Page 116 of Imperfect Arrangement
Her words do something to my chest. But I don’t push, don’t call her out on it, because I know this is as close to the truth as she’ll let herself get right now. Instead, we settle into a quiet silence, the swing creaking as I push us lightly with my feet.
“Is this turning out like you expected?” I ask after a few beats, glancing at the building standing tall against the night sky.
“It’s more than any of my imaginations,” she admits as a shiver rolls through her, her teeth chattering ever so slightly. It’s still early autumn, but night temperatures have started to dip.
I slide my jacket off and drape it over her shoulders, pulling her closer. “Have you thought of a name?” So far, we’ve been calling it thenew Elixir estate, but that’s just a placeholder.
“I actually have.”
I shift so I can see her face. “What is it?”
“I loved how my grandparents named the B and B Whispering Willow. It made the place special, more mine, but…” She hesitates, her fingers fidgeting with the sleeve of my jacket. “It also always felt so…soft, you know? Almost like it was meant to fade into the background. I don’t want that for this place. I don’t want it towhisper—I want it toboom.”
“So what are we calling it? Booming Willow?”
She chuckles. “No, I think if we attract people with the building, we’ll repel them with the name.”
“Fair point. So what is it?”
Her smile shifts into something almost shy. “How about Blooming Quill? I want our bug to have a place that’shers. But only if it’s okay with you.”
Everything in me freezes for a second. The name settles in my chest, heavy and warm all at once. I shift slightly, pulling away just enough to hold her face, needing her to see how much this means to me. “I think it’s perfect, and she’s going to love it.”
Willow swallows. “I think so too.”
The moment changes and the air around us thickens with electricity. I watch as her lips part, her breathing shallows, her gaze drops to my mouth and I don’t hesitate.
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
Like always when my lips touch hers, the world tilts. She clutches at my shirt, pulling me closer as if she needs me the same way I need her. I kiss her slow, deep, and soak in her sharp inhale when I nip at her lower lip.
“Can I ask you something personal?” she asks when we finally break apart.
“Why is it that we always end up having deep, soul-searching conversations right before, during, or after”—I lift a brow—“sexy stuff?”
Her lips curl slightly. “I don’t know.”
I brush my thumb over her jaw. “What is it you wanted to ask?”
“Um…your mom told me something.”
“Please tell me it wasn’t an embarrassing childhood story.”
“No.” Willow shakes her head, but the small smile lingering on her lips doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She glances at me, seemingly hesitant about whatever is coming next from her lips. “She told me…that you never took a paternity test when Quill came into your life.”
Silence stretches between us, and I don’t meet her eyes right away. I could give her the answer I’ve given everyone else. The one that’s always on the tip of my tongue.
IknowQuill is my daughter. I don’t need a damn test to tell me that.
But Willow isn’teveryone else. For some reason, she’s the one person I want to tell everything to—even the things I’ve never told my family, including my cousins, my parents.
I inhale deeply and exhale slowly before asking, “Would it change anything for you if Quill wasn’t my biological daughter?”
Her eyes don’t widen in shock. If anything, she looks…steady, as if she already knew. “I don’t think blood defines family,” she replies like it’s a fact. “I found mine in people who aren’t biologically related to me. My friends. Your daughter.” Her unwavering gaze stays fixed on me.
She doesn’t say it out loud, but I want to believe that my name is also on that list.
“You are her dad,” Willow continues, “and anyone who thinks otherwise is blind and brain-dead.”
