Today is technically my last day in Timber Heights before flying home tomorrow morning. Today is also the day I get to see Collie’s new fitness studio.
I’m so damn excited for her. I know she’s been anxiously waiting to show me. I can practically feel her heartbeat racing a million miles a minute from where I stand. Her keys rattle against the metal door, fiddling with the lock to open.
“Oh, you’ll get that date. Tonight, actually. And I ain’t cheap, so have your wallet ready. If I could just get this door to open,” she grunts. “Ah ha!”
I hear the door give way, and Collie guides me inside, the smell of fresh paint filling the space.
Things with us since Capri’s wedding have been everything we’ve needed. We spent most of yesterday in bed, unable to keep our hands off each other enough to leave myhotel room. But today, we laid low at her apartment and went to lunch with her parents, something Collie says she hasn’t done in ages.
I got to watch firsthand as Mrs. Meadows actually attempted to get to know her daughter. Looking past her expectations and selfish wants for Collie’s life, she genuinely cared to know more about the wonderful woman she is.
Sad she doesn’t know that already, but they’re headed in the right direction, and I can see the lost light dying to return in Collie’s eyes.
“Someone’s been painting,” I mumble, hoping she takes this thing off me already. “You gonna let me see now?”
“Patience is not your thing, Ranger. Hold your fucking horses, would ya?” Her footsteps dance around us, tapping against what sounds like wooden floors. The flick of switches echo and the sound of a stereo turning on fills the room with a soft melody.
I feel the moment she’s back. I always do.
Collie’s small hands find the back of my neck as she pulls me forward to untie the blindfold. “Now, it’s nowhere near finished and I’m definitely going to need your help with the wallpaper and hanging stuff. Especially the mirror wall, because well…I’m not exactly tall.” I laugh as the studio comes into view, my eyes adjusting to the light.
“But it’s mine and I’m really proud of it.” I can hear the pride in her voice.
“You should be,” I whisper, taking in all her hard work these past few weeks. “Baby, it’s incredible.”
The neon sign above where the mirrors will be catches my attention first. The Beach Burn will be ready for all the future athletes in no time.
Collie runs around the studio, showing me all the different places things will go. The mirror wall with a wall-length weight rack. A mat corner for stretching and yoga. A section in the back where pull-up racks will be drilled into the concrete floor, along with a cold plunge area. The main space is all her, though. All for the classes she’ll teach. She even has a mini coffee bar, complimentary to anyone who comes in.
Not a detail will be spared.
“I still need to pick out what wallpaper I want for the wall behind the front desk, but I think the plum color gives the room the most moody aesthetic. Don’t you think?”
“I think the plum color looks great.” It really does. It’s dark without being depressing, and gives just the right amount of color without being too playful. The exact feeling I would think women and men would appreciate coming to one of her classes.
“Thanks!” Collie leads me to the front desk area, showing me all the new gadgets she got that she still needs to figure out how to operate.
“Think you’ll hire someone else to help you run things?” I ask, taking in her wall of pictures. There are pictures of her and Capri. Pictures of her in Italy with those two dudes I met at the wedding. Pictures with her parents, and pictures of us in Wyoming. I run my thumb over one of my favorites—the night we drank hot chocolate under the stars, talking until we could barely keep our eyes open.
It was also the first time I even considered the possibility of what we could be. Although everything was coming from a temporary mindset, I remember giving it legit thought.
Again, it was useless for me to fight my attraction to her.
“The goal is for the business to do well and then hire someone, hopefully in-house. I want this place to feel like a family. Open to anyone.”
I reach for her hand and pull her close. “I believe in you.You know that, right?” Just as the question leaves my mouth, my eyes catch sight of a familiar hat on the wall above us. The same hat I had designed for Collie in Wyoming.
I smile and she knows why. That entire day is inked in my memory like a tattoo. “I do. I never told you how much I love that hat.” I inspect it, remembering how sick with pressure I felt to create for her something she’d love. “The wave connected to the mountain in its own symbol…Easton, you didn’t even have to explain the meaning to me, and I already knew. It’s where our lives meet. God, it meant everything to me. Still does. Down to the orange and brown silk wrapped around the band.”
“I wanted you to remember that the distance between us was just that…distance. Do you understand that, baby?”
“I do. More than ever now.”
“Then, can I ask you something?”
“Easton Voss, you better not be asking me to marry you.” I expected nothing less from her.
I chuckle, shake my head, and lean forward to pepper kisses along her cheek. “Not today. Would you just listen to me, woman?”
