Kara’s careful probing over the past few weeks comes back, my smile deepening at her sneaky ways. She knows me better than anyone, and she could tell my stubbornness was keeping all of this at arm’s length.
“I suppose she’s driven us together twice now.”
Noah chuckles. “I owe her a big thank you.”
“Massive.”
Then, as if shocked back into reality I stand up straight, twisting Noah’s wrist to check the time. “Shit! I have to go.”
Kara pops back into the front door, my screeching summoning her from the porch. I twist and peck Noah on the cheek.
“We have a trip. A flight to catch in about an hour. We have to go.”
“I know,” he says. He flashes a look at Kara and she grins. “How about I start on that thank you right now.”
I raise an eyebrow. “And how do you expect to do that? You’re not the only one with money now,” I tease. “I booked this trip all by myself.”
“I’m aware,” he says. “But Iamthe only one with a contact at the best resort in Costa Rica. Hey, Kara, how does two weeks in your own, all inclusive, beachfront suite sound? ”
“As long as I can drink, and don’t have to listen to you two bangin’ in the next room over, I’m game for whatever.”
I laugh and Noah takes my hand again, tugging me towards the door. When I pause at the threshold, he kisses my temple and follows Kara down to the car, their voices wafting back towards me.
“I don’t know if Lottie has told you, but I have a low tolerance for shenanigans while I’m trying to sleep,” Kara says.
“I have a lot of groveling to do. We’ll get you some really good noise canceling headphones.”
Rolling my eyes at what I know is going to be my future playing peacemaker between the two of them, I turn back towards the empty living room and the yellow glow of the kitchen. Nan is here. In this moment and sending me off with the same kind of warm approval she always did.
And somehow I know, from the comfort of this little safe haven and into the wild canyon of the unknown, she’ll be with me always.
One Year Later
The obnoxious pounding on the door pulls me from the comfort of a dream. I settle into reality, the room taking shape around me as Noah’s arm cinches tighter on my waist and I remember where we are.
The room where we first came together—where we shared the broken and unruly parts of ourselves—is bathed in the early light of a spring morning. Cheryl has updated some of the decor, but the soul of the space is something that will never change. Not for us at least.
Noah’s face is nuzzling into the back of my neck, his body pressing up against me. He hums, breathing in a lungful. “Tell me again why you changed your shampoo?”
“They discontinued it. I got the closest thing I could find.”
“I’m going to have to have some specially made. It’s not the right balance of tropical.”
I roll my eyes, the pounding on the door rattling through the house again, Kara’s frustrated grumble following next.
“Get out of bed, you horndogs. We have work to do!”
I make to roll out of bed, but Noah’s arms close tighter. “Five more minutes.”
“Unless you want her pounding her way in here—believe me, she will—you better let me go.”
“Never,” he says, rolling me over and on top of him, my back pressed against his chest. He runs his hands down my sides and squeezes the soft bit of skin slipping out between my shorts and my tank top. I shriek a laugh and kick my feet, twisting until I am facing him and push to sit up, straddling his hips.
“Oh, I like this even better,” he muses, running his hands up my thighs.
I roll my hips, feeling the hard length of him almost right where I need it.
“I kind of like this too.”
