“You know, they’re building a neighborhood up here. In a year from now, these will all be houses.”
“I know.” She sighs as I spin her to face the horizon, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and holding her back to my chest. “Even when it belongs to someone else, I’m still going to consider this spot ours.”
The moon reflects on the ocean below us, providing a strip of white light over the rippling water. Vast darkness stretches farbeyond it on either side, only the sprinkling of boat lights in the distance, a reflection of the stars sparkling above our heads.
A balmy breeze rushes over our faces, the grass dancing to the music of the palm leaves.
I can see it. Quiet nights. This view. The peaceful silence best accompanied by her soul. What I’ve been searching my entire life for.
“What if it belonged to us instead?”
She tilts her head, glancing up at me with glittering, curious eyes. “What do you mean?”
“What if I told you I just put in an offer for the plot of land we’re standing on right now, we’ll have a house built here, and you get to design it however you’d like?”
She rears back, untangling from my arms, disbelief gracing her features. “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying, Little Vice.” I laugh.
“But the house…Zach.”
“I’ve got a buyer.” I smile. “Great couple. They have a preteen and twins on the way, so they’ll make good use of all the extra rooms.”
Her jaw drops, head shaking. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Zach wanted that house to be loud and lively and full of family. He loved that house, and it’s why I haven’t been able to let it go, but it’s never felt like mine, and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to make it feel like ours.” I step into her, grasping her cheeks with both hands and guiding her eyes to mine. “Now, it can have all of the things he wanted, and it can be filled with people he loved and would’ve loved, and we can have something to call our own.”
Her long lashes flutter, eyes blinking rapidly as a blazing smile overtakes her face. “Are you being serious right now? We’re going to build a house right here?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “I want nothing more than to spend my whole life loving you in the same place I grew up with you. We don’t need anything else. Just the two of us, and this patch of earth.”
Her hands find the back of my neck, dragging me to her as she kisses me fiercely. Laced with passion and heat, her tongue slips against mine—she tastes like stardust.
“But how?” she asks.
“My mom was the co-signer on the mortgage. I called her last week and asked her to agree to sell to Everett and Dahlia. I also asked her to give me enough for the down payment on this development, until I can pay her back with the equity we make on the other house.”
“I can’t believe she agreed,” Elena whispers.
“Well…” I chuckle, rubbing my jaw. “I may have been a bit manipulative.”
Elena glances up at me with a bemused expression.
“My mom has been calling for weeks. Since that day at the bakery. She claims she wants to apologize, that she wants to sit down with my dad and me to resolve our issues. That she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about what we said about Zach being ashamed of her.”
Elena only raises her brows unconvinced, and I know she’ll likely never forgive or accept my parents. I don’t blame her for it, though.
“I was ignoring her…” I sigh. “I wasn’t ready to address anything with them, but…I told them I’d come visit them soon if she helped me out with selling the house.” I press my lips to Elena’s forehead. “I won’t ever be close with my parents, but I don’t want to hate them, either. So, I’m going to keep trying, and in the meantime…” I lift my head to gaze at the stars, and Elena follows my line of sight. “At least we’ll get all of this.”
“And a dog,” she whispers, smiling up at me. “I want a dog.”
“You want a dog?” I pull back.
She hauls my lips to hers again. “I want a dog.”
“Okay. I’ll get you a dog.” Anything she wants.
She kisses me once more, and I can feel her smile on my mouth. Slowly, her hands slide down my chest, and when I open my eyes and look down, Elena’s on her knees in front of me.
