“Until the baby wakes up,” she said, kissing me hotly.
I set her down and she reached for me, but I held her hands in mine. “Everything good in my life is because of you. How do I thank you for that?”
She smiled and traced the line of my jaw with her finger. “You don’t. Just love me, Sawyer.”
I nodded wordlessly and kissed her. Of course that’s all she wanted. Only love, because that’s who she was, and as I took her to bed, touching her gently and slow, I vowed to always be worthy of her, right now and forever.
Darlene
One year later…
“How many in your party?” the hostess at Nopa asked us.
I glanced at Sawyer with Olivia on his hip. “Oh gosh, there are… sixteen of us?” I said. “We have a reservation for brunch. Under Montgomery?”
The hostess smiled and checked her book. “We’re setting that up now. When your entire party is here, we can seat you.”
“She might want to rethink that,” I said to Sawyer. “We’re going to clog up the works in the front here.”
“Probably,” he said absently, hoisting Olivia higher. She looked like a cream puff in a ruffled yellow dress. Sawyer looked devastatingly handsome, as always, in a dark gray suit and ruby red tie.
“Every time we come here, our crowd is bigger,” I said, smoothing the front of my own black dress. “They’re going to have to build an addition for next time.”
Sawyer smiled but didn’t reply.
I smiled reassuringly. “Hey, if you’re nervous about meeting my parents, don’t be. They’re going to love you. All of my friends are going to love you.” My eyes widened over his shoulder. “Speaking of friends…”
I let out a little squeal as Beckett held Nopa’s front door open for Zelda.
“Oh my God, you’re here!” I hugged them both at the same time. “You smell like New York.”
“Like urine and cement?” Zelda asked with her usual sarcasm.
“Like a thousand lights and warm rain,” I said, pulling her in for another hug. “I missed you.”
“Missed you too, Dar,” she whispered. “So much.”
“Ten bucks, please,” Beckett said, holding his hand to Zelda, which she swatted away. “I bet her ten bucks she’d be tearing up within the first five minutes,” he said to Sawyer, and offered his hand. “I’m Beckett and this is my emotional fiancée, Zelda.”
“Oh shut up,” she said, but I saw something warm and deep pass between them.
“Good to meet you both,” Sawyer said. “Darlene’s told me a lot about you.”
Zelda’s green eyes stared at Sawyer, and I could tell the sketch she’d made of my boyfriend in her mind didn’t match the one standing in front of her.
“Sawyer, hi,” she said, shaking his hand. “Nice to meet you.” She turned her head to me so a curtain of her long black hair shielded her from Sawyer, and mouthed, Are you kidding me?
I mouthed back. I know, right?
They both cooed over Olivia, who immediately grabbed for Zelda’s hair.
“Are you nervous about the show?” Zelda asked, gently extracting Olivia’s little fist. “Chicago…I mean, that’s huge, Dar. I’m so excited for you.”
“Thanks, yeah, I was nervous at first, but now that we’re settling into the run, it’s easier.”
The San Francisco Repertory was doing six weeks of Kander and Ebb’s Chicago at the Orpheum Theater. I auditioned for one of the Merry Murderesses—the prison inmate who shot her husband for popping his gum. It was my dream role, though I would have been happy just to be ensemble in such a big, elaborate production.
But I got the part and had done a week’s worth of shows to find my groove, and now my friends and my parents had flown from New York to see a Sunday matinee.