She shifts into reverse and backs out of the driveway. I fasten my seat belt, and when we pick up speed on the road, I watch the windshield wipers whip back and forth. It starts to hit me that I’m on my own now. No more monthly allowance.
“I’ll need to get a job,” I say as I consider the logistics of my future. “Something to keep me going until I can start cooking school.” She takes hold of my hand across the console. “I can’t imagine where I’d be right now if I hadn’t met you. I’d still be drowning. Suffocating.”
“I just hope you don’t regret your decision later,” she replies, “and resent me for the rest of your life.”
“Never.” I lift her hand to my lips and kiss the back of it. “The only thing I’ll regret is not doing this sooner. I wasted a lot of time preparing for the LSAT when I could have been starting cooking school.”
“But if things were different,” she says, “you and I might never have met.”
I lean my head back against the seat. “You’re right, so I shouldn’t regret anything. Life is unfolding as it should. Which means I’m going to have to figure out how to get out of my lease. There’s no way I can afford that apartment and save up for school at the same time.”
We pass cozy houses along the rocky coastline and sailboats moored in the bay, bobbing up and down on heavy swells from the storm. I turn to Sienna and admire her profile as she keeps her eyes on the narrow, winding road.
“You should move in with me,” I say before I consider the full ramifications of the suggestion. Is Sienna even ready for a step like that? I know she’s crazy about me. We’ve spent every waking moment together over the past month. I’m head over heels in love with this girl, and I can’t imagine what I’d do if I lost her now. But it’s been only a month.
Sienna grins and gives me a sidelong glance. “Easy now. You’ve had a rough day. Maybe now’s not the time to be making big decisions.”
I turn in the seat to face her. “Yeah, but when you know, you know, and this is the real thing between you and me. Right?”
She smiles again, and I feel a burst of excitement that seems absurd after the argument I just had with my father. He just cut me off financially and disowned me. He’ll probably call his lawyer in the morning and remove me from his will. I’ll be dead to him.
Nevertheless, my heart is galloping with gusto into the future. Not only culinary school, but a possible life with Sienna.
“Just think about it,” I say. “We could split the rent, and our dogs could be roomies ... keep each other company when we’re working.”
Sienna keeps driving as she considers it. “It’s a gorgeous apartment. A lot nicer than mine.”
“We’ve practically been living together anyway. You sleep at my place every night, and your apartment’s just sitting there empty. It’s money out the window.”
She laughs. “This is crazy, Nate! We only met last month!”
I face forward in the seat, tip my head back, and blink up at the roof of the car. “You’re right. But I’m feeling wild, like somebody just cut shackles off my ankles, and all I want to do is run.” I turn my head to look at her again. “I just want to be happy and stop worrying about what others think about my choices. And I want to wake up with you every morning and hear you talk about your work. I want to spend time with your family, who I love, by the way. And I want to cook for you. Every night.”
She gives me a dazzling smile. “Thatsounds tempting. But I don’t know if I can handle any more big changes right now, especially with all the extra workload. With those two new decorators I just hired, I might have to look for a new space to expand.”
“Maybe living with me would help with all that.” I face her more squarely. “Because we’re good together. You know we are.”
“I do, and it shocks the hell out of me because I never thought I’d ever want to be with someone again after ...”
She doesn’t finish the thought, but she doesn’t have to. I know what she was about to say.
“But I do want to be with you,” she adds.
I slant her a look and raise an eyebrow. “Is that a yes? Will you move in with me?”
She carefully considers it, then slowly nods her head. “I think I should.”
And there it is. The start of something.
I take hold of her hand, raise it to my lips, and kiss it over and over until she starts laughing.
“This is going to be amazing,” I tell her. And for the first time, I feel like I’m finally stepping into the life I’m meant to live, with the woman who woke me up to everything that truly matters.
As for my dad?
I don’t care if I ever talk to him again. I don’t need him or his money. I can do this on my own. He can go kick rocks.
Chapter Nine
