Page 115 of Falling for You

He blows out a breath and collapses in a chair.

“Did anyone call her family?” I ask. I know that Olivia is close with her parents and brother.

Rex nods. “Yeah. I called Owen. He’s on his way but it will be later. Her parents live a few hours away but they’re on the way, too.”

“Good.”

We sit in silence before Paul groans. “This is almost worse than when Ethan was born. Your mom, though, she was amazing. Terrified and scared, but she was so strong and determined.”

Paul and I have talked a lot over the past few months about my mother. What he remembers of her. Because there was no one around me from Mom’s life before I was born, I’ve been greedy with any information and stories about her he can share with me.

“I’m sorry we didn’t know about you sooner,” he says when there’s a lull in conversation.

I reach a hand over and grip his in mine. “It’s okay. We aren’t looking back, right?”

“Right,” he grins and I’m struck with how much father and son resemble one another. Ethan might have some of Mom’s attributes, but he got his smile and dimple from his dad, among other things. I can see why Mom was attracted to him all those years ago. He’s an incredible looking man.

“Paul?” Rex interrupts.

“Yeah?”

“I need a moment alone with Chloe, if you don’t mind?”

Unlike me, he doesn’t seem surprised by Rex’s request. He simply stands, twists and does a stretch for his back. “Sure. I’ll just go grab a cup of coffee. Either of you need anything?”

“Maybe just a bottle of water?” I ask and he smiles, squeezes my shoulder as he brushes past and kisses me on top of the head.

“Of course.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. I talked to Ethan about something today.”

“Okay?”

“I know I probably didn’t need to, talk to him, I mean, but it felt like the right thing.”

I take his hand then cup his cheek with my other, bringing his beautiful green eyes to focus on me. “Rex? Whatever it is, it’s okay. I’m here.”

He blows out a breath and looks to the door then back again.

“That day at The Flying Goat? When you’d had such a bad day. Remember that?”

“Yes. Of course I do.” I smile letting the memory wash over me.

“It changed my world. It might have been the worst day for you, but it was, without a doubt, the best day of my life. It brought you to me.” My nose starts stinging and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop from crying. “I started to walk past you and something told me to look to the right. I did and I kid you not, my heart fucking stopped. It stopped. So pretty. But then we spent time together. And every passing minute we did, I liked you more and more.”

Screw the cheek biting. I’m just letting the tears flow. I know where this is going — or at least I hope I know — and I hate that I’m crying through it because I don’t want to miss anything but at the same time, I can’t stop the tears from happening.

“Every day we spend together, I fall harder. I don’t think I’ll ever stop. You’ve given me more than I ever dreamed of having in my life and I feel like the luckiest man in the world that I get to call you mine.”

He reaches into his pocket and my breath catches. He drops to a knee, keeps his hand fisted around whatever he grabbed out of his pocket, and looks up at me with eyes shining.

“Chloe Noelle Garcia, will you…” he opens his palm and my eager eyes dart to his palm. That’s holding a… key. A house key.

“What the…”

“Will you move in with me?”

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