I rub my forehead against it, the tattoo on his chest, before looking up at him. “God, Simon. You’re an idiot.”
He looks taken aback and I emit out a broken laugh.
“I know you need me, you idiot,” I continue, grabbing his face. “I know that. And it’s okay. Because I need you too. I need you to breathe too, Simon. Needing someone doesn’t make you weak. It just makes you human. You’re human, honey. Humans fall down, remember? You fall down. You get tired. You get exhausted and it’s okay. Because falling down is a part of life. It’s your ability to get back up that makes you my hero. You’re my hero but you’re human.”
Kissing his lips softly, I keep going. “You’re a father, a husband, a man. And you’re having trouble letting your daughter go. It doesn’t matter who she brings home, you’ll always have trouble letting her go.”
“She’s my…” He swallows, his eyes red-rimmed behind his glasses. “She’s still a baby.”
“And he’ll take care of her. He’s always taken care of her.”
He narrows his eyes, as if he’s remembering it, all the years Dean has taken care of Fallon. All the times Fallon would choose to spend time with Dean over spending time with Simon. My husband used to get upset over that too.
“Yeah.”
It makes me laugh. “I know you weren’t a fan of that. You’re a little too possessive.”
“Of course I’m possessive. She’s my daughter.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
“Didn’t tell me what?”
I bite my lip. “That your daughter has been in love with Dean all her life. She even proposed to him on her third birthday.”
He goes rigid, his chest stops moving up and down. “Excuse me?”
“I knew you’d freak out.”
His jaw tics before he says sternly, “Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Nope. I know it’s a shock but you’ll get used to it. Like I did.” Simon opens his mouth to say something, but I kiss him again and use the same tone that I use with Brendan. “Simon, let it go. It wasn’t easy for me either, but I did. That’s what happens. Kids grow up and fall in love and they leave. The best we can hope is that they find happiness. And Dean makes her happy, remember? Not to mention, Fallon makes our Dean happy too. Dean is our family as well, okay? You’re the one who found a lost boy and saved him. He’s exactly like you. Meaning he’s not sleeping either. He’s probably over there, in his big empty house, torturing himself over what happened. I’m inviting him here tomorrow and you’ll talk to him and put it all behind us. So end of discussion.”
I glare at him for good measure. That always works on Brendan.
It works on my husband too.
But in a very different way.
He loses all his fight and his irritation. His body becomes warm and pliable. Well, as pliable as possible with all his hardness and muscles, and he squeezes my waist again.
“You’re being bossy tonight,” he murmurs, his lips quivering with an oncoming smirk.
“Because you’re being an idiot tonight.”
He laughs and snatches my lips in a kiss. Two seconds into it though, we have to break it because we hear a noise.
It’s coming from the hallway, tiny footsteps and creaking of floorboards.
“Is that…” Simon trails off on a frown.
That’s Fallon and I think I know what she’s doing. Like me, she’s going to her dark-haired, lonely man too.
Maybe this makes me a bad mother, but I really want to laugh. I press my lips together because this is seriously funny.
I swallow down my mirth. “Uh-huh. Yeah.”
Simon is all alert now. “What is she doing?”
“She’s probably sneaking out to see Dean.” He’s about to get up but I stop him. “This is what happens when you forbid kids to do things. They do it anyway. Behind your back.”
“Willow, let me get up. I’m stopping her.”
“No, you’re not.” I put my hands on his broad shoulders, trying to keep him seated. “You stop her now and she’ll try going to him again when we all fall asleep. Just let her go. Let her see him. And judging by everything that happened tonight, he probably needs to see her too.”
We enter into a staring contest, me and my husband. His beautiful gray eyes and my green ones.
I count seconds until Simon loses his fight again.
Seven seconds.
It takes him seven seconds to lose all his fight.
“Fine. But if she’s not back within an hour, I’m going over there and dragging her home.”
Okay, so maybe not all his fight.
And honestly, I’d like that too.
I’m not so naïve as to think that nothing happened between my daughter and Dean when they were traveling together. But as long as she’s here, I’d like both of them to act like the responsible adults they are. So if that includes dragging Fallon back, I’m okay with it.