He started to say something, and he blinked and glanced to the side thoughtfully as if considering how he wanted to phrase it. "I'm wondering when we're going to get married."
I laughed because I understood what he was saying, but he didn't laugh. He just kept that sweet, natural, beautiful expression on his face. He looked like he was serious instead of joking.
"I really was wondering that, though," he said. "Could you see it happening? Because I didn't like California, I mean, I did as a tourist, it was great. But I wouldn't want to live there. But I would, is what I'm saying… if you know what I mean… I would do it. I can't believe I'm saying that, but I would move there if I had to. You know… if you're there." Henry stopped talking and closed his eyes, cringing at the long stream of words that had just come out of his mouth.
Thank goodness he was nervous. Henry was so cool and calm most of the time that if he didn't stumble over his words a little, I might not have been able to see how much he cared. I swallowed at the sight of this big, gorgeous man cringing.
"Henry."
He opened his dark eyes, and my heart sped up.
"I want to stay next to you, too."
His chest fell in a sigh of relief, like he had been holding his breath.
"I was thinking about it when you were gone. I have to go back to California when we wrap here. We still have weeks of production there—doing scenes for the last two episodes."
He nodded. "I know."
"It might be a few months."
He nodded again.
"But I was thinking after that I could… I don’t know… come see what's happening in Montana for a little while. I mean, we can look at it as a temporary… I wouldn't want us to feel any kind of pressure to… "
I paused because I realized I was now fumbling over my words. It was difficult to form good sentences when you weretalking about vulnerable things. I certainly hadn't planned on telling him these thoughts in the first half-hour of reuniting with him.
But he didn't seem to mind. He was looking me over like he might devour me. He took my face in his hands and stared at me for a second before licking his lips and putting them to mine. He let his lips cover mine, meld to them, for a warm few seconds before pulling back.
"Pressure to what?" he asked.
It might as well have been a different language because my mind was swimming. His mouth was perfect, and he was so good at kissing.
"Huh?" I asked, feeling dazed.
"You said you don't want us to feel pressure to do something. And I was just wondering what you felt pressure about?"
"Oh, actually nothing, I don't feel pressure, I just didn't want you to feel trapped when I said I had thought about coming back here after we finish the series." I glanced at him, wondering what he would say.
He furrowed his brow at me. "I would only feel bad if you said you weren't coming."
I took a deep breath, and my mouth turned upward into a slow smile. "So, for tonight, you were thinking about going to the store and then to your house?"
"Yes. I was thinking we'd go to a pet store, and then to a grocery store. If the pet store's not open, there's a feed store. Then we can stop and get some food for ourselves. Did you say you had the rest of the night off?"
"Yeah, we're done for the day. I was thinking I'd follow you home."
Henry grinned mischievously at me. "Yeah, I think you should," he said.
Epilogue
Later that same year
I hadn't seen Henry in four months, and it was four months too long. I had two months to finish the series, and then the following two months had been booked solid with helping my sister with some of her personal endeavors. We didn't know how long the series would take, and she had spread herself thin with projects and engagements when we got back from Montana. I stepped in to help her, letting her delegate tasks to me. I was the person who could best make decisions for Ty since I knew her style and taste.
Her efforts culminated in a Christmas concert which happened just the other night. She sold two thousand tickets, and she made videos from it that gained her tens of thousands of followers. She was becoming known as a promoter, and I was really proud of her and wanted to help in any way I could.
She was happy to use my services while I was around, but I had already planned my trip to Montana and had been talking it up for months. I would be there for Christmas, and we all knew that I might end up staying there for a few weeks or possibly forever. I was driving and not flying, so I didn’t have to worry about a return ticket.
