She pushed herself up onto her elbow, her hair falling around her shoulders, and looked around like she’d momentarily forgotten where she was. Then she smiled. “That view is ridiculous and this room looks fake. Like something out of a catalog.”
I followed her gaze, not denying that the master bedroom really did look like something out of an ad. A wall of windows faced the forest, sunlight spilling across the wide wooden floors and the lake just visible through the trees.
When I’d renovated the place, one of the only changes I’d made to the structure was installing larger windows to capitalize on the view. I turned back to her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You look fake. Like something out of a catalog. The room is just okay.”
She snorted and flopped back down onto the pillow. For a while, we stayed like that, not in any hurry to move, but eventually, she shifted again, stretching out slowly and gracefully. Like a cat.
“We should go for a run,” she said.
“You want to go for a run?” My eyebrows shot up. “Here I was, thinking about pussy.”
She pursed her lips at me. “That’s all you had yesterday. All day. You’d think?—”
“Actual cats,” I said mildly. “You remind me of one sometimes, but if you’re offering…”
She laughed and swiped the pillow from under her head. She chucked it at me as she rolled out of bed. “We’re running, Westwood. I can’t think of a much better Sunday morning than getting to go for a run out here.”
I sighed. “I can think of a few things, but sure. If you insist.”
“I do.” She changed into a pair of shorts and a sports-bra-type thing, already lacing up her shoes by the time I managed to force my own ass out of bed.
It only took a few more minutes before we were outside and I was leading her to the start of my preferred trail when I was out here. It cut through the trees just past the edge of the property, winding through forest that smelled like pine and warm earth.
The air was cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough that I didn’t regret being outside. We ran side by side once we got going, not talking much, but by the time we turned back, she was flushed and smiling, a little breathless but clearly pleased with herself.
“I like it here,” she said as we slowed to a walk.
I laced my fingers through hers. “I was hoping you would.”
We walked the rest of the way back like that, our hands linked and swinging slightly between us. It still boggled my mind that this could be—would be—our new normal.
“I want to bring our kids here,” she said suddenly.
The words hit me sideways. Not unpleasantly, just unexpectedly. I glanced at her. “What kids are those? Our hypothetical children?”
“No, our inevitable children.”
“You sound very confident that it’s going to happen for us.”
“We’ve already agreed we want them. No matter how we end up having them,” she said. “So theyareinevitable.”
“Fair enough.”
She gestured vaguely toward the trees. “They could run around out here. Fall into the lake. Get sunburned.”
“We’re going to be excellent parents, then?”
“They’d love vacations here,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. “Christmas especially. With snow everywhere? It’d be perfect. This place must turn into a real winter wonderland.”
As she said the words, I could see it much too easily. The stockings on the fireplace. Noise in the house. A life that looked like something I’d never seriously expected to have but that had always been my deepest desire.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “They would. So would I.”
“Me too,” she agreed, sighing when the house came back into view. “I really wish we could stay longer.”
“Same, but it’s Sunday. We’ve got to head back. Once Jane is feeling better and Alex is fully back at work, we’ll take a couple weeks off and come here?”
“That would be awesome,” she said. “Would you ever take that much time off, though?”
