Page 36 of And Everything In Between (Love By Any Means #3)

Paige cracked her neck, nervous to make this call.

Two weeks into her new position with a team depending on her, she couldn’t up and leave work like before.

Her thumb hovered over Giovanni’s name, trembling slightly.

Why was this still so hard? After everything they’d shared, her body, her home, her fears, asking for help shouldn’t feel like jumping off a cliff.

But old habits died with their boots on, kicking and screaming.

“Just ask,” she coached. Since meeting Giovanni, she hadn’t needed to ask for anything; he was always steps ahead of her needs.

But this wasn’t that. This felt like a pivotal moment, one she was making bigger than necessary; she knew that.

She was rolling her eyes at herself. Ten deep breaths later, she finally decided to trust herself and Giovanni by hitting the green button.

“What’s good, baby?” His voice came through, warm and easy, like he’d been waiting for her call.

“Uh... I need a favor.” The words came out smaller than intended.

“Ok, tell me what you need. You hungry? What?”

“No, I’m not hungry.” She twisted the end of her blouse around her finger, hating how weird she sounded.

“Ok, baby, tell me what it is you need.” His voice was encouraging, a soft laugh underneath.

He was trying to figure out why she was hesitating. “P, you know I don’t like being forceful with you, but we done with that ‘scared to ask me for shit’ phase.”

She swallowed hard. He was right.

“It’s my daddy.” The words tumbled out in a rush. “He missed his medical transport van. I don’t know how, but now he’s stuck needing a ride to dialysis, and I can’t leave work. Ashton’s in back-to-back meetings all day, and I have two loan closings that I can’t reschedule and-”

“Cinny, chill and breathe. I got it.”

Seven words, and the knot in her throat relaxed.

“You sure?” she asked, still not used to this. “His appointment’s at eleven. I know it’s your morning at the shop, and I wouldn’t ask if…”

“Paige.” His voice was gentle but firm. “I said I got it. Text me his phone number. I’ll swing by and scoop him.”

She exhaled, her shoulders dropping for the first time all morning. “Thank you.”

“You don’t need thank me. This is what we do.”

We . That word still caught her off guard sometimes. It made her heart flip in the best way.

“I love you.” The words, still new enough on her tongue to give her butterflies.

There was a pause.

“I know,” he replied.

It wasn’t cockiness or dismissal. It was certainty. He knew his woman sighs, they’d been the cheat code to her heart from the jump.

“I’ll hit you when we’re done.”

“You don’t have to wait with him. You can drop him off. The van can take him back.”

“Nah, Imma keep him company. Don’t worry about us. Go do great things. And Paige, don’t ever hesitate to call or ask me anything ever again.”

“Okay, thank you a million and one times.”

When she hung up, she sat there for a long moment, phone clutched to her chest. For someone who’d always been the fixer, having someone be the fix was still new.

But she was learning to receive it. Paige smiled to herself, tucked her phone away, and turned her attention back to the loan applications waiting on her desk.

Knowing her father was in good hands gave her the space to focus on being the manager she’d worked so hard to become.

Across town, Giovanni slid his phone back in his pocket and headed to his car.

His mind drifted between the day’s work schedule and Paige’s voice, how it had softened when she finally asked for help.

He was lost in his thoughts, so lost he didn’t realize he’d made it to pick up Perry until he was pulling into his driveway.

“Preciate you doing this.”

“No problem, I ain’t mind.”

The ride to the dialysis center had been quiet, but comfortable.

Now, with Perry hooked up to the machine that would clean his blood, Giovanni sat two chairs down, giving the man space while staying present.

He didn’t need to say much. The rhythmic hum of the dialysis machine created a strange sort of peace as nurses moved efficiently around the room.

Giovanni watched the routine unfold, realizing this was Paige’s normal, this sterile room, these same chairs, this waiting.

It made him see her differently, understanding the strength she carried.

The woman he loved had been holding space for a father who’d missed so much of her life, and it spoke volumes about her heart and character.

Perry shifted in the recliner, cords connected, the machine doing what it did best, pulling and giving back. His eyes flicked toward Giovanni, then away.

“You ain’t have to wait,” he said, voice dry.

Giovanni shrugged, elbows on his knees. “I know.”

A beat passed.

“She call you, or you volunteer?”

“She called. She didn’t want to, though.” Giovanni offered a small laugh. “But I’d have come either way.”

He didn’t say it out loud, but her hesitation stuck in his chest. Not because it hurt, but because he wanted her to know she could call him.

