“I love you, sweetheart.” The words felt so good to say. Better than blueberry cheesecake. Better than anything else.
She pulled back and looked into my eyes. I brushed away her tears with my thumbs.
“I love you, V,” she rasped.
Above us, the stars fell in the sky and we huddled together, watching them until they faded and the tea got cold.
The kittens were waiting for us when we went back inside.
Epilogue
Lea
“For the millionth time,yes, I’m sure,” I said to Vail as the movers continued bringing boxes down the stairs. I was finally saying goodbye to my beautiful apartment and moving in with Vail. Officially. It was a financial decision as much as a romantic one. There was no point in me paying for my place when I spent most of my time at hers.
Vail had been so excited at first, but I could tell she was nervous about me giving up my place.
“What if you decide you hate me?” she asked. Now that she’d worked on some of her childhood issues in therapy, she’d peeled back a few layers and was dealing with insecurities she’d been holding onto for a lifetime.
“I want to be with you. We’ve basically been living together for almost a year, V. We know what happens when we fight. We’ve fought before and we’ve moved past it. Right?”
She’d nodded and we’d booked the movers.
Now we were here, and I had to admit, I was sad about losing this place. I loved Vail’s house more than anything and was happy to get a new couch with her and to work in the garden and maybe even get a puppy or two. The kittens weren’t kittens anymore, and they kept us on our toes, but I loved Stace and Hunter’s dog, and Vail had the perfect yard to let a dog run around in.
Working at home together was sometimes tricky, so at least one day a week, I would work at a coffee shop, or go over to James’s apartment or even sometimes hang out with Hunter. We’d talked about our upbringings and we had more in common than either of us wanted to admit, but it was nice to have a shared language and experiences that we didn’t have to explain to someone else.
Vail had grown close with my friends too, and I couldn’t believe how she’d opened up and become a social butterfly.
She’d gotten close with Eloise Roth and was even contracted to narrate one of her books this year. Turned out she and Cade lived a few streets over from us. Eloise had also hired me to come do a private Pilates class for her once a week, and trusted me enough to borrow books from her library, which I still couldn’t believe.
Life was messy and beautiful and hard and silly, but I was happy. Vail and I were so happy for the first time ever.
The movers filled up the truck and said they’d meet us at the house.
“Let’s go, V.” Vail and I held hands as we looked around my apartment for the last time.
“Tell me something good,” she said, leaning into me and kissing the side of my head. We were both sweaty, but it didn’t matter.
“Us. That’s something good.”
She picked me up and twirled me around, making me scream.
“Come on, PT. Let’s go home.”
Home. With Vail.
* * *
