Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73774 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Promise me something,” I tell him, turning to look him in the eyes. “Promise me that no matter what happens between us, no matter where life takes us, you will always fight for your life. Rory needs her daddy. She needs him to be clean and alive. And…” I choke up, my emotions getting the best of me. “I need you too. Even if we don’t work out, I need you as Rory’s dad.”
Gage reaches out and swipes my falling tears. “I promise, Sadie, I’m never going back to being that shell of a man again. I love my life. I love my daughter, and I’m falling in love with you. And no drug is worth the risk of losing you guys.”
I sigh in relief as he pulls me into a hug. “I know you’re scared,” he murmurs into my ear. “And you have every right to be, but I promise, I’m here, I’m clean, and I’m going to fight every day to stay that way. Not just for you guys but for me too.”
He holds me tight for several long beats before he backs up and looks at me, his eyes glassy with emotion. “We got this… one day at a time.”
He posts it, and within seconds, comments and likes start flooding his notifications. “I haven’t posted in over two years,” he says with a nervous laugh, scrolling through the feed. I can’t read them all, but the ones I catch are sweet, welcoming him back and congratulating him on becoming a dad. A few are from women asking to have his baby and wanting to screw him, but I refuse to let those bother me. I’m not oblivious to the fact that Gage is more than hot and has been Raging Chaos’s bad boy for years, doing drugs, partying, and having sex with women he didn’t bother to get to know. But that Gage isn’t the man sitting next to me, and maybe it makes me foolish or naïve, but until Gage proves otherwise, I’m trusting him to be the man he is now.
“All right, well, I’ve had enough of that,” he says, swiping out of the app and pocketing his phone. “Let’s go get our princess and have our first family dinner in public.”
Our first public family dinner is at A Latte Fun, where we spend hours playing with Rory. Gage jumps on the trampoline with her, goes down the slide with her in his lap a couple dozen times, swims through the ball pit, and shows her how to draw with chalk all over the chalkboard wall. And when our little angel turns into the devil at dinnertime, he never once loses his patience as he gently calms her until her cries turn into giggles.
Once we’ve eaten and Rory is back in her stroller, we stroll downtown with Paul lingering behind. Gage said he doesn’t bring Paul everywhere he goes in New York, but he doesn’t want to take a chance with us—better safe than sorry.
“What the hell is that?” Gage asks when we stop in front of the Easter Bunny.
“The Easter Bunny,” I say with a laugh. “Tomorrow is Easter, hence the reason for the barbecue at Kendall and Declan’s place.”
“Do you celebrate Easter?”
“Yeah, I mean, I did when Collin was alive. I’m not super religious. We didn’t go to church or anything, but we’d celebrate all the major holidays like Easter and Christmas.” I shrug, a lump of emotion clogging my throat. “Rory’s not old enough to understand, but once she’s a little older, the Easter Bunny will bring her a basket, and Santa will bring her presents.”
Gage nods toward where the bunny is sitting. “It looks like people are getting their pictures taken with it. Want to get Rory’s taken?”
“Sure. She’s not really dressed for it, but I guess it doesn’t matter.”
The line isn’t long, so we only have to wait a few minutes before it’s our turn. Gage pulls Rory out of her stroller and walks over to the bunny, who extends his arms to place her in his lap. Rory isn’t having it, though, and latches onto Gage like he’s an extension of her.
“I think I’ll just sit next to you,” Gage says, keeping hold of his daughter, who doesn’t appear impressed by the bunny in the slightest.
I step back to take a couple of pictures of them when an overwhelming sense of déjà vu hits me. I try to shake it off, snapping photo after photo, but it’s too strong and threatens to take me under.
“Join us, Sadie,” Gage says, calling me over.
“I can take your picture,” the photographer adds.
I have a seat on the other side of the bunny, and the photographer tells us to smile, snapping a picture, but something feels off, and that’s when it hits me.
I was here before… with Collin.