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“You good now?”

“About as good and as aard as I’et” She snorts, but then her face falls when she looks directly at me “Oh my God, Milo! Your eye”

Yeah It’s red and already bruised around the edges; my buddy Evan definitely delivered with that punch Directly into ood week

“It’s fine” I wave it off and focus the conversation on the ?”

“Better,” she says, and her voice drops to a near whisper “Thank you for taking care ofhere Just…thank you”

“I didn’t want to be anywhere else”

Those chocolate eyes of hers search

And that’s fine by h to say for the both of us

“We have a lot to talk about”

“We do?”

Like she doesn’t knoe have a lot to talk about…

“You said you loved o wide

“What?”

“Last night In this very room You said you loved me”

“I…uh…” She stuly let her off the hook

“I love you too, Maybe”

She bites her teeth into her bottom lip “You do?”

“I do”

A sone “Oh God” She groans “This isn’t how it’s supposed to go”

“Hohat’s supposed to go?”

“The big ro,” she explains “Like inwith, like, rain and shit Not bad appendixes and surgery and IV tubing”

I want to laugh “Does it really matter?”

“No I guess not” She shrugs one annoyed shoulder “I mean, I would’ve preferred the rain or like a rainbow or souess the Jell-O is at least multicolored”

I actually laugh this time

But then I lean forward, gently lift her into my lap, and press my lips to hers

She wraps her arainst myher know Iword I’ve said

“I love you, kid,” I say again, staring deep into her eyes and putting a hand to the side of her face “That night at your aparts because I didn’t want to be with you I more than wanted to be with you I am in love with you I didn’t want to have sex I wanted to make love, and that couldn’t happen until we both had our feelings for each other sorted out”