exclaims.
I startle like a cat getting doused with a water hose.
“Jesus! Don’t do that. I thought you were with Mei.”
“Just got back. Saw you and your dad in the parking lot. It looked intense. Everything okay?”
Kicking off my shoes in the direction of my side of the room, I flop supine onto his bed.
“We were just talking. Ready for tomorrow?”
Picking up my hand, hetsksat the state of my nails. “Been ready. You need a manicure.”
It’s a thing with him.
“No polish. The pool water will eat it off in a day.”
I’m excited to get back to my training sessions this week. I’ve started thinking long-term, like transitioning what I do at the natatorium and making it a career. Julien is all for it. We evenbounced around a few ideas and made a rough draft of a ten-year plan that would culminate with us running our own sports medicine clinic geared toward athletes.
“You running with Julien in the morning?”
After an exhaustingly long day, I groan at the thought of waking up at four-thirty.
Dragging weary hands over my face, I reply, “Don’t remind me.”
Ash hops off the bed, a ball of boundless energy that I’m clearly lacking, and rummages around his unpacked suitcase. With a flourish, he holds up what I think are two skirts. And they’re pale pink.
“Got these for us to wear for CU Pride Week.” He tosses me one and slips the other over his shorts. Like a model walking the catwalk, he sashays around the room. “Mei said I looked like Oscar Isaac. See if yours fits. I think I got your size right.”
Ash is completely hetero, but he was raised by two mothers—one of his moms, Maya, he lost to cancer almost two years ago. One thing I admire about him is that he follows his own path and doesn’t let antiquated societal beliefs of the vocal minority stop him from doing whatever the hell he wants.
