“What if I don’t want to go to that art school anymore? What if I changed my mind? After all, I decided to be with you—leave with you—knowing that you might go to Massachusetts.”
He put his hands on the chain-link fence on either side of my head as he stared down at me. “I want you to listen to me when I say this: My dream, what I work hard for, is to be happy. For thefour of us to be happy. I know what my friends need to be happy. Right now, I want you to tell me what you need to be happy.”
“You can’t just make other people happy?—”
“Tell me what would make you happy, Lottie. What are your dreams? If you tell me, then I will tell you what will make me happy—what I want out of this life.”
I couldn’t move my eyes from his. “I want to draw.”
“What else?”
“I don’t care where we move. As long as I can continue to draw and do something with it.”
“Okay. What else?”
“I…” I had been so focused on the immediate future with this new life I had been given that I hadn’t looked further. “I want a house. Our house. Just big enough for the four of us, or maybe a little bigger to fit a few more people.”
He smiled. “Who are the few more people?”
“So people can come visit. Like Bram, Vivian, Noble, or Mac. Our families.”
“Is that what the extra room is for? Just our visiting friends and families?” His smile never wavered as he pushed me to say it.
“Isn’t it too soon to talk about such things?” I asked.
“Why? You’re going to move away with us in a few months. If you can do that, you can tell me what you want from me and our relationship.”
Fine.“I want it all. I want to be an artist. I want you three, I want the house, the yard, maybe even a pet. And yes, I want to have children. One day. When we’re ready. In like ten years. I want to have a family and a home that is full of love.”
His hand went to my cheek. “When I look ahead, I want a house that is warm and feels safe for you. Your drawings are hanging in every room. Wyatt’s working on an old, ugly car in the garage or he’s drawing a new comic. Reid has finally decidedwhat he wants to do, be it go back to school or find full-time work somewhere. I want to find you in a room we’ve designated as your studio. I want to see your hands covered in charcoal and you’re so locked in on your current drawing that you don’t even notice me watching you. I want that. I want that peace. It might be simple to some, but it’s what my dream is. Everything else is extra. MIT or Stanford just add to it. They were my top picks, but not the only places I applied. You are part of the main dream. You, Wyatt, and Reid.”
“There isn’t a career you want to pursue?” I asked him.
His hands went to my waist. “Data science has always interested me.”
My brows rose. No wonder MIT was one of his top picks. “And you would have settled for being my assistant?”
He leaned down and kissed my jaw, then my neck. “Before, I would have done it just to be near you.”
“And now?”
He pulled away smirking. “Now you don’t have to pay me to let you sit on my face.”
I rolled my eyes.
“We can do it anytime you want.” His mouth went back to my neck, kissing it, as his hands at my waist pulled me against him.
“I can’t sit on your face right now,” I said, even though the thought was very appealing.
“Why not? I could lay down in that storage shed, pull your panties down, and have you take a seat.”
I clenched my thighs together and I gave him a little push away. “We can’t. We should be keeping an eye out.”
He leaned back. “He’s not here. I heard that he and the rest of the baseball team are all at a tournament. So we don’t have to worry about him today.”
That was a relief. “I’m still not sitting on your face in a dark and no doubt spider-infested shed.”
He dramatically sighed in a way Wyatt would have. “Fine.”
