Truen and Darien Carter.
Druen?
My heart caught.
I looked up, and Tru was staring at his feet, cheeks a littlered. “It’s just a not-so-subtle hint. Now that we’re starting the rest of our lives.”
“You were never known for subtlety,” I said, pocketing that one too. “And I’m framing this.”
His head jerked up. “You are?”
I nodded.
“Why?”
“Because you doodled my last name next to yours eight times, and it’s the best damn gift I’ve ever gotten.”
He leaned into me, a soft smile playing on his lips. “Yeah?”
I rested my forehead against his. “Yeah.”
The following evening, Tru and I were alone in our apartment after a long day of entertaining friends open-house style. I didn’t know how long we’d been dancing. The Bluetooth speaker had died, my phone battery had given up twenty minutes ago, and we were just swaying barefoot in the quiet of our living room, surrounded by the hum of the city and the steady thump of Tru’s heart against my chest.
His cheek was pressed to my shoulder. He smelled like citrus soap and champagne. My sweatshirt hung off one shoulder, and he was wearing my old gym shorts like he didn’t even notice they didn’t fit. His bags were packed and waiting by the door for New York.
And despite knowing we were going to spend the next six weeks apart, that was the night I asked him to stay—for good.
“Remember that night in the closet?” I murmured.
Tru made a low noise. “Unfortunately.”
“You said you wished you could go back and change what happened.”
“Yeah.”
“I wouldn’t,” I said. “Not anymore.”
He lifted his head, eyebrows raised. “No?”
“Nah. ’Cause it got us here. Got us this.”
He was quiet. I knew how hard it was for him to believe sometimes that anything good could last. That love like this wouldn’t vanish if he blinked too long.
There are moments you look back on and know—That changed everything.
The night in the closet.
The day we moved in together.
The second I realized I didn’t want to live another day without hearing Tru’s laugh.
Those were the moments that shaped me.
When I looked at Tru, I saw everything I’d ever been scared to want. And that night, I was done being scared.
So I did the one thing I’d been too afraid to do for years. I stepped back.
“Don’t freak out,” I said quickly, reaching for the envelope I’d stashed behind the throw pillow on the couch.
