Here Comes Love (A Paralleled Love #2)

Chapter 1

one

RYLEE

"LJ called Xander Dad last weekend,” Rylee revealed, her eyes on her therapist, Dr. Liz Peters. “And I haven’t been able to breathe since. Not because he said it, but because LJ said it with so much ease. It’s crazy for me to have that reaction, right?”

Rylee had rehearsed other ways to bring that up on the drive here—safer ones—but the truth always came out first whenever she had Liz in her sight.

Because so much can change in such a short time. Life can unfold in ways you never saw coming… and love, too.

Rylee Daniels knew that better than most. She sat comfortably in her therapist’s basement office, that question lingering in her mind, refusing to let go. She knew the answer was coming, whether she liked it or not.

And that’s why she loved it here. Liz’s office encouraged Rylee to get lost in her thoughts and to never brush them aside. To analyze them, study them, even question them, and today she needed to do all of the above.

Rylee lifted the mug of hot coffee to her lips to blow into the cup. Her eyes settled on Liz, who’d just taken a seat in the chair opposite her, a smile already resting on her lips.

“What a way to start today’s session,” Liz started. “And already I can see the weight of that question lifting because you asked it. So to answer it in short, no it’s not crazy.”

Rylee exhaled a deep breath.

“It’s good to see you, as always.” Liz settled in her seat, setting her black notebook on her lap. “We’ll get to what you asked in a moment. But before we begin, how are things?”

Rylee couldn’t help but smile at the question.

Because aside from that, things were actually... perfect.

“Great.” Rylee nodded, exhaling the deep breath she’d inhaled. “Really great. As you know, The Hope Collective is doing really well.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Liz answered with a nod.

“It’s flourishing,” Rylee continued, smiling.

“We’re almost too big for the bookstore basement in Cobble Hill.

” She focused up at the ceiling to gather her thoughts.

“The kids are doing really well. LJ started preschool last September. And Nova’s loving kindergarten but is not looking forward to first grade after I informed her there will be no more naps at school once she starts first grade. ”

Liz let out a soft giggle. “Honestly, I don’t blame her for being hesitant to leave kindergarten. If I’d had the option, I might’ve stayed there myself.”

Rylee laughed. “Oh, she is unsettled by that news.”

It was Liz’s turn to laugh.

“Hmmm… let’s see… what else?” Rylee’s eyes bounced around the office, soft sunlight beaming through the basement window, casting an unintentional spotlight over her. “Oh! Business is fantastic. I’ve been able to hire a couple of virtual assistants to give me more time to rest and relax.”

“Very good,” Liz responded, crossing her legs in her chair. “And now the boyfriend?”

If Rylee’s brown skin were a few shades lighter, it would have brightened into a blush red. Instead, it glowed like the rest of her whenever Xander was mentioned or her mind wandered to thoughts of him.

“How’s everything going with Xander?”

Rylee couldn’t help but moan to herself, lift her mug once more to blow into it, hoping to hide her smile.

Rylee was in love. So in love… and feeling really guilty about it.

“It’s going… well,” she acknowledged with a slow nod. “Almost too well.”

Liz arched a brow.

Rylee leaned forward to place the mug of coffee onto the wooden coffee table in front of her and didn’t lean back in her seat, eyes fixed on Liz.

“Xander’s great, except sometimes I feel overwhelmed by how available he is to me.”

Liz tilted her head to one side, her cloud of salt and pepper tight curls moving that way.

Rylee sighed then added, “He pops up just about every evening and helps with everything. He’s just… there. Not all the time because obviously he has 24-hour shifts at the firehouse. He’s a firefighter—”

“Yes.” Liz tried to ball her lips to hide her smile. “You’ve told me. Several times. Often nervously.”

“Well...” Rylee snorted. “To me, it is a dangerous job even though Xander swears it isn’t.

Anyway…” She gestured with her hand next, as if she were physically moving that thought to the side for now.

“He’s not around all the time, but any free time he has, he’s spending it at the brownstone and it’s a lot. You know?”

“Okay,” Liz answered. “And what about that feels wrong to you?”

“Oh.” Rylee frowned. “It’s not wrong. I didn’t say it was wrong. Did I say it was wrong?”

“Your tone suggests you feel it is.”

Rylee shut her eyes and sighed once more. “I know, I sound stupid—”

“You do not sound stupid.”

