“Yes. I know Harper. Okay? I know it’s a lot. This is why I haven’t told anyone yet. You think it’s a lot for you, how do you think my parents are going to take it? You know the parents that are also my boyfriend’s parents?” I begin to pace the length of the room suddenly feeling like I’m going to be sick at the thought of having to face my parents. The two people that have loved me unconditionally. Two people I’ve never ever wanted to disappoint. Would they still love me after this? There was a very tiny voice in the back of my head that whispered that James was not only their only son but theirs biologically which could mean in their eyes, I’m the problem. Despite Monica’s knee jerk reaction to blame James, my parents would blame me. The child that wasn’t always theirs that fucked everything up.

No. They wouldn’t think that. They love you.

“Boyfriend?” Harper’s eyebrows shoot to her hairline. “I thought you guys were just messing around…you’re serious?”

“Yeah, Harp. I am. I told you, I’ve been in love with him for years. And now he’s finally where I’ve been for over a third of my life; I’m not going to let him go.”

“Wow. I mean I think it’s totally weird and I won’t ever think it’s not.” She scrunches her nose. “But I guess he isn’t your biological brother.”

“Right.”

“You sure you know what you’re doing, Gab? I mean…relationships change. People change. What happens if one or both of you wants to end it? I mean how do you go back? Family gatherings will be so fucking awkward. I’d rather eat broken glass than sit through dinners and holidays and play nice with any of my exes.” The judgment that I’d heard in her voice has slowly shifted into something else. Something like worry.

“I don’t see this ending with James. I wouldn’t have crossed this line if I was ever planning to uncross it.”

“You say that, but you don’t know what life has in store for you. You’re eighteen, Gab. You don’t have your life figured out yet.”

“Maybe not, but I do have who I want to spend it with figured out.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Eight Months Later

My God, where does the time go? I wonder as I’m staring across the table at my gorgeous girlfriend.

Girlfriend.