Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(39)
Author: A.L. Jackson

It was Jared’s own promise. An oath.

We wouldn’t let any of this stand in our way.

“Just you and me and this,” I promised back.

Jared glanced toward my parents’ house, before he settled the questions on his face on me. “What you said back there . . . about being a nurse. Were you serious about that?”

“Yeah.”

He frowned. “You never wanted it?” he asked again. Confusion tipped his head to the side.

I shook my head. “No. I mean, it’ll be a good job, it’s just not what I really want.”

“Then what do you want?”

Redness rushed to my cheeks as embarrassment set in, and I dropped my forehead to his chest to hide my face. “It’s stupid,” I mumbled.

He ran his hands up and down my arms, warming me up, inside and out. “Baby, nothing you say could possibly be stupid.”

My face was still buried in his shirt when I let the admission bleed out. “I want to draw.” I almost choked over it. And I hated it, wanting something so desperately and knowing it was an impossibility, a foolish idea floundering through my mind. One that had been there since I was a child.

I almost wished I could take the statement back.

Jared didn’t say anything. He just kept rubbing his hands up and down my arms.

I chanced peeking up at him. “See, it’s stupid, right?”

His expression was tender, his voice just as soft. “No, Aly, it’s not stupid. Not at all.”

In thought, he glanced away, before he brought his attention back to me. “We should get our own place, yeah?”

An unexpected thrill raced through me. I chewed at my lip, trying to contain it. I probably shouldn’t be so excited over the prospect, but I was. The thought of Jared and me having our own place, sharing our lives. Growing it. Well, I couldn’t think of anything more appealing.

A blush crept to my face when I thought of what we’d get to do with all that privacy.

I fiddled with a button on his shirt. “Before you came back, I was thinking I needed to get my own apartment or something. I figured a baby running around the apartment might put a cramp in Christopher’s style.”

Jared chuckled, pulling me closer to keep me warm, wrapping his strong arms fully around me. “Oh, I’m sure that ass**le would find a way to use it to his advantage, sucker in a few more girls with a cute little baby.”

I couldn’t help my laughter. “Yeah, he probably would, wouldn’t he?” Sobering, I splayed my hand across Jared’s firm chest. “But I like that idea . . . like, a lot.”

Jared nuzzled his face into mine. “That’s good . . . because I think I really like the idea, too.”

And I was grinning, loving everything about this man. How could I not?

Stepping back, I took both his hands in mine. “Come on. Let’s go back inside. Warm up and get a piece of pumpkin pie. I know it’s your favorite.”

He pulled away. The grimace that lined his face was full of regret. “I’m sorry, Aly, but I’m not going back in there. Your dad doesn’t want me here and I can at least give him that amount of respect.”

Sometimes Jared shocked me with how truly good he was inside. The amazing man hiding beneath all that shame. One day he would see it. He had to. Jared needed to see himself the way I saw him.

Of course, my father’s hatred didn’t help things.

And it really sucked that it had to be this way, but for the time being, I could accept that it was. My father was my father. I couldn’t change him, sway what he saw. He was the one who was missing out, the one shutting Jared and me and our baby out of his life.

I pushed off the heaviness that weighed in the air and on our chests. “I think I have a much better idea, anyway,” I said with a smile touching one side of my mouth.

Jared smirked, and a salacious grin spread across his face. “Oh, you do, huh? And just what would that be?” Suggestion rode on his voice, his fingertips flicking up to brush along the bare skin exposed over the neckline of my dress.

“You’ll see.” A tease filled my words. Jared was so obvious. And I was thinking Not a chance, because it was really stinking cold out. This boy was just going to have to wait until we got home.

I gathered his hand and lifted it high, leading him down the length of the short fence to its end at the Schmidt’s driveway. As soon as we were free of the barrier separating us, I tugged him behind me, running ahead. I dragged him up the sidewalk to the old rickety fence backing the neighborhood.

Over my shoulder I tossed him a wide smile, before I ducked down, maneuvered around, and wedged myself through the hole in the wooden fence, all the while still hanging on to his hand while I whisked us away to our special place.

A throaty chuckle rumbled from his mouth and floated out to embrace my senses in an inundating swell of joy. My heart pounded as he squeezed himself through the hole that led to the center of our world, where our dreams had been bred, we’re we’d discovered and grown into the people we were.

Tall, dead grasses grew up in the field. They swished and snagged at our clothing as we passed.

I led him right to the base of our tree. Dropping his hand, I wedged my boot onto the first rung of wood that had been hammered into the trunk and began pulling myself up to our fort housed in the branches above.

“Aly, are you crazy?” Jared asked, full of concern and worry, though there was an undertone of laughter in his words. “What if you fall?”

I hiked myself up one more step and looked down at the beautiful man staring up at me. The man I trusted with my life. “Then you’ll catch me.”

Something so perfect transformed his expression, a look of devotion so sincere it was enough to fuel all the hopes I had for this life. “Yeah, I will,” he mumbled, so quietly I was sure he was only talking to himself.

I climbed the rest of the way up and settled onto the decaying wooden floor. Those large branches grew tall, stretching toward the sky. Jared hoisted himself up onto the old sheet of plywood in one swift motion. He scooted up beside me and rested his back on a thick branch that helped to support our fort, this place made of fairy tales and hopes and dreams.

They all came crashing back to me now.

Vibrant. Brilliant. Finally within my reach.

Jared pulled me against his side, and I nestled my head on his shoulder and sank into his warmth.

Our breaths were just barely visible in the cool air.

We stared up through the barren branches of the tree. Stars blinked where they dotted the sky.