“It means son. It means she sees him as part of her family.”
I focus on my glass of wine. How fucked up our life was for such a simple thing to make me want to cry. Sheapprovesof their relationship. And because of this, Jack has a family that loves him like a son. Like he should have been loved by his own family.
“And what about your weekend?” Evie asks me, wiggling her eyebrows.
I swallow my sip of wine and clear my throat. I bet she knows exactly what we did.
“We spent Saturday morning hiking,” Nate answers. “We had lunch in a beachfront restaurant, then we did some shopping before we went to the hotel spa. And this morning, we slept in late so we only had the time to visit the museum after lunch before we came back here.”
“Did you bring us presents?” Jack asks, lifting a brow.
“They’re still in the car,” he says, tilting his head towards the front door. “I can get them before we head back.”
Beforewehead back… Am I upset that he included me in this sentence? Like it’s obvious that I’m spending the night at our—his—house? I mean, I do have a lot of stuff over there. Most of my work clothes, my tablet, my sketchbook. He bought my favorite coffee, has a stock of my trusted shampoo and conditioner in our—damn, his—bathroom. He switched from orange juice to grape juice because I prefer it… We have a favorite show that we watch together.
Oh my god, am I living with him? Without even noticing? Why is my heart doing weird loops and why do I have excited flutters in my belly?
“You guys could stay here for the night, I don’t mind,” Jack says with a smile. “And we can all grab breakfast together before Prue heads to work in the morning?”
Nate turns his face to look at me, waiting for me to answer. And it hits me. I would prefer to head backhome. Toourhome. This house is Jack’s and Ikram’s, and I’m just a guest here. Jack will always be my first home, my safe place. But I’m building something with Nate. Something strong, something that will last. And because I love that man more than I don’t think I’ve ever loved before, I’m not relying on my safety net as much as I used to. On Jack. Because I don’t need to anymore. I trust—I know—that Nate won’t drop me.
I smile at him. The man who loved me and lost his best friend for it.The man who, piece by piece, managed to tear my walls down. The man who gave Jack his legs and hope back.
“Sure, we can stay for the night,” I say. Because no matter if I feel more comfortable next door, having Nate with me makes any place feel like home.
“I’m supposed to have a call with Naveen and Tham tomorrow morning, you could join,” Jack adds innocently as Ikram starts to take away the plates to serve his dessert.
My smile falters slightly.
“Maybe.”
We haven’t talked about what we’ve learned in Aspen. I put all my energy into keeping all of it tight in the small box at the back of my mind. And, as Jack talks with our siblings on a regular basis, I’m doing my best to avoid them, focusing instead on developing my life here. Maybe in a few weeks, or months.
For now, I’m learning about myself and how to be happy. How to be my own person. How to follow my needs, desires, and own path, and embracing the choices Jack made to lead us here.
And one day, I’ll talk to our siblings. Maybe give them a chance. I’ll even tell Jack about the history he refused to hear about but that I asked for anyway.
We’re both healing, and Jack is doing a better job than I am.
But I’ll get there, eventually. I know I will.
“Can you get one of your shirts?” I ask, looking around my room awkwardly.
“You don’t have any of your outrageous sleeping clothes here?”
His arms circle my waist tenderly as his soft chuckle warms my temple. I relax in his arms, feeling his soft lips dropping a few kisses along my hairline.
“I barely have any clothes left here, to be honest. I think the few I had were the ones you packed for our weekend. Along with theoutrageous—”
“God, those little things…” He bites at his lower lip with a dreamy lookon his face. “I’ll have to buy more of them.”
“Obviously, since you absolutely destroyed the ones—”
“Let’s not put blame on each other, okay?” He interrupts me, tickling my sides. “What was I supposed to do? You were stuck in that lacy piece of heaven.”
I scoff. “I was notstuck. You just couldn’t unclasp it.”
“Same thing. That delicious nakedness of yours was hidden and all the things I wanted to taste and touch were inaccessible. We need to get more of those, but with an—easier access.”
