There’s a hallway off the living room leading to an office and a bedroom. The bedroom is equipped with a four poster king sized bed, matching dresser, walk-in closet, and a huge bathroom. The office is big enough for both of us to work inthere if we want. Right now I have it set up for myself and hers set up upstairs, but it’ll take nothing to move it around if she wants to.
I watch in fascination as she explores the downstairs space. I’m pretty sure she’s in shock because she doesn’t say a word the entire time she’s looking around. It’s almost like she’s worried about moving anything out of place, which is amusing because it’s all hers.
Moving behind her, I wrap my arms around her frame and set my chin gently on her shoulder. “So, what do you think? Good enough for us?”
She spins in my arms and her watery eyes come to mine.
Shit, is that good or bad?
“Ours or yours? I want to be really excited right now, but I need to know.”
“Beautiful, this is ours. And if something ever happens to me or to us, it’s yours. We’re two streets from Dieter and Hannah.” I let the implication hang in the air, and I can see when she realizes what I’m being cryptic about.
“We live on the same street as Jakob?” Her eyes mist over before I can confirm.
“Yeah, he’s about a dozen or so doors down.”
The elation radiating from her every pore cracks my heart right open. She’s perfect, and she’s mine. She wiggles out of my hold and grabs my hand to lead me upstairs.
As soon as we crest the top of the stairs, we’re standing in the den. There’s a gray oversized sleeper sofa to the right, just waiting for Lee and I to spend lazy days cuddling on it. On the opposite wall is another TV. Directly behind us are two doors on either side of the stairs leading into two bedrooms with a Jack and Jill bathroom attaching them. One bedroom is setup as her office. Fully furnished and stocked with everything she could ever need. The other bedroom is set up just like the one downstairs. I figured I’d let her choose.
“I don’t know what to say.” She looks at me in awe. “It’s gorgeous, I can’t believe you did all of this.”
“I’d do it a thousand times over just to see you smile like this again.”
Her eyes shine with unshed tears of happiness. I want to tell her everything, all the little touches we added. How we made the upstairs completely functional so on the bad days she doesn’t have to stay in our room but also won’t have to climb up and down the stairs to get a change of scenery. I want her to know that hanging on the wall in her office is a framed picture I found of us from our first day of kindergarten. That her parents are coming around to this, and that Tory already knows to be here on Monday instead of the apartment that she’ll no longer be staying in.
I can’t do any of that right now because the thought of my lips on hers consumes my every thought. Grabbing her hips, I pull her tightly into me and my lips descend onto hers. She opens up for me instantly, lashing her tongue against mine playfully. Using my index finger, I tilt her chin to exactly where I want her and get lost in the kiss. If this is what life will be like for us, just the two of us, I’ll be just as happy as if we had a baseball team of kids. I don’t need the fanfare of the life I was raised in. I don’t need anything aside from her and our little house on Midnight Drive.
27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lee
Icannot believe this man. He bought and fixed up a house for us with the help of his brothers, my sister, and Davis. It’s perfect. It’s everything I’ve always wanted, down to the rocking chairs on the front porch and the garden of gorgeous flowers in the front of the house. Mac has spent the rest of the evening letting me explore and explaining his thoughts about each choice he’s made. I listen with rapt attention as I try to commit the entire house to memory.
I’m not even worried about my Papa anymore. I love him and my family so much, but I’m so over feeling guilty about something that isn’t my fault. It’s weird because they’ve never made me feel guilty, but I always have. They adopted a girl they knew was emotionally damaged, but once they got a grip on that she was medically damaged as well.
Mac’s hand gently rubbing my stomach brings me backto the here and now. We’re lying on the couch downstairs watching some true crime documentary. I think these couches might just be my favorite part of the entire house. They’re big enough that he can lay behind me comfortably, and we can cuddle while we watch the cops zero in on the neighbor.
“You awake?”
“Yeah, just comfortable.” I smile to myself.
“So what bedroom do you want to take tonight?” He wonders aloud.
“I was thinking maybe good days down here. Dialysis days or bad days upstairs? Is that okay?” My thought process is that on the bad days, Mac can go downstairs and work while I’m sleeping without me being all in his space.
“That works for me. Just no separate beds. I don’t want to be one of those couples. So we can sleep wherever as long as we sleep together every night.”
“Can I offer an amendment?” I smirk as I replay the first time we had talks of deals and amendments.
“I’ll entertain it, but no promises that I’ll accept.” He smiles into the back of my neck as he gently nibbles.
“On the really bad days you can sleep downstairs and I’ll sleep upstairs.”
Mac shoots up and maneuvers us so I’m on my back beneath him and he’s hovering over me with his hands on either side of my head.
