Pieces of Me by Pua Ramona (small books to read txt) 📕

my lips before saying, “Whatever you’re feeling right now is exactly how I’m feeling.”

The butterflies in my belly go crazy. I kiss him back and say “No labels, just us.”

“Just us” he whispers. I hug him again and then step away because Emma is going to wake up soon and I don’t want to confuse her anymore with any of this. “I’m going to go shower then we can head over to your parents if you want” he says

“I’m going to give Mama a call and see if she needs us there today.”

“Alright. Well, let me know what she says” he says, then he walks out of the kitchen. I sigh. All the walls I tried building around my heart are pointless because I freaking love him. Sometimes you just can’t help who your heart falls in love with. I go to check on Emma and she’s still sleeping. I kiss her on her forehead and go to grab my phone from the guest room. I have four text messages and three missed calls. I call Mama back to see if she needs anything.

“Hey sweetie! How are you feeling?”

“Hi Mama, I’m okay. But I miss them.” I can hear her crying through the phone.

“I miss them too, sweet girl.”

“We’re going to get dressed then we’ll be heading over to you.” I tell her.

“Okay it’ll probably be for the best because your Auntie Lupe and some of the ladies from church are going to come over later to help with the cooking. We have a few people who are going to be visiting as well” she says.

I can tell Mama is stressed out, and I hate that Aunty Lupe is going to be there later. “Mama, you know that Micah wouldn’t want you to stress over the funeral arrangements right? He wouldn’t want strangers over to talk about him when they didn’t even know him.”

Mama takes a deep breath and says “I know Sina, it’s so hard to try and do things the less stressful way, but when you have everyone breathing down your neck telling you what the right thing to do is it starts to wear you down.”

I feel myself getting angry, not with Mama but with everyone who thinks that having a traditional funeral is the right thing to do. Don’t get me wrong, I love and respect my culture one hundred percent, but we’re not your typical Samoan family. Yes, Dad was everything about the culture and loved it with his whole heart. But it is because I am a part of him, that I know that he wouldn’t be upset if we just had a little funeral for Micah without all the stress and heartache.

“Mama, don’t worry about anything we’ll figure this out. We’ll see you in a little bit.”

“Okay sweetie, love you” She says.

“Love you more Mama.” And we both hang up.

“Morning Mama,” Emma says from the doorway.

“Hey baby girl. How are you feeling?” I asked. I reach for her hand and pull her into the room so I can cuddle her. “Why didn’t you wake me up this morning?” I ask.

“Because you were tired and Eli was with me.” I smile at her.

“You like him don’t you?”

“He makes me feel safe, Mama” she says. My heart cracks a little and I don’t blame her for feeling the way she does. It’s always been us until Marino moved to New York, but it was still just me and Emma. “I know he makes you cry sometimes Mama, but he just needs us to love him back that’s all” she says. I don’t know what to say to her so I just hold her close.

“We’re going to go to Mama’s for a little bit, so I need you to go take a shower then get dressed.”

She wraps her arms around me and holds me tight. “I love you Mama” she whispers.

“I love you forever to the moon and back Emma.” She smiles then goes to get ready. “Hey, do you know where the shower’s at?” I ask her.

She stops and says, “Yeah. I know where all the snacks are at too!” She giggles and walks out of the room. I sit there shaking my head and laugh.

“Everything okay?” I look up and my stupid heart flips again. Eli is wearing faded jeans that fit him just right, a long sleeve knitted shirt that makes him look huge with his baseball hat backwards. My god he is beautiful. His blue eyes make my knees weak.

I sigh. “Yeah, Emma’s going to get ready then I’ll go take a shower when she’s done.”

He rolls his eyes and says, “You can use my shower Babe.” I freaking blush. What am I, fifteen?!

“I love it when you blush” he says. Guh, I want to punch that stupid look off his pretty face. He walks into the room and collects my things. “Come on, it’ll be faster if you use my shower” he says and I follow him out of the room.

I blushed again when I see his bed. “I didn’t want to change my pillow cases because they smelled like you,” he says.

“You weirdo” I snort.

He chuckles and says “Everything’s in there.” I walk in and oh my freaking god, his bathroom is huge and beautiful. “If you need shampoo and conditioner they’re under the sink. I asked Lei to pick up some things for you, so you can stop with the face.”

“I didn’t say anything.” I say at the same time as I’m trying to work out why he’d have shampoo and conditioner.

He laughs and says “You didn’t have to, your face said it all.” He smacks me on the ass as he leaves.

“Asshole.”

He laughs louder and says “I’m your asshole.” He really is my asshole. I close the door and have one of the best showers ever.

I get out and remember that I don’t have any feminine products in here with me. I know he doesn’t have any but I check anyway. I look in one of