Page 69 of Husband to Go

“Yeah, of course.” I step aside, so Kylie can enter. Her eyes immediately go to the T.V. I see a smile spread across her face. She continues to look around my living room and sees my unfortunate hoard of ice cream, not to mention the overall mess this place has become.

“Are you watchingLeap Yearand eating mint chocolate chip?”

“I am.”

“Is there a reason?” she bites her lip to hold back a laugh.

“I thought it might make me feel better.”

“So, you’re not feeling so great either?” I nod. “Well, that’s why I’m here. I want to talk to you about some things.”

“Oh, okay. Let’s sit.”

I motion to my couch, and Kylie and I take our places on opposite sides.

“So,” she’s fiddling with her fingers. What could she have to say that’s making her so nervous? “I wanted to tell you I just finished talking with my mother. She, um,” Kylie trails off. She fidgets in her seat. Her hair has fallen on to her face, shielding her cheek from me. She tucks a brown lock behind her ear, and I see the redness there for the first time.

It doesn’t look like the usual blush that makes her flush. This looks more aggressive. It’s actually turning kind of bluish purple. Is she okay?

“What happened to your face?”

“Oh,” she cups her cheek. “It actually has to do with my trip to my mother. We talked, and I realized that the two of you never had a real relationship.”

“Yeah,” I shrug. “We were pulling the wool over one another’s eyes. But what does that have to do with your face?”

Kylie swallows.

“Well, I told Veronica that I was hoping to maybe move forward with her. I thought we could rebuild our relationship, but she doesn’t care about me. She actually got so mad that she slapped me.”

“Shewhat?”

Immediately, I leap off the couch filled with rage. My fists open and close and I wish that bitch were here so that I could pound her into the ground.

“Don’t worry. It’s not a big deal,” murmurs Kylie. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Like hell this isn’t a big deal. Veronica slapped her daughter so hard that it’s bruising. Over what? Some bullshit.

But this is not about me, this is about Kylie and how she’s doing.

“Are you okay? Did you go to the hospital? The police?”

“I’m fine, and I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about us, okay?”

I harrumph, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Fine.” I’m willing to put the issue on the backburner for now, but I refuse to forget what Veronica has done. That’s some shit you don’t let slide easily.

Kylie takes a deep breath.

“So yes, I came here because I realized that I want to be with you. It’s time for me to go after what makes me happy, andyoumake me happy.” She looks over at me from under her lashes. “If you’ll still have me, that is. I want to try to see if we can be together.”

Is this real life?

“Even after everything I did?”

She nods.

“I didn’t break you guys up. There were problems there that had nothing to do with me. And maybe, we went about finding one another in an unconventional way, but I think it’s time to stop punishing ourselves.”

I can feel a huge smile break out on my face. There is no way I’m ever letting her go, not again.