Noah came around to my side with his bowl and sat next to me. “If it does, I doubt it’ll lead to the media circus we faced this summer.”
I shuddered at the memories of camera crews parked on Noah’s lawn. Our local paper had run a story on Beau, and it quickly went viral, crossing over to national outlets. Noah and I had been asked to appear on countless broadcast programs and podcasts, but we’d declined them all, thinking it would lessen the attention we were getting. We’d been wrong.
I glanced over at Noah. “I want to leave this time, if it happens again. Go somewhere more remote, like you said, and hide out until it dies down. I can’t go back to having panic attacks every time I leave the house.”
He reached out and placed his hand over mine, squeezing. “We’ll do whatever we have to in order to protect our peace.”
I smiled at him in thanks, squeezing back.
A sound had us turning to see Cheddar scaling the back of the couch.
“Wanna eat in the living room so we can keep an eye on them?” I asked.
“Probably a good idea.”
We picked up our plates and headed over, finishing our food while we played with the kittens and tried not to succumb to the threat of cute aggression. It was nice, peaceful, the quiet kind of life the two of us had longed for during the insanity of the past year.
“Did you pick your classes?” Noah asked a little while later.
We sat snuggled up on the couch, the fire roaring. Ash was asleep in his arms, and Shadow and Cheddar were curled up together in his lap.
I stroked my fingers down Patches’s back, sprawled out on my thighs, and she started purring. “I did.”
“What’d you decide on for your elective?”
I answered, and we fell down the rabbit hole of discussing my potential course schedule. I was starting college in the fall at a nearby university, and while I was excited to finally go back to school, I was nervous. It had been so long since I’d studied that I worried my brain had somehow atrophied, or that the lingering effects of the poison might make it difficult for me to absorb new material.
At least I wouldn’t have to worry about how I was going to pay for classes. Beau hadn’t gotten around to changing his will by the time he died, and I was still the beneficiary. The Broadturns had sued to keep me from profiting from his policy, but I won in court. Noah and I saw it as the least of what I was owed after what that bastard had put me through. Plus, I’d needed it all, as well as the sale of the house, to pay off Beau’s debts.
There was a little left over afterward, just enough to cover the cost of pursuing a criminal justice degree. My plan was to help other victims of domestic crimes after I graduated, and our discussion soon turned to all the ways I might put it to good use.
“Hey,” Noah said, bumping his shoulder against mine. “I’m proud of you.”
I grinned up at him. “Thank you. And I’m proud of you, too.”
“For what?”
“For not turning Beau’s corpse into a scarecrow.”
His eyes widened. “Hey, nowthat’sa good idea.”
I shook my head at him. The man was incorrigible.
He shifted closer, careful not to disturb the kittens, and pressed a kiss against my lips. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“I’m glad this year is so much better than the last.”
I lifted my brows. “I don’t know, thatnightwas pretty spectacular.”
His expression turned scandalized. “Shhh, not in front of the kids.”
I laughed, so happy it was almost overwhelming. In the span of twelve months, my life had gone from misery to bliss, and it was all because of this man. He’d held me while I cried, driven me to my weekly therapy sessions, helped me rediscover myself and regain my confidence, and taught me what love really was.
I loved living with him, loved learning something new about him every single day, even if it was just some small tidbit or quirk I’d never noticed before. I loved the sounds he made while sleeping, the way he hummed when he cooked. All his little idiosyncrasies.
“You make mereallyhappy, Noah,” I told him.
