To Say I Love You Read Online Free Page A

been trying to avoid doing wherever possible. There was a part of me that knew I was being stupid, that I should be getting on with my life, not trying to live someone else’s down here. Still….
    “Will should be back in the next few days.”
    Dad nodded. “You said.”
    “I’ll wait for him until I make any decisions.”
     
     
    D AD AND I were out on the front porch with a couple of beers. I liked this time of day best of all: when the sun was sinking and turning the sky all different colors, the crickets chirping away, the heat rising out of the air. Dad wasn’t a big talker at the best of times, and I had to learn how to be settled in his silence, knowing he wanted (or maybe needed) just my company.
    Jennifer was out with Baby before she settled back in to study more for the next round of qualifications she was chipping away at. I wanted to ask my dad about so many things: if he was okay, if he was coping with it all, if he still wanted Will and me to hang around. He had Jennifer, and that was good, and I didn’t want to impose or outstay our welcome.
    The front yard was pretty big, and the house was set back from the road, so when a car I didn’t recognize pulled up, I didn’t immediately worry. People were coming and going all the time at the moment.
    There was no mistaking Will, though, not when he unfolded himself from the sporty car and stretched his neck from side to side before turning around.
    “I thought he wasn’t due back yet,” Dad said.
    “Me too.”
    Ten days. It had been ten days, and I’d been expecting a few more.
    I risked glancing over, and Dad nodded, almost imperceptibly. I carefully set my bottle of beer down, then leaped off the front of the porch and ran up the yard to him. He met me halfway and pulled me into a hard hug, squeezing the air out of my lungs as I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled deeply.
    “You’re back.”
    “M-hmm. I got things fixed earlier than I thought.”
    My lips stretched into a smile against his neck, and I gently kissed his cheek, aware we had an audience. Will reached for my hand and held it as we walked back down to the house.
    “Good to see you again, David,” Will said with a nod.
    “You too. I’ll give you some privacy.”
    “You don’t have to do that, Dad,” I said, objecting to the fact he felt the need to leave.
    He gave me a smile and shook his head. “You haven’t seen each other in a time. I don’t mind.”
    I watched, feeling helpless again as he collected the beer bottles and headed back inside. The damn guiltiness was eating away at me again—that I had Will, and he didn’t have my mom. We still had our whole lives together to look forward to, and he couldn’t see as far as tomorrow.
    Will seemed to sense my despondency and ran his hand up and down my arm a few times before I folded myself back into his embrace. There was nothing better than holding each other, especially after we’d been separated by such a big distance.
    “Love you,” Will murmured into my hair.
    “God. I love you too.”
    “Can I show you something? It’s not far.”
    Not sure where this was going (or if it was vaguely sexual), I nodded and let him lead me back up to the car.
    “We need to drive there?”
    “Yeah.”
    I frowned but got into the rental anyway.
    Will took us to the edge of the town and pulled to a stop in a much more sparsely populated area than the one where my parents’ house was.
    He stood behind me on the sidewalk and wrapped his arms around my waist. We were looking at a house—a small, one-story house with a wide wraparound porch and peeling yellow paint. The yard was little more than scrub grass. It was beautiful.
    “So, what do you think?” he murmured.
    “It’s cute.”
    “Well, then, it’s yours. Ours.”
    I turned in his arms and frowned. “What did you do?” I asked. Demanded .
    “Well, you need to be here,” he started cautiously, giving me a sheepish look which was a little adorable. “And I need to be