“Theo, are you upstairs?” I hear her footsteps, and I cross the room, stepping out into the hallway.
Her gaze meets mine, and she smiles. “Hey. What’ve you been up to?”
I hold out a hand, beckoning her. “Something you might be interested in, actually.”
She cocks her head but follows me into the bathroom. I swish the curtains back and, with a dramatic flourish, gesture to the brand-new shower head. It’s fancy—the nicest one I could find. And the key is that it’s adjustable.
Cora and I are vastly different heights—something she loves to complain about after almost every shower, having to stand on her tippy toes or at the very end of the shower to get the water to hit her right.
It takes her a moment to figure out what I’m showing her, and when she does, her eyes widen slightly. “You got a new showerhead?” she asks, smiling softly.
I nod.
“Just because I complained?” She’s laughing now.
I reach for her head, gently holding her still while I plant a kiss on her cheek. “Your complaint is my command.”
She giggles and then says, “That’s very … permanent.” The word hangs in the air between us, suddenly carrying a bit more weight than anything we’ve discussed this past week. Since everything between us changed.
And I suppose she is right. It’s a permanent change. A change I’m making because I hope … that she’ll stay here.
Something like hesitation flickers across her face, and for a second, I worry I’ve made a terrible mistake. That I’ve unintentionally stepped over a line, gone too far, pushed for something. But then the look is gone, and she’s back to smiling.
“Thank you, Theo,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck and pressing her lips to mine. I smile into the kiss, inhaling her scent, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her against me. I cup my hands under her ass, prompting her to jump into my arms, her legs wrapped around my waist.
She giggles.
“How grateful are you?” I ask with a smirk, leaning in to gently nibble at her ear.
She laughs at this, pretending to smack my shoulder, but she ends up kissing me again.
And here I go, falling for her even harder.
Chapter nineteen
Cora
“Wegotaninterviewslot.” The declaration comes from across the kitchen on Monday night. Theo is standing there in his sweatpants, phone in hand, presumably staring at the email.
I perk up from where I’m scrolling through Netflix on the couch in the living room. His eyes meet mine. It’s strange. This is obviously what we’ve been waiting for. The moment. The entire reason we did this whole thing. And yet … it feels weighty. Like suddenly something more than just visas and green cards are on the line here.
“When?” I ask.
“This Thursday.”
Wow. So soon. Is it always this fast? My stomach lurches, although I’m having a hard time pinpointing why.
Theo’s gaze is buried in his phone again. “It’s at 4 p.m., but we’ll have to drive to Helena.” It’s the closest real city to Cedar Ridge. It makes sense that they don’t have an immigration officehere. “It’s a bit late notice, but I’m sure Tate won’t mind us taking a half day.”
I nod absentmindedly. “Are we … ready?” Suddenly, I’m nervous. What are they going to ask? What are all the ways I could mess this up?
Theo’s eyebrows scrunch, and he puts his phone down, spanning the distance between us until he’s settled on the couch beside me. “We’re gonna do fine,” he says with a reassuring smile, reaching out to gently squeeze my hand. “We’re gonna tell them how we met, how we got married, and how much we love each other. Easy peasy, darling.”
I smile, but it’s slightly forced. Not just because of the nerves but because suddenly I’m finding it hard to see the line we’ve drawn. What’s real and what’s fake, what we’re lying about and what’s the truth.
I nod, but Theo must see right through it, because he takes my face into his hands. “I promise it’ll be fine,” he says before planting a kiss to my forehead.
And suddenly I’m feeling warm and fuzzy again, and some of the anxiety melts away. I smile when he pulls back, his hands still on my face.
