“I can’t believe we’re all going separate ways now. No more scrapbook club.”
“I think that’ll still happen,” I say, kissing the side of her neck.
“We did agree to do it virtually, and I’ll still run the club while I’m here doing my master’s too.”
“You wouldn’t be you without it, Queenie.”
The water laps around us, gently meeting the lake’s edge as we stand together, watching the sun disappear. I can’t stop the urge to ask my girl the one thing I’ve wanted to ask her since we woke up this morning. The words have been on the tip of my tongue all day, and now we’re alone, my skin is tingling.
I turn her around, taking her hand in mine, my voice steady despite the nerves. “You know, I spent so much time being blind to you, to what was right in front of me my entire life. I don’t want to waste any more time. I want to wake up to you every morning, I want to make you coffee with that awful peppermint creamer you love, I want you and me to make a home together.”
She looks up at me, her eyes reflecting the fading light. “You really mean that?”
I nod, feeling a lump form in my throat. “Will you move in with me, Queenie?”
A smile lights up her face. “I thought you’d never ask.”
She pulls me into a kiss full of promises, and I know I want to spend all of my tomorrows with her, because she’s the one who taught me that sometimes being fragile is what makes us strong.
***
