“I mean, I love you and you said you loved me. I don’t want to live near my parents.” He made a disgusted face. “Especially after what my dad did to you. You’ll never have to meet him again.”
He seemed to think of something, then blushed a little, and shook his head in a way I remembered meant that he had a thought he didn’t want to share.
“What?” I asked, because I knew he’d tell me anyway.
“I mean, if we were to…you know, down the line sometime in the future, get married?” he squeaked a little. “Then maybe he’d want to be there because I’d have to invite Mom, but—”
I moved up and kissed him, because how could I not. “Yes, in that case, if we ever do that, I don’t mind him being there. My parents would come, too; at least I hope so.”
He nodded seriously. “Good.” He pecked my lips and smiled widely, looking breathtaking. “So we’ll live here?”
“If you want to move all the way here, then yes please.”
“It’s not that far. I fly all over the country anyway. If I want to see my parents, I’ll fly to them. Besides, I don’t own any property, and my landlord is really good with letting people go if they need to, because there’s always someone wanting to rent the rooms.”
“Well, that’s great.” I lifted myself up a little to look at the cabin a bit more. “Do you think we could make this place ours?”
“All I need is a desk somewhere and I’m good.” Ben beamed.
“How about under that window? The view would be of the outdoor arena.”
He lifted his torso to look over the back of the couch. “Yeah, seems good to me!”
“Do you have a lot of furniture?” I asked, thinking about everything Lake and I had put into storage in New York, knowing that we wouldn’t really miss any of those items.
“No, just a desk, an armchair, and my mattress is pretty new, but it’s not wide enough for the bed in the loft.”
“I’m sure one of your roommates would like it.”
He nodded. “Absolutely. The rest I can get here somehow. Maybe we should rent a trailer or something?”
I reached over him to take my phone off the coffee table.
“Hey, Theo.”
“What’s up?”
“Does the rescue have a trailer thingy suitable for moving furniture?”
“Yeah, we have one in the shed. Why?”
“Well, looks like Ben might be coming to stay, so we need to move a few pieces of his stuff here at some point.”
He made a happy humming sound. “You can take the trailer and use the better truck, too. No reason to rent anything. Just let me know beforehand so I’ll know not to schedule any trips for that. Shouldn’t take you more than a day there and one back, right? I think Lake said Pittsburgh?”
“Yeah, Pittsburgh. Technically, if you need the truck, we can do it in one day. Leave in the morning and come back that night.”
“Nah, I’m sure we can figure it out.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. I’ll let you know when.”
“Great! See you at dinner.”
“Yeah.”
I put the phone away. As I was pulling my hand back, Ben grabbed me and flipped us over. I yelped, then laughed.
“So, I guess we’re moving in together?” He hovered over me.
