Chapter 39 Kaelee
Kaelee
After Julia left, Kaelee looked around her tiny studio and thought about what she wanted.
She’d let her fears of her father rising up like a boogeyman cage her, and she’d let the image of marriage that she had from her mother limit her vision.
Kaelee thought about the last few weeks; she deserved love as much as anyone.
Kaelee opened the app and selected her dormant conversation with Marie.
Lee: I wanted to let you know I met someone. Her name is Greta.
Marie: Oh?
Lee: You were the first step in figuring out what I wanted.
Marie: What’s that?
Lee: Great sex, which you provided, but also love.
Marie: Love?
Lee: The sort that can evolve into forever.
Marie: So what does that mean?
Lee: I can’t do casual sex or dating without a future, Marie. I love Greta and want to build a future with her.
Marie:…
Marie: Greta is a lucky woman. Good luck to you both.
Kaelee waited for a moment, and her phone rang. She knew without looking that it was her. Smiling, she answered the phone.
“Do you mean it?” Greta asked.
“Mean what?” Kaelee asked.
“That you’re … that you…”
“Want a future with the woman I’m in love with?
Yes. I do mean that.” Kaelee grabbed a few odds and ends and tossed them in her bag.
She could go anywhere. Writers weren’t locked to a location, and her degree plan meant she was taking this term and the next off.
So she had no obligations tying her to DC other than a rent payment that was low and on auto-draft.
“What does that mean? How am I to reply to that?”
“You have a little under four hours to figure it out.” Kaelee laughed, feeling freer than she had in a lot of years. “Honestly, I have no fucking idea what we do now, but I’m going to Union Station and heading to New York to tell my person I love her and ask if we can figure out a future together.”
“We can. We will.” Greta sounded stunned. “Let me know when to pick you up at the train station…?”
“In about four hours if my train schedule is right,” Kaelee said. She paused then. “Is this okay? Just showing up?”
“It would be better if you didn’t leave.” Greta sighed. “I’ve missed you so much, and I wasn’t sure if pressuring you for a visit was too soon or—”
“Not too soon.”
“I can spend weekends in DC if you want to spend weekdays in Manhattan,” Greta offered.
“Or I can put my stuff in storage and spend the semester up there,” Kaelee countered, heart racing too fast at the thought of staying in New York, staying with Greta, trying this relationship every day.
“My lease ends in two months anyhow, and I didn’t renew because of the whole business with Tripp.
I thought I might have to … run away from here. ”
“Move in with me for real, not just the semester,” Greta blurted out.
Kaelee’s voice felt raspy in her throat as she said, “Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you, and I can afford—”
“Move in with me,” Greta repeated. “Come here. Tell me you love me, and stay with me.”
“How long?” Kaelee asked.
“How’s forever?”
“I’d like to try that, Greta. I really, really think I would,” Kaelee said. “Let me grab a bigger suitcase, and then we can come back here to deal with storage and—”
“Kaelee,” Greta interrupted with a laugh. “Pack faster. I want to hear you tell me you love me and want to stay with me when you are here in front of me. Pack. Get on the train. Come to me now.”
Kaelee laughed. “On the way.”
There were a million details to sort out, but the real issue—the fear that had caged her—was gone.
She’d do her best to build a life with Greta, to treat her like the treasure she was, and to build a future where they were both happy and together.
That was everything. Her rules to avoid a relationship had failed miserably, and now? Now she was right in the middle of one.
With a huge smile on her face, Kaelee closed her bag and walked out the door to head toward her future with the woman she loved.