Page 95 of As Long As You'll Have Me
He swallows hard and scowls at Willow who only smiles innocently back at him. “Nothing, Mom.”
“Breakfast is ready, kids. Wash up and grab a plate,” she calls out, spinning around from the stovetop and placing a mound of scrambled eggs onto a platter.
Miles waves a hand for me to move towards the sink to wash my hands. Once they’re dry, he hands me a plate and lets me go before him so I can get whatever I want to eat. Everyone moves in a type of assembly line to fill up their plates before headingto the table.
“Mama, do you need me to grab you anything?” he asks after showing me where to sit and setting his plate down in the space next to me. I love how he calls her ‘mama’ even though I know she’s not his mother by birth. It’s sweet watching him try to be helpful.
“Oh no, I’m fine. You just sit there with your girl and eat. Don’t mind me,” she fusses, waving a hand at him from across the kitchen. Miles snuffs out a laugh and shakes his head, finally lowering into the seat beside me. When she comes to the table with her own plate, everyone around the table starts to eat. One thing I know for certain is that while the people sitting around me might not all be blood, everyone in this home is a full family unit through and through.
As everyone starts to eat, they begin to share about how their weeks went and what’s coming up in their lives. Ivy and Willow ask me a dozen questions about what I do for a living, both as equally interested in what I do for work as I am in Willow’s job as a nurse. I get to hear some of the best stories from when Ivy was raising Miles and Carter, a few of them causing both of them to squirm in their seats. No one bats an eye when I talk about my family and mention ‘my dads’ which tells me I’m in good company. When he notices I’m out of food, Miles asks if I want more and happily gets me what I ask for. Without even saying anything, Cooper fills up my water glass for me when he goes to fill up his own. It’s obvious that the way Miles lives his life to serve others is a family trait.
When the plates are cleared and Cooper excuses himself to head into work, Carter and Willow share a passing glance that I notice.
“I have to work at the hospital tonight so I’m going to head out,” she says casually.
“And I’m her ride, so…I’ll see you at the station tomorrow?” he asks, looking towards Miles.
“Yep, I’ll see ya then.”
“Bye, Miles,” Willow says, walking by him. She stops and pulls me into a hug. “I like you; I hope you come back next Sunday.”
I laugh a little into her ear. “I’d love to come back. Next time I’ll have George make his cornbread biscuits for you all to try.”
“My mouth is already watering,” she says, pulling out of the hug.
“Willie, let’s go. You’re going to be late,” Carter calls from down the hall.
“Oh, I’m coming, don’t rush me,” she scolds back, stomping down the hall after him.
Miles rolls his eyes and takes my hand. “You ready to go?”
I nod in reply and look towards Ivy. “Thank you so much for having me; breakfast was amazing.”
“Of course, we’d love to see you again.”
“I’d love to come back every week if I can,” I reply earnestly.
“You two be safe now,” she says with a wave as Miles pulls me down the hall.
When we step out onto the porch, we catch a glimpse of Willow and Carter pulling down the driveway in a truck that’s similar to Miles’s but is silver instead of black. He pulls me into his chest and walks me back until the backs of my legs hit the porch railing.
“Did you really mean what you said in there?” he asks, peering down at me. I almost lose myself in the warmth of his eyes and forget to respond.
“What did I say?”
“That you’ll come back every week,” he says. There’s an apprehensiveness to his voice.
I pull him into a hug and kiss him square on the mouth when I pull away. A shy smile creeps across my face as I look up at him because that’s how he makes me feel. Shy but also confident. Everything is fresh and exciting with him but even in all that excitement there’s one thing I know to be true: I want to come to every Sunday breakfast if I can.
“Like you like to tell me, fireman, as long as you’ll have me, I’m here.”
He lets out a pleasanthmphand loops his arms around my shoulders, wrapping me into an embrace I never want to be free from.
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MILES
1 New Message: The Lost Boys
