Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
“I know,” I tell her.
“You were saying?” she prompts.
“It’s everything,” Jade says fiercely, picking up where I left off. “Yas, I know how crazy it’ll sound, but something magical has happened with me and Jamie. We’ve gotten so close over these past couple of days. It’s like all the usual relationship stuff, all the banter, and the closeness and the trust – oh, the trust – it’s like it’s all been kicked into warp speed. I want to be the mother of his children, Yas. I want to be with him forever.”
“And I need to be with her forever,” I growl. “The second I saw her when I came back from Japan, I knew it. You remember that I didn’t recognize her? That’s because I couldn’t believe that I’d fallen so hard, so fast, for your best friend. I tried to fight it. I really did. But it’s impossible. Jade, she’s … she’s just too special for that.”
Yasmin and Jade meet eyes for a moment, and Yasmin’s lips twitch into a smile.
“Well, yeah, I won’t argue with that,” she says.
They giggle together.
The sound of their laughter bolsters me, making me see a possible future in which this all really does turn out okay.
“This is so weird,” Yasmin murmurs, taking a small sip of her cocoa and then laying it on the table. “Way weirder than I expected it would be.”
“Wait, what?” Jade and I say at the same time, and then exchange a look that has Jade smiling widely and me smirking like I might just break into a big cheesy grin of my own.
I look at her for a long moment, savoring the emotional glint in her eyes, the rosy bloom in her cheeks. It’s like she’s blossoming right in front of me, constantly changing and evolving in the best possible way.
“See, the way you’re looking at each other right now is just too, I don’t know, pure and nice. Too good for me to be angry.”
“But what did you mean it was weirder then you expected?” I ask, turning back to my daughter.
Yasmin throws her hands up.
“When I suggested that you have Jade in your self-defense class, I guess a tiny part of me was hoping that she’d rub off on you. You’re such an amazing person, Jade, so optimistic and good despite everything you’ve been through. You’re an inspiration to me, really.”
Yasmin coughs back a sob and Jade reaches across the table, taking her hand. My daughter clutches onto my woman as though drawing strength from her.
After a deep breath, she goes on.
“And I guess there was this even smaller part of me, this part I sort of didn’t really acknowledge, that thought about what it’d be like if you two got together. I mean, I didn’t imagine that it’d happen in a few days. But still, I didn’t completely push the idea away, either. I just sort of let myself daydream about it every now and then.”
She runs a hand through her dark hair, and then leans forward, looking at me firmly and then at Jade.
“Is this for real?” she says. “Because the only way I think I could be okay with this is if I knew that you weren’t going to break up in a few weeks and completely shatter what we have. Being together, that’s one thing, I think I can deal with that … But breaking up? That would just ruin us.”
“This is for real,” I snarl passionately. “This is the most real thing I have ever felt. When I look at her, I feel like life just makes sense. I feel like I don’t have to be cold and detached anymore. Hell, I just feel, and that in itself is a miracle.”
“You do seem different,” Yasmin notes quietly. “Jade?”
Jade looks at me with tears glistening in her eyes, her lips trembling.
“It’s real,” she sobs. “Yas, I can’t explain it, but it’s like there’s this door inside of me. And this door has been locked my entire life. Maybe I didn’t even know it was there. But Jamie is helping me to open it and, with him, I feel like I can be confident. I feel like I can be beautiful—”
“You are beautiful,” Yasmin and I say at the same time.
All three of us burst into laughter, the tension diffusing into nothingness like mist in the winter air.
“I feel complete,” Jade finishes.
I reach across and take her hand, squeezing it firmly, letting her know by touch alone that I’m here for her and always will be.
I love you, I want to roar, but somehow I think that might be pushing my luck.
I’m just happy that Yasmin isn’t threatening to throw us off the balcony.
But soon.
Yasmin nods slowly, tears glistening in her eyes.
“I’m not saying I’m not shocked,” she says. “But if you can promise me that you won’t break up – if you can promise me that you’re making each other better, not worse – then I think I can be okay with this.”