CHAPTER 9
Layla
I was still reeling from how well the visit with my family went yesterday. Instead of staying for only an hour like I’d planned, we spent the entire day talking with my family. Daniel fit in so well. Almost too well. It consumed my thoughts so much that I was distracted at work, and Angela was beginning to give me weird looks.
“You good?” Angela asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Just a—bit tired,” I said.
“Going too hard with that handsome man?” she asked.
“I hope that answer is yes.”
Daniel’s voice brought a smile to my lips as I looked up to see him. His smile was bright and his hands were in his pockets, and he looked more handsome than ever. I felt my legs growing weak as his eyes ran up and down my form, and I found myself wishing I no longer had to work.
“What time do you get off today?” Daniel asked.
“Five,” I said.
“I’d like to take you out again, if you’re not too tired,” he said hastily.
“I’d like that.”
“If you’ve got the energy to entertain him, you’ve got the energy to work,” Angela said.
“Then I won’t take up any more of your time. One large coffee with room for cream and sugar, please,” he said.
I rang him up and blushed when our fingertips met around his cup of coffee. He seemed a bit nervous. His words were a little more rushed than usual. But we had been spending a lot of time together and he was probably reeling from yesterday like I was. What I really needed, though, was to talk to Melanie.
My mind was spinning, and I needed to settle it before Daniel picked me up.
“Hey there,” Melanie said. “How was work?”
“I gotta talk to you about something,” I said.
“This doesn’t sound good. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I don’t think. I don’t really know, I just know I have to settle my mind before Daniel comes and gets me.”
“Did he do something wrong?” she asked.
“No, no. See, that’s the thing. Look, I think I’m—”
Could I even fucking say it? It was preposterous, right? I couldn’t possibly be feeling this way after only a week or two.
Right?
“Layla, I’m gonna tell you what you tell me. Start from the beginning.”
“Daniel and I went to my parents’ house yesterday and he met everyone,” I said.
“He met your fucking parents?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be that way. My mom asked me to stop by and he told me he’d swing me by their house before we were on our way. But he fit in so well and they were all talking so easily, it just felt so right and we ended up staying all day, and now I don’t know what to do because—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, Layla. Take a breath. Are you worried that he fits in with your family? Because that doesn’t sound right,” she said.
“No,” I said. “I’m worried because I think I’m falling in love with him.”
The phone conversation fell silent and my heart started hammering in my chest.
“I’m gonna tell you the realization I came to when I figured out I was in love with Evan.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Love works in weird ways and comes at the oddest of times. When you know, you know, and there’s no denying it. You’re not panicking because you love him. You’re panicking because you think it’s too soon. But love doesn’t understand time like we do.”
“It doesn’t?” I asked.
“No,” she said, giggling. “It doesn’t.”
She was right. I was freaking out because of the timing. I took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves, then I looked at the clock and saw I was running late.
“I gotta go. I gotta let Daniel know I’m off work so he can come get me.”
“Get get ’em, Layla. Let me know how it goes.”
“Always,” I said.
I hung up the call and shot Daniel a message before I started getting ready. Then thirty minutes later, he was on my porch with a picnic basket. I smiled and threw my arms around him and he caught me in his free arm, and I took in everything about him. The way he stood. How strong he felt. The way he smelled and how closely he held me.
“Missed you too,” he said. “Come on, I’ve got a picnic in the park planned for us.”
“With this type of chill?” I asked.
“Just trust me,” he said.
We got into his car and he drove us to the park. He started crossing the grass and slowly driving through the woods, and I held the picnic basket tightly. He stopped on the edge of a field so we could see the stars twinkling in the sky, then he scooted his seat back and urged me to do the same.
“Now we have the view, the food, and the heat,” he said.
It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me, and I looked over at him and smiled.
“Before we eat, though, there’s something I want to tell you,” he said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I know it’s only been a week, or a week and a half, or something like that. And I know I might sound crazy, but I can’t keep it in anymore.”
My heart was thundering in my ears as I turned my body toward him.
“I—am falling in love with you, Layla. I—I love you.”
His beautiful hazel eyes flickered up to mine and I could see the fear running behind them. The same fear I’d experienced while on the phone with Melanie. My blood rushed through my veins and my hands began to shake with happiness. The fear and anxiety I once felt rushed to my toes and bled out onto the floor of his car.
“I was just telling my best friend that exact same thing,” I said.
“You were telling her that I loved you?” he asked.
“No, you idiot,” I said, giggling. “I was telling her that I was in love with you.”
“You are?”
“Yeah,” I said breathlessly. “I am. It scares the shit out of me, but I am.”
We stared into each other’s eyes as his hand came up and brushed my hair away. He tucked it behind my ear as his eyes danced along my face, drinking in the moment just like I was. The moon was high in the sky, casting a warm glow along our bodies in the car, and soon Daniel’s lips were moving toward mine.
I met his in tandem as we kissed underneath the stars, surrounded by the warmth of his car while our dinner sat in my lap.
“I love you, Layla,” he said, whispering.
“I love you too, Daniel.”