Page 42 of Anywhere with You
“What about us? I love her, man. You know this,” I reply defensively.
“That’s obvious, dude. You’re different with her. What I meant is how do you think the two of you will do with the long-distance thing?” he questions.
I’m shaking my head no before he even finishes his sentence. “I don’t want to do it. I can’t be away from her for that long.” I hesitate before telling him more, but he is my best friend, who just happens to have been her best friend first. If anyone can tell me how they think she’ll take my suggestion, it would be Aiden. “I want her to come with me.” I hold my hand up to him to keep him from talking. “I know it would be a lot to ask, but fuck, man, she’s like the air I breathe. I would support her and help her finish school, or not, she can just travel with me. She can do whatever she wants, just as long as I get to come home to her every night and wake up with her every morning.”
Aiden raises his eyebrow at me. “Wow,” is all he says. Maybe it’s all he can say. In the four years we’ve been friends, I’ve never talked about a girl and forever.
“Do you think she’ll come with me?” I ask him so softly I’m surprised he heard me.
“She loves you, but it’ll be hard for her to be that far away from her gran,” he tells me.
“I know, man, I thought about that. I want Gran to come with us. I want Allison with me always, and Gran is her family, I want them both to come with me.” This is something I’d decided earlier today when Gran gave me her blessing to love Allison with everything in me. She deserves the same, and I would give those two the world if I could.
Aiden nods his head. “Then, yeah, I think she’ll go with you.” He curses under his breath. “We better get drafted to the same damn team. I’m losing both my best friends.” He hesitates then he says, “Uh—what about Hales?”
“What about her? I assume she’ll stay at UNC and finish out her degree.”
Our conversation is cut short when Allison and Hailey come walking into the kitchen. I can tell something is off by the look in her eyes. She walks toward me, and I open my arms wide for her, welcoming her into my embrace. “What’s wrong, baby?” I ask her.
“It’s time for us to go, but I hate leaving her,” she speaks so low I can barely hear her.
I hug her tighter. It takes all the willpower I can muster not to tell her when I’m drafted she and Gran can come with me and be together all the time. I know now isn’t the time, but seeing her sad is tearing me up inside.
CHAPTER 29
Allison
Saying goodbye and leaving Gran always causes an ache deep in my chest. She insisted I go to college and experience life. I never really wanted to go to college. My parents’ life insurance left me enough money that I never have to work. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be some spoiled princess blowing through money, never having a job or responsibilities. I have dreams for my future, just not the same as other nineteen-year-old girls. I want a family of my own. My dream is to be a wife and a mother surrounded with family and love. All the things I lost at the young age of ten. Gran did the best she could, but growing up with your ill, elderly grandmother as your only family, well, it’s lonely.
When we arrive back at Liam and Aiden’s apartment, Hailey immediately crashes on her futon, Aiden crashes on the couch, and Liam and I stumble to his room. We go through our routine of brushing our teeth and changing for bed. I, of course, am in one of Liam’s old t-shirts. We crawl into bed, and Liam immediately pullsme to him. I rest my head on his chest while he holds me tight with one hand and gently strokes my arm with the other. He sighs deeply.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him, never moving from my spot on his chest.
“Nothing, baby, nothing at all. I just missed you last night. I barely slept, and now you’re here in my arms, in our bed where you belong. I’m just happy,” he replies softly.
I sit up on my elbow to look at him. “Thank you for today, Liam. Spending the day with Gran, the house full of people, it’s what I always wanted growing up. Aiden and his parents would stop in after their family things, but really, it was only ever Gran and me.” I take my hand that’s resting on his chest and bring it to his face, tracing his jawline with my fingers. “You made one of my dreams come true today. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I felt like I had a family.” I scoot my body up, so my face is mere inches from his. “I love you, Liam MacCoy, so much.” Then I kiss him. He immediately responds and moans as I slip my tongue past his lips. He rolls onto his side and pulls me close until we’re wrapped up in each other’s arms, legs entwined, lips fused, tongues battling as my heart bursts with happiness and love.
We pull back from the kiss, mainly due to the fact we both need to catch our breath. Liam gently brushes my hair behind my ear, stroking his hands across my cheek. “Allison, I need you to know I’ll always do everything in my power to make all of your dreams come true. You and your happiness are the most important things to me.” He pauses, staring deep into my eyes, neither one of us saying anything. It’s almost as if he’s searching for my acceptance of what he just told me. He must have found what he was looking for because he continues, “Baby, I want you in my life forever. I’m not proposing at this exact moment, but I’m going to. I need you to know what this is for me.”
I feel tears leaking from my eyes, but I don’t move to wipe them away. I’m afraid if I move, this moment will end, or maybe it isn’t real, and I don’t want to wake up if I’m dreaming. Liam wants me, forever.He gently wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. His eyes find mine again and they’re also glassy with emotion.
“Allison, I don’t know what my future holds with the League. I know it’s rumored I will be picked in the draft, how do you feel about that? Are you okay with being the wife of a League player? Because, baby, if you don’t want that, I’ll withdraw and start searching for jobs in sports medicine.”
“Liam, the League is your dream. It’s what you’ve always wanted,” I counter.
He shakes his head no. “No, baby, the Leaguewasmy dream. Now my dreams consist of you, you and me and a long happy life together wherever that may be. I refuse to make a decision about our future without you giving me your blessing. What do you see for our future, beautiful girl?”
I study him, this man who has completely captured my heart and soul. He’s telling me he wants to marry me. That he’ll give up his lifelong dream just to make me happy, to be with me. Liam, the guy with a major fear of commitment, is telling me he’s committed to me for a lifetime. I feel more tears roll down my cheeks. “I’ve never told you this, partly because I didn’t want to scare you away. It’s also not all that ambitious for a nineteen-year-old.” He scoffs at that, but I keep going. “I’ve never had the desire to go to college. I’m here because Gran wants me to experience life and not taking care of her all the time. I’ve focused so much on school to honor my parents that I’m burnt out. My dream has always been to be a wife and a mother. I want a family, a house full of love and happiness. My parents, when they died, both had large life insurance policies. I received ten million dollars at the time of their deaths between the policies and the court settlement. I live off the interest.” I watch his expression; he’s simply listening to me, hanging on every word. “I could never allow you to give up your dreams for me, Liam.”
“Allie, I can get drafted to a team hundreds of miles from here.” He pulls me tighter against him. “I can’t go into the draft knowing I’m going to be leaving the love of my life behind. I need to know thatwherever I end up you’ll be with me, by my side. I know it’s a lot to ask, but none of it would mean anything without you there.” He kisses my forehead. “We can bring Gran with us, she can live with us, and you guys can be together every day. Hell, we can build a house and give her her own damn wing; I don’t care as long as you’re next to me.”
My heart is racing, beating so loud I’m sure he can hear it. I take his hand and place it on my chest, right above my heart. I can tell, by the expression on his face, he can feel my heart’s thunderous rhythm. He places my hand on his chest in the same position, and I can feel his heart mirroring the beat of mine. I take a deep breath and repeat the words he said to me in the emergency room a couple months ago. “Liam, I’ll go anywhere with you. You’re my dream,” I whisper. I watch as a single tear leaks from his eyes. I gently kiss it away. When I pull back, he’s grinning so widely I think his face might crack.
“You’re really mine, you’ll come with me?” He swallows hard. “You’ll marry me?” he asks softly.
I nod. I can’t speak over the lump in my throat.
“I’ll give you the perfect proposal, but just knowing you want a future with me, forever with me, you’ve made me the happiest man alive. I love you, Allison,” he says as he draws me tight against him, and we fall asleep in each other’s arms.
