49. Sully
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
sully
IWOKE EARLY THE next morning and couldn’t get back to sleep.
And despite how much I loved being wrapped in the same blankets as Ellie, I worried I’d wake her with my fidgeting.
I found it so hard not to touch her when she was so close, not to stroke her hair and plant kisses on her shoulder.
She was my greatest temptation, and I wanted her to rest.
A while ago, we moved the Millennium Falcon to the kitchen table because, to be honest, we used it a lot less than the coffee table in the living room.
Our focus on completing it had dwindled in the past several weeks, so a few remaining pieces still lingered on the tabletop, and I picked them up, assessing what needed to be done yet.
Or, attempting to while images of last night flashed through my head.
That, and the reminder that Ellie had agreed to marry me, something I had yet to fully conceptualize.
Especially considering that she kept talking about it like it was a real thing.
Like we might actually need to tell people and plan things.
I asked if she wanted to share it officially when we saw the entire family at Christmas, and she pushed back and questioned what the plans were for Thanksgiving, which was really only about a few weeks away.
But it was enough time to take her out and propose to her properly, the way I’d planned to from the beginning.
It wasn’t anything extravagant; I’d been twenty and broke when I bought her ring, using all the money in my name when I stumbled upon a small solitaire diamond set in a vintage band with golden twists that reminded me of something from a fantasy, from a place a little more magical than Earth, somewhere I imagined Eleanor was born.
I wanted to propose in a hidden spot that reminded me of make-believe, somewhere in Rosewood I’d never actually taken her before—a tree-covered trail that ran between the lake we swam in as kids and the field we snuck into to gaze at stars.
After forcing my thoughts to the present, I managed to figure out where one of the LEGO pieces went and was just snapping it into place when I heard the creak of the staircase.
“You’re up early,” came a soft voice as it rounded the corner, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Ellie wrapped in my old robe, with its brown stripes and fraying stitching where my name had been embroidered by my mom.
“Yeah, couldn’t get back to sleep.” I opened my arms for her, and she walked right into them, perching herself on my knee. “I was trying not to wake you, though.”
“You didn’t, but I must have sensed you were gone.” She smiled down at me, and I wondered if I’d ever get over how good her existence felt. That I got to experience it. “Did you make coffee yet?”
“Not yet,” I said. “But why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll get it brewing.”
Ellie nodded, yawning sleepily as we switched places. She slid onto the chair and immediately began tinkering with the LEGO pieces, making me grin to myself as I crossed the kitchen.
“How are you feeling today?” I asked, catching a hint of a flush as it worked over Ellie’s face.
“Good. Really good.” She dropped her head into her hand, covering her cheek with her palm. “Hey, Sawyer?”
“Yeah?” I hesitated, coffee grounds in hand.
“Can we make regular coffee today?” she asked, tapping a LEGO brick on the table and staring at the mostly completed Millennium Falcon.
My heart skipped a few beats. “Instead of decaf?”
She nodded before finally blinking up at me. Her eyes were soulful, matching the color of the walls we painted. Acceptance lingered there, something bittersweet. I doubted it would ever fade entirely, and that was okay.
We were going to be okay.
“Of course.” I had to clear the scratchiness from my throat. “Whatever you want.”
She straightened and crooked a finger at me, beckoning. “I want you to come over and help me finish this.”
“Be there in a second.”
Hurriedly, I threw the coffee together and marched back to her side. Ellie stood, gesturing to the seat she’d been in despite there being another chair opposite us, and I sat, pulling her down onto my lap once more. We worked in silence, listening to the drip of caffeine.
When the coffee was done, she filled mugs for both of us and set them on the table.
Back on my lap, she clicked a piece into place after checking the directions.
She took a sip of the coffee. Leaned back against my chest, let her head drop on my shoulder.
I held her tight, longing to know what was going on in her brain.
“How’s the coffee?”
Ellie hesitated, but only for a moment. “I like the flavor.”
“Yeah, it has a hint of caramel in it.” I pressed my face into the curve of her neck and inhaled the scent of her shampoo.
“Something a little sweet in the bitterness.” I nipped at a tender spot behind her ear, thinking how she was my something sweet in a world that wasn’t always kind and how I wanted to be that for her, too.
Ellie hummed, and I closed my eyes, feeling her shift a little and listening to the sound of plastic snapping together. When I blinked my eyes open again, I found her holding a LEGO piece out for me.
“Last piece,” she said softly.
I raised a brow. “Are you giving me the honors?”
“Yeah, baby.” Flutters filled my stomach, making me feel thirteen again. “I think you deserve it.”
Taking it from her, I followed the point of her finger, quickly identifying where it needed to go. Once it was in place, we both sat back, assessing the completed model.
Nine hundred and twenty-one pieces.
Three hundred and thirty-nine steps.
One by one.
Little by little.
And look at it now.
“I think it’s ready to take on the empire,” Ellie said, making a grin split onto my face.
“I think you’re right.” I turned it so we could get a glimpse of it from all angles. “Wow. So…what do we do now?”
Ellie shrugged, breathless laughter leaving her lips. “Take it apart and put it back together again?”
But she shook her head, not serious. Some of her words lingered, though. Took shape. Meant something.
“I think we’ve done a lot of rebuilding already, El.” She twisted sideways in my lap to look at me, and I brushed her bangs aside so I could see her pretty eyes better. “What about starting something new?”
She pulled back, looking at me with all the hope in the world in her gaze. I watched a smile slowly build on her face until it overtook her entire expression.
“Something new sounds perfect.”