“I do.”
He grinned. “See? Just like that. You already have your lines memorized.”
“You don’t think we’re going a little fast?”
“Fast? You know when I first fell in love with you? Do you know, Delaney?”
“When you found out what an amazing cook I am?”
“You are a terrible cook.”
I squawked and pushed his shoulder. “I’m learning. I’m getting better. I did eggs.”
“You destroyed those eggs. Incinerated them.”
I laughed. “Nothing caught on fire. I’ll take it as a win.”
“This,” he waved a finger between us, “has been my forever. I’ve loved you since I first had an idea of what that might mean. This isn’t fast for me. Is it too fast for you?”
“It’s just a lot of change. Feels like…I don’t think it’s too fast. No, I don’t think so.”
He was frowning now and opened his mouth to say something, but I hopped down from the tailgate, my shoes crunching on the loose gravel and concrete.
“There’s Zeus,” I said. “We can table this for later, right? Tonight after work?”
“Sure,” he said, although it was a little tense. “We can table it.”
He pushed off the back of the truck and started toward the two vehicles that had just rolled into the lot.
Okay, that could have gone better. But how did I tell him I was hesitant to commit to a date, a venue, even a guest list because I was afraid if we got married, we would change? ThatIwould change, and then everything we had together would be gone?
Loving Ryder was easy. There were days when I wanted to do nothing but laze in his arms and watch stupid reality shows with him.
There were moments—him racing Spud down the beach, faking a fall and laughing as Spud tried to rescue him, or him so focused on a new building design that he’d stuck one pencil between his teeth, one behind each ear, and had another in his hand—that I wanted to tell him I loved him. There were moments—dawn’s light through our bedroom window coating him in the softest blue, his eyes when he first opened them gone silver-jade—that I kissed him trying to tell him everything written inside my heart.
All the words for him. Always for him.
Maybe my holding on to the dream of a happily ever after was getting in the way of the actual reality of our fairy tale ending.
“Hey-a Delaney.” Jean waved at me. She had driven in behind Zeus, and parked her truck facing the street. Hogan stepped out of the passenger side and held his hand up in a wave too.
I waved back at both of them.
Ryder greeted Hogan, then they made room for Zeus, who had exited his car to join their conversation.
Jean ambled my way. “Are you still fighting with Ryder?”
“Still?”
“It’s always something with you two.”
I ignored that. “Did you tell Odin to meet us here?”
“Yup. But you know how he is.” She shrugged.
Yeah, I knew. Odin usually operated on his own timetable. Maybe he’d be here this evening, maybe he’d show up a week from now, covered in wood chips and moss.
Hogan, Ryder, and Zeus strolled toward us, talking about something that involved ‘clean lines’ and ‘excellent use of negative space.’ It was either artwork Zeus had bought for his store, a new architectural project Ryder was bidding on, or Hogan’s delivery van.
