I hear voices coming from the kitchen as I make my way towards it and a smile instantly spreads across my face, but I think it’s the heavenly smell that accompanies the voices that has me feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.
I walk through the kitchen and straight up to Noah, curling my arms around him as he slaves away over the stove making the crunchiest looking bacon I’ve ever seen. “What are you doing here?” I murmur into his back, loving the feel of his strong body against mine.
“You didn’t think I was going to miss your big day, did you?”
I can’t help but grin as I peel myself off him and lean against the counter, making sure he doesn’t turn those crispy pieces into burnt ones. “You didn’t need to do that. I thought you were working today. Aren’t you late already?”
Noah shakes his head. “I switched shifts so I could be here.”
Butterflies start making a mess of my stomach and I find myself leaning into him again. There’s nothing better that finding out the man you love did something incredibly sweet just so he could be there for you. I don’t know why it still surprises me. It shouldn’t, but the fact that it does couldn’t be a bad thing because it means each time it happens, I fall just a little harder for him.
Dad clears his throat by the fridge and I shake my head. Did I seriously just walk straight past him and forget he was here all because Noah had gotten himself up and over here to cook me breakfast?
“So, do I not even get a good morning or is that reserved only for boyfriends now?”
“That better not have been a plural I just heard,” Noah mutters softly.
I ignore Noah’s comments and take the four steps across the kitchen and throw my arms around my father. “Good morning,” I say with exaggerated enthusiasm before planting a big kiss on his cheek.
“That’s more like it,” dad grumbles. “Now, what’s going on? Have you got yourself ready for today? Got all your textbooks, pens, pencils, laptop? Do you have your class schedule and orientation pack?” He looks at me expectantly but doesn’t leave a moment to respond before he’s diving in again. “Did you go for another tour with Tully? I don’t want you showing up for a nine am class and then realizing you have no idea where you’re going. Perhaps you should leave a little early.”
“Dad.”
“Did you read up on your professors? You know, I didn’t do the whole college thing but I’ve heard that it’s good to know a little something about your teachers. If you show that you’re more than a pretty face sitting in a room they’ll be more likely to pick on you and be a little more lenient if you need it, though I’m hoping you won’t.”
“Dad?”
“You keep yourself out of trouble, you hear. I don’t want to be hearing that my kid was mucking up and ruining this shot at making something of herself.”
“Dad, would you stop? I’m prepared and I know what I’m doing. You’re acting as though I’m not going to be right back here at the end of the day. I’m not moving away. BHU is only twenty minutes down the road.”
Dad purses his lips, watching me for a moment before he desperately starts to blink back tears. “I’m just so damn proud of you, kid.” He gets all choked up and before I know it, I’m throwing my arms around him once again and having flashbacks of my very first day of ‘big girl school.’
“I’m going to be just fine,” I tell him. “You taught me everything I need to know to make it in this big world. You’ll see. I’m going to go in there and come back out a fucking Rockstar.”
I glance up and notice Noah leaning against the counter, right where I had been only a moment ago. He watches us with an assumed smirk on his lips and pride shining out of his green eyes and something tells me it’s that ‘Rockstar’ comment I just made that has him looking at me like this.
Noah wants nothing more than to watch me succeed and hearing how determined I am to do just that stirs something within him.
Aria comes bounding into the kitchen before throwing herself up on a stool and demanding something to eat. It’s her first day back at school and she’s just as excited as I am. No wonder dad is so thrilled, he gets to get both of us out of the house at the same time.
We get her fed before treating ourselves and as the clock ticks away, I find my eyes constantly on my phone, checking the time and making sure I’m not going to be late. Dad’s little pep talk earlier has me a little too conscious about being the idiot left wandering around campus completely lost