Page 83 of Husband to Go

“I’m happy you told me,” is my gentle reply.

He clears his throat.

“Anyway, my sister wants to meet you.”

I’m flabbergasted.

“You told her about me?”

“I did, and it’s actually the reason why I went to go see her. Being with you, finally opening myself up after so many years, it made me realize I needed to connect with my family, and put all these unhealthy feelings behind me.”

“So it sounds like seeing your sister went well.”

He nods.

“Yeah, she wasn’t mad or anything. She wants what I want, to be a family again. And I want to give that to her and get to know my nephew. I want you to get to know her and my nephew too.”

My heart is overwhelmed. He wants to introduce me to his family? Oh my gosh. Tonight is absolutely perfect, and I don’t how it could get any better.

“I’d love to meet them,” I say with tears in my eyes.

He squeezes my hand, a little emotional himself.

“What about you, Kylie? Do you have a soul-baring speech you want to give me?” he jokes with a hitch to his voice.

I don’t know. I’ve told him about my emotions quite a few times. It’s why I was so embarrassed. I felt like I had given so much emotionally to Tanner, while the scales were unbalanced because he was a master at keeping everything so close to the chest. I take a deep breath.

“I mean, I had a pretty okay childhood. My mom was a bit of a monster, which I’m sure you know about, but my Aunt Jane and her husband Gordon were the ones who really raised me. I think, in the grand scheme of things, I got pretty lucky that there was someone there for me, to keep me from totally becoming lost.”

He shoots me a wry smile.

“It looks like we’re two wandering souls who happened to find one another, huh?”

I smile back, my eyes a little watery.

“Maybe.”

He squeezes my hand again.

“I love you Kylie,” he says, and my heart soars.

“I love you too, Tanner.”

We continue eating, and the conversation is happier from here on out. Tanner tells me about his college days, starting his company, and getting to where he is now. It sounds like he really struggled to get to this point, but it’s okay because that’s all in the past.

We finish our dinner. Tanner clears the table, telling me he doesn’t want me to lift a finger. I watch him clean, and then he comes up behind my chair so that I have to tilt my head to look at him.

“Sweetheart, I have a second part of our date planned, but it’s outside of this apartment.”

I twist in my seat to look into his handsome face. But I’m confused.

“I thought going out in public wasn’t a good idea? Because of my mom and everything that happened?”

After all, New York society can be cruel. I’m just a nobody, in the grand scheme of things. I never really went to parties or did anything with the rest of high society, but I know they wouldn’t hesitate to use this affair to destroy Tanner’s reputation.

“I can see that you’re alarmed. But never fear; to keep things private, I rented out the planetarium, so there will be no one there except staff. We can go look up at the stars on the ceiling and enjoy the amphitheater. Would you like that?”

I gasp.