That she should. He wasn’t trying to be just some soft place to land—he was trying to be her damn foundation .

And part of him worried she hadn’t figured that out yet.

Perry studied him now, longer this time. Paige didn’t need him testing or threatening anybody, she was grown. But he knew his absence had something to do with her hesitancy, and he needed Giovanni to be patient with her.

“She don’t ask for help often,” Perry said, voice a little softer. “So be patient with her.”

“I know that, too.”

More silence.

Perry nodded. “She’s had to carry more than most. For a long time. She won’t say it, but I know I’m part of that weight.”

“She’s not bitter about it,” Giovanni replied.

Another pause. Then Perry asked, “You love her?”

Giovanni didn’t flinch. Didn’t look away. “Yeah. I do.”

He reclined back then, hands folded over his stomach. “One day, I’m gonna ask her if I can do this for life.”

“You’d better, if you know what you’ve got.”

They didn’t say anything after that. They didn’t need to. They were two men with no time for posturing. Giovanni would be around, period. And Perry had just given him his blessing.

Perry dozed off shortly after, and Giovanni sat still, keeping watch. His thoughts never left Paige.

A couple hours later, once Perry had finished dialysis and gathered his strength, he made it clear—he wasn’t ready to be alone. Giovanni didn’t argue. He took him to get something to eat, then brought him by the shop for a change of scenery.

They’d been hanging out and talking shit until Paige pulled up. She stepped out, heart tugging at the scene. Her father hadn’t looked this relaxed in weeks.

“You good, Daddy?”

“I’m alright,” Perry said, with a genuine smile. “Wasn’t ready to go home just yet.”

“That’s fine,” she said, scanning him. “Y’all been out here all day?”

“We stopped for burgers after dialysis,” Giovanni said, coming over to her. “He said he didn’t feel like sittin’ in the house, so we pulled up here. I figured he could chill, talk cars and shit.”

Perry gave a soft grunt. “Boy knows his way around an engine, I’ll give him that. That’s rare. Doing something more with his hands than destruction.”

Paige looked between the two of them, “So y’all best friends now?”

“Basically,” they said in unison, causing her to laugh.

“You ready for me to take you home?”

“Yeah, I wanted a change of pace. I appreciate him for doing that.”

She nodded, touched her dad’s shoulder, then turned to Giovanni.

“Thank you,” she said low.

He placed a kiss on her hairline, voice low. “Say the word, and I’m there.”

She pressed into him and grabbed the back of his head to bring him down to her level. “Imma swallow that pretty muthafucka whole tonight. I’ll meet you at your house.”

Giovanni bit his lip before slapping her on the ass. She took off with a giggle.

When Paige made it to the car, her father looked at her.

“What?” she asked with a twisted face. “Do I have something on my face?”

Her face grew flushed thinking that maybe her dad saw that exchange.

“That’s my son-in-law. I can tell.”

“Relax. Oh my god,” Paige muttered, cheeks burning. “You like him for real?”

“Yeah.” Perry didn’t hesitate to answer. Giovanni was the man he always hoped she’d find. Somebody with more self-control and brains than he had. “That’s a solid man right there. Gotta be, to deal with you and get you to soften up. Watching y’all, it’s like... it makes me think of ya momma.”

“Daddy,” she groaned, rolling her eyes and laughing at the same time. “Don’t make me start crying out here in this parking lot.”

“You’d be alright if you did. Happy tears are a good thing.”

“What’s gotten into you, old man?” Paige hadn’t expected this when she picked him up. But she should have known that Giovanni would win her heart over even more through her daddy. Giovanna was cut from a different cloth and good people.

“I left you to carry weight I should’ve held,” he said quietly. “And for that… I’m sorry.”

Paige stiffened, the words catching her off guard. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel as she tried to keep the tears at bay.

“No, we’re not doing this,” she said quickly. “Not today.”

“Yes, we are.” His voice was firmer now, but not unkind. “I fucked up in more ways than I can count. I left you. Not only physically, but emotionally. And you stepped up. You didn’t have a choice.”

He looked over at her then, eyes softer than she’d seen in years.

“It’s okay to be mad at me. To be conflicted.

I know I earned that. But I need you to know something, I am proud of you.

Proud of the woman you became in spite of me.

I see how you move now, Paige. I see you living.

And it humbles me. It makes me grateful for the time I do have with you, even if it ain’t long. ”

She didn’t speak, just reached across the console and grabbed his hand. Squeezing them once.