Page 49 of Lost Love Found

“I don’t get a hug today? I haven’t even seen you all week. I miss you, L.” His eyes are searching mine and I struggle to keep my emotions in check.

“You do? Really? You miss me? You’ve hardly even texted me!” I cross my arms and stand with my feet set apart.

“You’re adorable when you’re mad, Lainey. That’s not fair.” He reaches to tuck my hair behind my ear, but I flinch. My stomach does several somersaults and my knees wobble. This is too much. He's hardly even touched me and my body is turning to jello.

“No. Don’t do that. Don’t be all cute with me when I’m mad at you!” I reach for the door, but he holds it shut, not letting me run away from this conversation.

“You’re mad because we haven’t seen each other all week.” It’s not a question, so he knows.

“You said you wouldn’t shut me out again. I know you’re busy, but damn it, we live in the same house.” I might be yelling a little now, not realizing just how mad I was about all of this.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He puts his hand on my cheek, but I move away again.

“You’re not forgiven. It’s not right that I have to sit with all these feelings and not be able to talk to you about them. And now we’re about to go to this wedding and pretend like we’re dating to your whole family and it’s a lot!” He needs to know that I can’t just hear the word sorry and be OK with whatever dumb shit he wants to pull. Even if all I want is to forget about it and climb him like a tree.

“OK. I get it. It was just a busy week. I promise. And I was trying to give you space because you could hardly even look at me during dinner the other night.” He reaches for my cheek again, and this time I lean into his touch. “I wasn’t ignoring you. I was trying to make sure you weren’t uncomfortable, and that you had time to process whatever has happened.”

“I don’t want space from you. Not unless I ask for it. Do you understand?” I did not mean for that to come out, but here we are. But I mean, he said those words first…

He swallows hard and links a hand with mine. “I do. I understand. Maybe we just need to find a better way to talk to each other. Like by actually talking to each other.” He chuckles and I immediately feel lighter about all of this.

“Are you still mad at me?” He asks this as he brings our foreheads together and my hand comes to rest on his forearm. I shake my head. “You really are very cute when you’re angry, so it’s OK if you want to go back to pouting and crossing your arms.”

I smack him on the arm and we both laugh. Ahh… there we are. “I’m not mad. Can we do that hug now?”

“I’ll do anything you want, Lainey. Anything.” He leans down, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. His arms wrap around my shoulders, and I nestle into his warm chest. It feels like the most natural place to be in the world.

When we finally pull away, I can see the driver’s lips stretched tight in the rearview mirror—he's doing an admirable job hiding his amusement of our little show.

We ride the rest of the way quietly, and Adam holds my hand every step of the way from the car to the private plane. We sit next to one another and once we’re taking off, he turns to me with furrowed brows. “So you know you’re going to be meeting my whole family, right?”

“Yes. Is there something you need to tell me about your family? Any cheek-pinching aunties I need to stay away from? Actually, I did want to ask something. Should I call you Adam or River? How much do they know about me? Are we telling them the real story of how we met?” I pull my lips between my teeth to stop talking. I have more questions, but I’m trying to keep my rambling to a minimum.

“You have more questions, don’t you?” I nod and he smiles softly, his lips just barely curling up at the edges. He takes one of my hands and holds it in both of his. His fingers are gentle as they trace the lines and curves of my skin, the calluses on his hands providing a slight friction that seems to soothe him. “They’re mostly normal. Loud and nosey, but normal.” He pauses for a moment before continuing. “Very few of them still call me Adam. Mostly Ash and Gramps, sometimes Gwen. So, I guess probably River. And we can tell them the real story. They don't know much about you, though they've all asked a million questions. I just figured it'd be easier to answer them all at once and in person.”

“How are you feeling about spending the week with your parents?” His eyebrows come together as he considers his answer.

“We probably won’t see them much. I see my dad occasionally for work, but he’s not usually present for family stuff. I think he has a new girlfriend, and that usually keeps him pretty busy. He prefers to keep his distance. Especially from my mom.” He continues to look down at our hands.

“Has it been like that for a long time?” I keep my comments about what a jerk his dad sounds like to myself.

“My whole life. Gwen got a few good years with my parents being together, but they divorced before I turned one.” His face relaxes a bit, but I feel like there’s more there.

“And your mom? What’s she like?” I link our fingers together to support him through telling me about his family.

“She’ll be focused on the wedding, micromanaging details and whatnot. Even though this is my dad’s side of the family, my mom remained close with them. I’d say that was for our sake, but I think it had more to do with making sure the divorce seemed amicable to the public.” He pauses and rubs his thumb across my knuckles. “Maintaining her image has always been the most important priority for her. Bethany Holm is a household name, after all, right?” His voice is bitter, detached, and I don’t like it one bit.

I have to literally bite my tongue to keep myself from saying something rude. Yes, everyone knows who Bethany Holm is. She made a name for herself playing a doting mother on one of the longest running TV shows ever. She was America’s sweetheart. But it sounds like the doting stopped on set.

“Hmm. OK. Now let me see if I have this right. Your dad is Karl. Your sister’s name is Gwen and her two kids are Liam and Emma. They’re 7 and 4 and their dad is Callum, right?” I hope I got that all right. When I look up at Adam and see his big, bright smile, I have a feeling I did. “Your cousin is Ashley, and she’s marrying rock star Ryan?”

He brings my hand to his lips and kisses my palm. “And they’re all going to love you.”

21

what did you just say?

adam

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