Page 78 of Then Came You

"Because… Because… I don’t have a passport. I've never even been interstate. The farthest I've ever travelled is… well, your place." I love how she thinks not having a passport would stop me from fulfilling her dreams.

The fact that she has been so deprived in life just pisses me off and reminds me of how much I want to show her the world. Hell, I'm almost about to break out into that Aladdin song.

Not wanting to dwell on the past, I focus on the here and now.

"Row, baby girl, you're smarter than this. Passports take no time to get." I shake my head in haughty derision.

"Because I don't have any money to do that, and I want to eventually go to uni, and I'd honestly die if I was in the presence of Jolly or Nicholas." She is about to jump out of her skin.

"Not Sebastian?" I may have Googled the band the first time I heard her listening to them.

"Guitars are where it's at, baby." Her wink wakes up all the cells in my body.

"We're going, baby girl. I promise you. I want to experience this with you. We can go anytime you'd like."

"Aren't you afraid I'm going to run away and be a groupie?" She sasses, not allowing the joy of even the thought of being spoiled, or experiencing something she'd truly love.

"Not when you know how my cock feels inside you."

That shuts her up, making her squirm over the next few minutes.

Up ahead, I can see the entrance to where we need to be, so I slow down to enter the driveway.

Chapter 34

Blade

Being with Row. Experiencing all her firsts. Seeing how her entire being lights up at the smallest gestures makes me want to go grand in everything I do, which is why I curated this romantic-as-shit date for her. I want to give her the universe, so what better way to articulate that than by organising a date at The Sydney Observatory.

"Blade?" Her question is breathless as she gazes out the window as we drive up the winding hill. Observatory Hill, that is. I've organised a private rooftop date where we exclusively have the entire balcony to ourselves.

"Do you like it?"

"It's perfect," she whispers. We couldn't have asked for a better night either, with not a cloud in the sky, which leaves us with a blanket full of twinkling stars and a full moon.

After all the formalities of checking in, I climb the stairs behind Row.

"What is all this?" Her stunning chocolate eyes grow to the size of orbs when she sees the intimate picnic that has a charcuterie spread large enough to feed an army. Instead of chairs and a table, I opted for the lovers' package that has an assortment of pillows and blankets so we can literally cuddle under the night sky together. After way too much food and spotting several star patterns, including the Southern Cross, we settle underneath the canopy of stars.

“I love the vastness of space. The fact we really don’t know what else is out there,” she murmurs, sitting in between my legs, as she continues to circle my wrist with her middle finger. It’s calming.

“Have you ever made a wish upon a star?” I'm tentative at what she'll say.

“I sure did. Once I figured out how they all worked and all.”

“What?”

“I used to wish for Mum to love me, or for her to stop hurting me, or for her to remember my birthday or Christmas, but they were wasted wishes. So, I changed my tactic. I started wishing for things for my future, like strength, hope, and love. I always knew something bigger and better was meant for me than what I was born into.”

I kiss the side of her head, soaking in this moment under the velarium of the night sky.

“What about you? Did you ever wish upon a star?” she asks, tilting her head back.

“Before Mum died, she told me to look for her in the sky. She said every time I saw a bright star, it meant that she was looking down on me from heaven, and every shooting star I came across was her reminding me of how proud she was of me. I became obsessed with shooting stars. After every good grade or every huge achievement, I’d race to the backyard and stay out there for hours on end just to see a shooting star. Over the years, between my marriage and kids, I spent less and less time looking at the night sky. I wasn't proud of myself, so why would I expect Mum to be, you know?”

Row is the first woman I’ve ever revealed my fascination with the stars to.

She makes me want to believe again.

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