It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

worry about me forming an attachment to Emmy and then disappearing. As
long as Lily wants me around, I’m not going anywhere.
She lifts her face to look at me again, and there’s a smudge of mascara
near her temple. I wipe it away. “This conflict with him,” she says. “This is
what I tried to warn you about. It could be a constant thing, especially now
that he knows you’re back in my life.”
She’s saying this like she’s giving me the opportunity to bow out of this
thing with her. I can’t believe she assumes that’s even crossing my mind.
“You could have fifty ex-husbands who try to make our lives hell, but as long
as I have you, I will be absolutely unaffected by anyone else’s negativity.
That’s a promise.”
That makes her smile for the first time since she showed up here. I don’t
want to do or say anything that could steal that smile, so I change the subject
away from her weak-ass ex-husband.
“Are you thirsty?”
She pushes off my chest and grins even bigger. “Yes. I’m thirsty and I’m
hungry. Why else would I show up at a chef’s house?”
Lily and Emerson have been here for about four hours now. Once Josh did as
much of his homework as he could, he started playing with Emerson. Lily
said she’s been taking steps for a few weeks now, and Josh finds it hilarious
that she follows him everywhere. He moved around for an hour while she
stumbled after him, but now she’s asleep again. She fell asleep on the floor
next to me with her head on my leg. Lily offered to move her, but I wouldn’t
let her.
I would be lying if I said this wasn’t a little surreal. Deep down, I know
that Lily and I are going to work out. She’s my person, and I am hers, and
that’s something I’ve known since the first week we met. But looking at
Emerson, knowing this child is likely going to end up becoming a huge part
of my life—that’s a lot to take in. I could be her stepfather someday. I’ll
likely be more of an influence in her life than her biological father, because
Lily and I will eventually move in together. We’ll likely marry someday.
I’d never admit any of this out loud because people like Theo would say
I’m getting ahead of myself, but the truth is, I’m years behind where I want to
be with Lily. Where I could have been with her.