“Well then this brings me to what I mentioned a moment ago.” Rylee sat up in her seat. “LJ called him Dad the other day and my heart felt like it dropped out of my chest and hit the damn floor. Hard. So hard, I swore I felt the impact. I still feel it.”

Liz nodded then lowered her gaze to her black book to jot something down.

“And… it was so unexpected. So out of the blue. I…” Rylee shook her head.

“I’ve been so intentional with always reminding the kids who their father is.

I keep photos of him in their bedrooms, in mine, around the house.

” Rylee lifted her arms and let them drop.

“LJ didn’t ask if he could call Xander Dad.

He just… said it. Dad. Blurted it right out at the dinner table when asking Xander to pass the ketchup. ”

Rylee dropped her head into her hand, running her fingers through her long box braids.

“I just… I love Xander, and I love that my kids love him too, but…” She shook her head. “I need them to not love him like that. Because they already have a dad. He isn’t here in the flesh, but they have one already.”

It made no sense, loving how Xander loved them while wishing he wouldn’t love them so much. Rylee knew that… but it was her truth.

Liz bobbed her head then lowered her attention to her notebook again to write in.

And Rylee giggled. “Oh come on now, Liz, don’t do me like that.”

Liz lifted her eyes to look Rylee’s way, her pen still moving in her notebook.

“Don’t give me the nod-and-write thing after I’ve said such a horrible thing.”

“It isn’t horrible,” Liz corrected, placing her pen inside of the notebook. “I’m just noting progress.”

Rylee furrowed her brows. “Progress?”

“Yes!” Liz beamed, nodding again, this time reassuringly. “Rylee, almost three years ago, you were sitting in that same chair across from me telling me you’d rather drink bleach than date. Do you remember that?”

Rylee exhaled a laugh while nodding her head.

“You refused to think about dating, which was completely understandable. But now…” Liz gestured at Rylee lovingly. “Now, Rylee, you have a partner who is present, loving, and not only committed to you but to your family, too.”

Rylee finally leaned back in her seat, her back resting against the throw pillows on the cozy couch.

This was another reason she loved coming to therapy. Liz had a way with reframing things, never making Rylee see the terrible in her thinking but providing clarity for her to see things a different way.

And Liz was right. It wasn’t long ago that Rylee rejected the idea of dating.

She’d decided that getting into a relationship as a mother of two young children just wasn’t in the cards for her.

She’d inundated herself with work, family, friends, to fill the space romantic love would take up.

And without even looking, she found someone who was perfect for her…

except he was too perfect, and for someone so used to disappointment, Rylee wasn’t used to perfect in her life.

“What you’ve told me,” Liz continued, “isn’t a problem at all. It’s a new level of healing you’ve arrived to. This is fantastic, Rylee. Truly.”

Rylee allowed a brief smile to pull at the corners of her lips, allowing Liz’s words to play on in her head.

This is fantastic.

This is good…

Then why was her heart having the hardest time agreeing with that?

“Here’s what I’d like for you to do,” Liz started.

“I want you to try documenting the moments that scare you and then the ones that soften you. In a notebook, and in one column, name your fear in detail. In the other column, name what Xander actually did. Doing it this way should help you put things in perspective instead of focusing on your fear of change. It’ll help you separate your concern from what’s really happening. ”

Rylee smiled, finally feeling the weight on her chest lighten a little.

Truthfully, she’d kept a lot of what she revealed to Liz to herself. To her, it just sounded so first-world—but in terms of love.

Great guy all around, but too great where she feared her kids would forget their dad… or worse, love Xander more.

Rylee exhaled at that, leaning forward to pick her mug up off the coffee table to drink.

“How does that sound to you?” Liz quizzed. “Do you think you can do that and we discuss it during your next session?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Great,” Liz replied, turning the page in her notebook to add new notes.

As Rylee’s gaze shifted to out the window, already creating an invisible column in her head of her fears and the things that soften her about Xander, Liz asked, “What is it that you really want now, Rylee?”

Rylee refocused on Liz.

“Now that you have the kids, the career, and the boyfriend who you’ve described as great,” Liz continued. “What is it that Rylee wants now?”

Rylee sat with the thought for a beat then did a shrugging gesture with the sides of her mouth.

A flash of Lennox laughing at the kitchen counter in the brownstone flickered uninvited through her mind. Quick, sharp, gone… just like that.

Like him.

“Other than my best friend back?”

Liz gave Rylee her usual sympathetic soft eyes.

“Nothing,” Rylee added. “For once, everything is perfect… all except for that.”