We finish inventory by three. I'm exhausted. Not from the work, from everything. The emotional weight of the last few days catching up.
"Come home with me," Ethan says.
"To your cabin?"
"Yeah, you've never actually seen it properly. You’ve neen inside, sure, but not really seen it."
I think about it. About going to his place in daylight. No secrets. No sneaking around. Just visiting my boyfriend's house like a normal person.
Boyfriend. The word sits strange in my mind. We haven't defined this. Haven't talked about what we are beyond wanting each other.
"Okay," I say. "Let me lock up."
The drive to his cabin takes twenty minutes. Trees line the road. Sky wide and blue above us. He turns onto the dirt drive I remember from that night. The cabin appears through the trees.
It's beautiful.
Small but well-built. Wood siding weathered to gray. A porch with two chairs. Garden plot off to one side, plants already coming up.
"You did all this?" I ask.
"Most of it. Luke helped with the framing."
We get out. He shows me around. The garden where he grows vegetables. The workshop where he builds furniture. The creek that runs through the property.
Inside, everything is neat and spare. But I notice details I missed before. Books on the shelf about carpentry and gardening. Photos of his sister and her kids. A quilt his mother made folded on the back of the couch.
"It's perfect," I tell him.
"It's small."
"It's you."
He looks at me, and there’s something vulnerable in his expression. "You really think so?"
"Yeah, I do."
He crosses the room, and takes my hand. "I want you here. Not just today. But regularly. Whenever you want. However you want."
My heart kicks up. "Ethan."
"I know we haven't defined this. Haven't talked about what we are. But I know what I want."
"What do you want?"
"You. Here. In my space. In my life. Not hiding. Not secret. Just with me."
The honesty of it steals my breath. "I want that too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
He kisses me. Soft and slow. Nothing urgent about it. Just connection. Just us.
When we break apart, he rests his forehead against mine. "I should probably feed you. Dinner's not for a few hours but I have food here."
"I'm not hungry."
