“From what my daughter told me, your father is resilient. You’d be surprised how well people can learn to get around on one leg. I’ve seen amazing things.”
“Yeah, he’s amazing, all right. I’m hoping he can avoid dialysis, but my father and my girlfriend both get on me for thinking too far ahead. I’m trying to stay optimistic and focus on the progress.” Jude smiled as he squeezed my knee under the table.
I forgot about my cousin’s secret present the minute Jude said “girlfriend.” I loved him, and I knew he cared about me, but the word and the ease with which it fell out of his mouth made me take a pause.
“Here it is.”
I tore my gaze from Jude and swiveled my head to my cousin’s voice, my hand flying to my mouth when I realized what he was holding.
“When Claudia was little, she loved that painting,” I heard my father explain to Jude. “When I first opened, I wanted to decorate the place with a little art dotted in with the family photos and give a nod to where my parents came from. I found this at this hole-in-the-wall art store in Manhattan. I kept the painting in the front, and Claudia would stare at it when she came in and tell us different stories about the man climbing up the mountain toward the tree.”
I stood, my gaze drifting from the wide grin on Eric’s face to my parents now standing behind me.
“I don’t know if this is the direction you want foryourplace, but I wanted you to have it.”
I had to blink a few times to clear my vision when I turned to my father, swiping the tear off my cheek as I stepped closer.
“But that’s been here for years. There’s probably a white spot from where you took it off the wall. I can’t—”
“You can,” he said, patting my cheek. “My Claudia can climb that mountain, the tree, and anything else she wants. And like I said, you don’t have to hang it up there—”
I fell into his chest. His laugh vibrated against my cheek as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Thank you,” I mumbled as I lifted my head. “I’ll definitely hang it up. Right in the front. I want a nod to my parents’ heritage too.”
“What’s with the waterworks, cuz? Country life making you soft?” Eric said, kissing my cheek and setting the painting next to our table. “I’ll get the paper to wrap this up, and you can load it into Jude’s truck tomorrow since you didn’t need mine.”
“Now that that’s settled,” Mom said, sliding her arm against the crook of my elbow to lead me back to the table. “We wanted to give you something to show how proud we are of you. And maybe remind you to call us since you live three hours away.”
We shared a watery laugh.
“But we’ll be up to see you soon enough,” Mom whispered. “I’m excited to see the new place and your new…life up there.” I followed her gaze when she flicked her eyes to Jude.
“I’m excited to see it too, Mom.”
I managed to get through the rest of dinner without fighting a lump at the back of my throat.
As I watched Jude box the rest of my stuff back at my soon-to-be-old apartment later, fate no longer seemed to be the bullshit notion I’d written it off as for most of my life. I was stuck on Kelly Lakes and Jude without much logical explanation, other than they were both meant for me.
Still, being in love for what felt like the first time in my life scared the shit out of me.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around Jude from behind after he stacked the last box.
“My pleasure,” he said, a soft smile on his face when he turned around and drew me closer. “Like I said, happy to do anything I can to get you in Kelly Lakes for good as soon as possible.”
“I don’t have much of a choice now. Papers are signed and all that good stuff.” I wrapped my arms around his waist. “The fact that the people closest to me are so excited about it makes me think it may not be the worst decision I’ve ever made after all, so today was nice.”
He laughed as his lips grazed my forehead.
“It’s not, you’ll see. It’s all going to be great,” he said, drifting his hand down my back. “And your family agrees with me.”
“I’m really glad they got to meet you.” I smiled as I lifted my head. “So, I’m your girlfriend, huh? I caught you slip at dinner.”
His shoulders jerked with a shrug. “Was that a surprise? I’m out of practice maybe, but did you want anare we going steadyconversation?”
I laughed at the deep crease in his forehead.
“No, it’s just the first time I’ve heard—”
