My Ex-Girlfriend’s Older Sister Got Stood Up At An Art Gallery… So I Asked, “Can I Sit with You ?
Chapter 13
Five years after that night, Amelia and I had built a life neither of us expected.
The company was thriving.
The foundation had helped thousands of families.
Sophie had opened her own photography studio.
Clara painted.
And we had two children.
A little boy named Thomas.
A little girl named Lily.
One evening, Amelia and I sat in the garden.
The children were playing.
She looked at them.
“Do you ever wonder what would have happened if Lucas hadn’t stood me up?”
I laughed.
“I’d probably never have spoken to you.”
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t planning to.”
She smiled.
“Why not?”
“Because you were Sophie’s sister.”
“That stopped you?”
“Yes.”
“Until?”
“Until I saw you sitting alone.”
She leaned against me.
“Why did you ask to sit?”
I thought.
“Because you looked like someone who needed company.”
“That’s all?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
I smiled.
“Later, I realized I wanted to stay.”
She kissed my shoulder.
“Good answer.”
Then Thomas came running over.
“Dad!”
“What?”
“Mom says I can have ice cream.”
Amelia looked shocked.
“I did not.”
He grinned.
“She will.”
I laughed.
“Traitor.”
Lily joined him.
“Can we have two?”
I looked at Amelia.
She sighed.
“Fine.”
They ran off.
She looked at me.
“See?”
“What?”
“You always wanted a family.”
I thought about my father.
My mother.
My past.
Sophie.
Everything we’d survived.
“Yes.”
She smiled.
“And now?”
I looked at her.
“Now I have one.”
She rested her head on my shoulder.
We stayed quiet.
Then she said,
“I used to think love meant being chosen.”
“What changed?”
“You.”
I looked at her.
“How?”
“You didn’t choose me because I was rich.”
She smiled.
“You chose me when I was sitting alone.”
“That wasn’t difficult.”
“It was for me.”
“Why?”
“Because I was used to people wanting something.”
She took my hand.
“You wanted nothing.”
“That’s not true.”
“What did you want?”
“You.”
She laughed.
“Still?”
“Always.”
