I close my eyes and hold on to him.No one has ever made me feel like this.Like I am chosen, like I am cherished, like I am safe even when the world is burning down around us.
“You’re my whole world,” he whispers.He brushes a careful thumb near my uninjured cheek.“I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.”
“You got to me.”
“They hurt you.”
“And you came.”
“I should have stopped it from happening.”
“You can’t control everything.”
He looks like he strongly disagrees.
I take both of his hands again.“Cooper, listen to me.I don’t need you to be perfect.I need you to come back.I need you to tell me the truth.I need you to be there for me, and you always are.”
He swallows hard.
“I love you.I want to be there for you always too.”
He nods, pressing his forehead against mine for a moment.
“What kind of future do you want?”he asks suddenly.
I blink.“What?”
“With me,” he says.“Tell me.I’ll give it to you.”
My chest aches.“Cooper, you can’t just give me a whole future.”
“Yes, I can.”
He says it so seriously that I almost laugh again, but then I think about it.
A future.
Not running.Not surviving.Not counting money and bracing for the next bad thing.
A future.
“I want this house,” I say slowly.“With my things in your drawers and my books on your shelves.”
“Our shelves.”
“Our shelves,” I agree.“I want a job in town someday.Something normal.I want Sunday breakfasts and date nights and walks through the woods where I don’t flinch at every sound.”
His face softens with every word.
“I want Taylor close,” I continue.“I want to be an aunt.I want to watch her baby grow up knowing they’re safe and loved.”
“You will.”
He kisses me, and I melt against him.When my lip starts to bleed again, Cooper pulls back, cursing.
“You need to rest,” he says.
“You need to shower.”
