When love takes over

You're my Sweetheart

"I think this is officially our first date in a month." I mention as Liam and I cross the street, hand in hand.

It's slightly after one in the morning as we walk through downtown Louisville and head to my favorite diner for a midnight snack. After drinks at the bar with Josh and Claudia, I'm thinking of nothing but chili cheese fries and fried pickles.

I've been so caught up in taking care of Brielle, helping her adjust, figuring out a new life plan, that Liam and I have barely had five minutes to ourselves. In all honestly, the most alone time we had in the past few weeks was between the hours of 8:30pm, when Brielle went to bed, and 6:00am, when she crawled into bed with us. We were well overdue for a date.

And now that everything has finally settled, I'm more comfortable going out for a few hours and leaving Brielle in the care of my parents. Though Liam and I had had very different goodbyes with her.

Brielle was in her pajamas and playing with her Samantha doll when Liam and I came into the living room. Liam walked over to her and kissed the top of her head, her hair wet from the bath she had just had.

"Alright short stuff, Jen and I are going to go out for a little bit." Liam explained.

"Yup. But you will be back, Jen telled me that when I was in the bath." She answered, not even bothering to look up as she redressed Samantha.

"I love you, Bri." Liam told her. Brielle looked up at him, his words catching her attention. "I love you too, Liam." She replied, hugging him tightly.

"Okay," I said as I walked over to Brielle, bending down to her level. "do you need anything before we go?"

Brielle shook her head. "Nope."

"We'll be back before morning, I promise. And Mimi and Pop are just down the hall if you wake up before we get back, okay?"

"Yeah, I know."

It was obvious who was having a harder time separating.

"Jen, it's a few hours. Your parents have raised three children, she's gonna be fine." Liam reassured me.

"Okay, alright, hugs and kisses." I said, trying my best to keep it together.

We needed this night out.

Brielle put Samantha down, hugged me tightly, and kissed me on the cheek.

"I love you, B. I'll see you in the morning."

"Bye Jen, I love you too."

In the end, Liam had to practically drag me out of the house, refusing to give into my eight hundred excuses of why I needed to run back in before we even reached the car.

"I think you would be correct." He replies.

I'm about to open the door when he places his hand on mine, stopping me. I look up at him.

"Hey." He says, tucking a few strands of my hair behind my ear. "I've missed you."

I smile, feeling slightly guilty and neglectful. "I've missed you too."

I lean up on my toes, and wrap my arms around his neck as I allow myself to melt into the kiss, and get lost in his scent, his taste, his arms.

Reconnecting has never felt so good.

Pulling back from each other, Liam kisses my forehead and opens the glass door, allowing me to walk in.

"Hah! There she is! There's my girl!"