Page 146 of Love Unwritten

Before she has a chance to steal another forkful, I clasp my hand around her wrist. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Weren’t you going to eat it?”

“Yes.”

“Then so can I.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s important to you,” she says with a casual shrug, all while I feel like she stabbed her fork through my heart instead of Nico’s leftovers.

I’ve never had someone take on the burden of my irrational fear with me. My family is aware of my quirk, and Hillary was vocal about her dislike of my psychological issues, as she so unkindly phrased it, but people usually keep their heads down and their mouths shut about it.

They don’t comment. They don’t look. And they sure as hell don’t participate because it’s important to me.

My lungs feel as if they could explode at any second, unable to bear the weight of Ellie’s actions and my heart expanding.

Ellie seems completely unaware of my struggle—or she at least pretends to be—as she pops her fork into her mouth before slowly dragging it out.

“But you said you were too full for dessert.” Nico groans at Ellie.

“I wasn’t in the mood for ice cream.”

Nico throws his hands in the air. “Who even says that?”

A very special woman with a heart two sizes too big.

My fork trembles in my hand as I spear through the second-to-last piece of fish on Nico’s plate. Ellie—fucking Ellie, with golden hair to match her golden heart—reaches underneath the table and gives my thigh a reassuring pat.

Before she has a chance to pull back, I latch on to her hand and keep it secured to my thigh as I finish Nico’s vegetables.

The usual shame that accompanies my weakness fades away, and the condescending voice in my head is silent as I clutch Ellie’s hand like a lifeline.

Whether I like it or not, she is quickly becoming mine, and rather than fear the consequences of letting someone get close to me again, I want to embrace the possibility of finally sharing my burden.

Of finally dropping my walls and allowing myself to just be me.

Nico asks both Ellie and me to tuck him in tonight, so together, we help him get into bed and read him a story. At his request, Ellie and I read his latest book like a play, with her reading the parts of the mom and me the dad. He sits between us on the big bed, along with the five action figures Ellie packed in her oversized luggage.

Ellie fits so easily into our lives, it is hard to remember what everything was like before she entered it. Nico adores her, and I’m quickly understanding why.

Still, I don’t want to ruin the special thing we have going for us by pushing harder against her friendship idea, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still tempted, especially when she looks at me like I’m someone special.

Like someone worthy.

Nico snuggles under the comforter with a sigh. “Papi.”

I shake my head and turn to face him. “Yeah.”

“Why do you eat my food?”

“Huh?”

Ellie’s eyes drop to the mattress.

Nico can hardly keep his own open. “I was just thinking about Mommy and how she doesn’t eat all my food.”

The rosy color of Ellie’s cheeks fades.