Arlo walks up to the counter with a look on his face I haven’t seen in a while.
“Morning, Sheriff,” I drawl. I will still call him Sheriff on occasion just to piss him off a little.
“You busy after you close up?”
I straighten my back, going into business mode. “I can be free. What’s up?”
“Lost hiker in the park. We have a search party on it but aren’t getting anywhere fast. Their family is at the station, and we aren’t getting a ton of information out of them, so I was hoping you could stop by and talk to them.”
“Yeah. I’ll head over when I close down.”
“Thanks, man, I appreciate it.” He doesn’t even ask for a coffee or food, just turns around and heads right back out.
That’s been a pleasant surprise as well. I didn’t really know what to expect when I told him I would help out on occasion, but it filled a part of my soul I didn’t realize I was missing. After many therapy sessions, I came to realize completely shutting off that side of my life was doing more harm than good. Tennison was the exception to every rule, and I still missed the problem-solving, the look on loved ones faces when we got them answers. Arlo has allowed me to keep that, and although the cases have been pretty straightforward, it’s still nice to help out where I can.
Willow helped push me a lot with that, allowing me to see that it’s still possible to be fulfilled, even if it’s only a few times a year.
Latte delivered and interview conducted, which actually led to recovering the lost hiker, I’m now on my way back to Grind Time to check on Willow.
If you would have told me five years ago that I would be loving the slower pace of life, I think I would have died from laughing too hard. But here I am, walking to check on my amazing woman and loving every single second of it.
I hear soft music as I walk up the stairs to the converted apartment, which is unusual. If Willow listens to music, she usually puts on her headphones and immerses herself in it. Instantly, worry hits my chest.This isn’t her norm, so could this be a writer’s block? Is she stuck, and she’s trying something to unblock herself? Did something happen?
Yeah, the overthinking hasn’t gone away in the year and a half since we’ve been together. If anything, it’s worse when it comes to her. I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll always worry about her, no matter the situation, even if she is fully capable of taking care of herself.
“Will?” I call out as I hit the top step and turn the doorknob.
The sight that greets me is nothing short of perfection.
Willow in a little slip of a black dress, candles lit and twinkle lights shining through the whole office.
“What…” I trail off because I don’t have words.
“I missed you while you were out saving the world.” She walks up to me, wrapping her hands around my neck as best as she can with the height difference.
“I was hardly saving the world, just getting a sketchy family their kid back.”
“Well, regardless of how you interpret it, I missed you.” She lifts up on her toes to press a kiss to my jaw.
“I missed you too,” I murmur. “Did you get your chapter done?”
“I got three chapters done.”
“Overachiever.”
“You were gone a while.”
“And yet you still had time to set this all up.” I smile into her temple.
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Mission complete, then.”
We start swaying to the soft music in the background, holding each other and being completely in the moment.
“I can’t believe this is my life some days,” she says.
“Me either, but I’ve stopped questioning it.”
