He tilts his head and his amused grin returns. “I love you, but again, you’re really bad at listening. I did say all of those things, but I never said that I was selling Gloria’s. We talked aboutmypurchase price andmeclosing on Gloria’s.”
“What?” My question is barely a whisper.
He reaches up and tucks a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. His fingers graze the bare skin of my cheeks and this time I don’t fight it. I lean into his touch. He still cradles my hand in his, between our chests, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the back it.
“That was my condition for Slade. I love my family and I will always help them, but even I have my limits. It took me a while to realize what I really wanted. It wasn’t chasing a star or culinary glory, like him. It took you letting me back in to see that I just wanted a home of my own. That’s what I told him when I said I’d help him in Seattle. My condition was that he would let me buy out his share of Gloria’s.”
“You mean?—”
“Yes, Slade will have nothing to do with Gloria’s anymore. I’ll own it and we can do whatever we want with it now. I don’t care if you want to rip out the restaurant and turn it back into a house. You could tell me that you want to turn a room into a pet spa for our spoiled fur children and I’ll say yes. I can find another place to open a restaurant in town. I’ll borrow the money if I have to. It doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is that I love you and I want to keep building a life with you here… if you still want that.”
This time there’s no fighting the tears or my wobblyknees. I give into every emotion that’s taking hold of me in this moment, that feels all too right, but all so impossible.
I give into my emotions. I give into my exhaustions. I give into him.
I don’t know when the inches between us were erased or who moved first, I just savor the warmth of pressing my face into his warm chest and having his arms hold me tight.
“Yes, I’d like that very much,” I mumble into his chest, feeling my tears soak into his t-shirt. “Can we go inside now?”
He chuckles and that sound rumbling in his chest peels off another layer of the fear and bitter emotions from the last day.
“No, we still have something else to talk about.” He brushes my bangs to the side, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I meant everything. I love you."
“Me too.”
He swipes a thumb over my cheek, wiping away one of the few remaining tears that have all but stopped. “Then we need to promise each other something, OK? From now on, we will talk to each other before we ghost the other or hop on a plane?”
“Or make decisions about taking jobs out of town, or closing real estate transactions on treasured family homes?” I shoot him a playful glare through still puffy eyes.
“Again, I was planning on telling you last night,” he says, huffing a laugh while he rubs my back, “but yes, that too. Promise?” He takes one hand off my back and holds out a pinky.
I shake my head. “Dork.” He raises his brows with a grin, looking between his hand and me. My eyes roll back and I raise my hand, looping my pinky into his. “Fine, promise.”
“Also, that officially makes us even now.”
“For what?” I tilt my head in confusion.
“Well, I took your car and you took my rental car. I believegrand theft auto is illegal in both Wyoming and New Mexico. So yeah, I think we’re even. Can we call it a truce on stealing each other’s cars too?”
“I guess.” I give him a coy look, playing along. A quiet moment passes and I look between him, the food truck, and the house and I still can’t believe that this is how my day is unfolding. “So you mean it? You’re really staying?”
“Yes, Shadow. I think you’re stuck with me.”
I let out a dismissive hum. “You know, Pretty Boy, I really think Shadow’s a better nickname for you then, if I’m stuck with you.”
He laughs and I rest my cheek on his chest again because honestly, there’s no one on earth I’d rather be stuck with. I still can’t believe he’s here. I breathe in his woodsy scent and let it flood my mind with our recent memories, but also the ones that I know lay ahead. Even with my eyes closed, I can picture the heart melting smile that’s on his face.
“Ready to go inside? I’m freaking exhausted and need to lay down.”
“Please,” I groan against his chest. “I want to curl?—”
Before I can finish that sentence, he drops his hands to the curve of my ass and lifts me up into his arms. My legs react on their own and wrap around his waist. I drape my arms over his shoulder and giggle into his neck. “You sure that you can carry me up there? I’ve seen you get winded before on a single of flight of stairs.”
“Don’t really care. I need to start somewhere if I’m going to make it a habit of carrying my girlfriend into our place.”
He reaches down to grab my purse, but I barely notice because he saidour place. My grandma’s house is nowour place.I don’t exactly know what our future is going to look like, but he’s choosing me and the place I love. That only makes everything that’s happened the last two years—the arguing, the glares and scowls, the drama of the last day—completely worth it, because it feels so insignificant to the future that’s in front of us.
I sniffle into his neck and he holds me close as he starts taking awkward steps up to the apartment. I feel one stray tear run down my cheek and onto the warm skin of his neck. His grip on me tightens while he keeps lumbering up the steps. “Are you OK?”