Page 45 of Unsupervised

“So, my friends and I want to go to a diner after the dance,” Sophie interrupts, wedging her way between us. “You guys don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

Niall’s mouth tightens into a hard line. “Sophie, you’re only eleven. This is New York City. You can’t just run around unsupervised.”

Thinking back to a warm spring day three years ago, I can’t help but grin conspiratorially. “Hmmm, that sounds a little familiar. Do you have that on an index card of go-to comebacks?”

“Watch it,” he says, jabbing a finger my way before pulling me even closer.

Weaving an arm around his neck, I straighten his already impeccably straight tie with the other. “If she wasn’t unsupervised, we would’ve never met.”

“Are you trying to say we’re married because of my shite parenting skills?”

I shrug. “If the father figure fits…”

Wrapping his hand around me, he pulls me in close and brushes his lips over mine. With a few more insistent yet tasteful kisses, he leans back and stares at me, the corners of his eyes lighting up as he brushes his thumbs across my cheeks.

“Gross,” Sophie repeats while tapping her brand-new heels at the door.

Giving her a side-eye glance, Niall laughs and returns his smile toward me, tapping a finger against the tip of my nose. “I guess I finally made an honest woman out of you.”

I say nothing, only raise an eyebrow at him and wait for the punchline.

Running a hand over my swollen belly again, he whispers in my ear. “After everything, I made you a mom after all.”

“No,” I say, stealing a look at my impatient, beautiful daughter as Niall reaches for his camera to immortalize the moment. “You made me a family.”

“If you two are finished kissing, can we go to my dance, please, Dad?” Opening the door to our new apartment, Sophie stands out in the hallway as Niall kisses me one last time and reaches behind the cushion of the couch, pulling out a canvas bag full of DVDs.

Curious, I dive through the contents. “Pretty in Pink?27 Dresses,How to Lose A Guy In Ten Days? What is this, some kind of trick?”

“What’s this?” Niall’s eyes widen and he shakes his head. “Woman, what kind of rom com enthusiast are you? They’re all the movies on your must-see list. I thought, since Soph and I are leaving you alone for the night, you could pick two or three of your choice and I promise to watch them without argument.” With a grin, my husband turns and escorts his daughter to her first dance.

As the door closes behind, I flip through the movies one more time, then dump the entire contents in the trashcan and close the lid.

Here’s the thing about rom coms. They’re the adult version of fairytales, feeding our ideals that we all have that one soulmate out there. And even though they all take on different versions, the ugly truth is, we all buy into it. Wewatch them, even though there’s that little piece inside of us that knows there’s almost no chance of us ever finding a love like the ones we see in the movies. What guy in their right mind would be willing to wait years for us like Noah inThe Notebook? So why even try? What makes us continue to believe that men like that really exist?

I’ll tell you why…because they do.

I found my Noah. And my Jack. And my Edward. And my Michael. And my William. And my Mr. Coulson. He kissed me in the rain. He went down with the ship for me. He got me the job and the apartment. He sang to me. He asked me to love him. And he forgave me for pretending to be someone I wasn’t.

Rom coms? They’re a dime a dozen. Two hours of your life, and they’re over. But Niall Mackay? Niall Mackay is one in a million.

And my story? It’s not a fairytale.

It’s forever.