“She won’t mind? I feel bad. Maybe we could leave it until tomorrow and give her notice?—”
My phone beeped while he was still talking. I held it up so he could see the screen. “She already said it’s fine.” Then I read the message. “Actually, she said how exciting; first dinner date as boyfriends, so I’d say she’s more than okay with it.”
He blushed and let out a cute little bubble of laughter. “Oh.”
“I haven’t stopped smiling all day,” I admitted. “And your line of poetry this morning...” I sighed dreamily. “Okay, so I may have gotten that text when I met Gunter out the front of the store this morning. I swooned and he saw. I had to tell him about the boyfriend status, but I toldhim to keep it on the downlow because I wasn’t sure how public you wanted to be.”
“Oh.” He made a face. “I wasn’t hiding it. I should have asked you that, but it didn’t occur to me. I also fail to see how it’s anyone else’s business, but I don’t care if people know.”
Now it was me who did a cute little laugh. “Me either.”
“Apparently I was grinning so much I scared Mr. Sanchez.”
That made me laugh.
I closed out the till for the day and locked the money away while Deacon perused the bookshelves. “Is this new?”
I poked my head out of the storeroom to see him holding a book on Cambodian history. “Yes. Came in yesterday.”
“My dad would like this,” he said.
“Great Christmas gift idea,” I said with a laugh.
“Have you been busy?”
“Steady, yes. The weather made it quieter today though. I didn’t mind. It allowed me to catch up on some paperwork.”
He nodded. “Are you still happy here?”
I came out then so he could see my face when I answered that. “Are you kidding? Coming to Hartbridge, opening this store, adopting Merry and Bright, and meeting you? Best decision of my life so far.”
He smiled, his eyes meeting mine. He didn’t look away this time. “I’m glad you moved here.”
“Me too.” I sighed. “Well, speaking of Merry and Bright, I better get home. Poor Ro has had them all day. She said it was too cold for them to be transported around, even in their blankets and baby carrier.”
“She was probably right.”
“Which means they’ve been running her ragged all day. We should go save her.”
“Okay. I’ll follow you in my truck.”
“Okay.”
It was ridiculous how giddy he made me. Driving home, I was almost dancing in my seat, excited and thrilled at how things were progressing between us.
Gunter had joked again this morning about the Christmas Cupid, and I didn’t even bother correcting him anymore. Because I was thinking maybe he was right?
Deacon was perfect for me. All his idiosyncrasies and quirks matched my own. Like a patchwork of odds and ends, of bright colors that at first glance might look out of place, but together we made a cohesive, happy picture. Once we’d figured out how we should communicate—once we’d understood each other a little better—things between us were easy.
I didn’t care what society might think of us.
I didn’t care what other couples thought of our minimal-contact, sexless lives.
We were happy. And we were complete. Nothing was missing. Nothing was lacking.
Sure, it was incredibly new and still quite early in the relationship. But I had a very good feeling about us. I could definitely see myself with him long-term.
He made me happy.
