THIRTY-ONE
Lincoln
Sometime in the not-so-distant future…
I finish setting the last few books on the shelf, knowing full well that the moment she walks in and sees this, she’ll likely rearrange every bit of it.
But I don’t care, it was finally done.
I hear a key in the front door and step back, making sure everything was in order for when she came in and saw it.
Pleased with what I saw, I head out into the hallway that leads to the living room and see Cassie come through the door.
Her hair is up in a messy bun, and her face is clear and free of makeup, my favorite look on her, as she rolls her carry-on suitcase through the door. I step forward to take it from her, and she looks at me, giving me a big smile that makes my heart thump faster in my chest.
How the hell did I get so lucky that I get to be on the receiving end of that smile?
I set her suitcase down by our kitchen table and pulled her into my arms, breathing a sigh of relief and comfort to have her home again. “How was your trip?”
She pulls back to look at me. “It was good. My agent is so nice and really excited to get the ball rolling.”
Cassie signed with her agent three months ago, and they had only just now been able to go and meet each other. Her agent flew her out to an event that she said Cassie should be at, and unfortunately, it was right over the hockey season, so I was unable to go.
“Sounds like a good trip.” I lean forward, taking her lips with my own, relishing in the feeling of having her in my arms again. Doesn’t matter if it’s four days or one, I’ll miss her no matter what.
Cassie glances around the apartment. “You cleaned! It smells so fresh in here.”
She heads over to the couch to plop down, and I glance around the room. After we got together, Cassie started staying with me half the time at the hockey house, which worked out okay, but I knew she wasn’t fully comfortable there.
I had hesitated in bringing up moving in together, not wanting to push her too soon, but she beat me to the punch.
She’d told me that her mom and George—great guy, by the way—were going to move in together, and so Cassie was going to get her own place. She’d said, “I’m either going to get myself an apartment or we’re getting one, it’s your choice.”
The way she’d said it had been so matter of fact that I laughed, teasing her about asking me to move in with her.
But the reality was that I was thrilled.
We found a place together the next weekend.
A little two-bedroom apartment with a small but functional kitchen, laundry, and a view of the mountains. We were close enough to campus to walk if we wanted—or if I wanted to. Cassie’s campus days were behind her now.
“I know you just plopped,” I tell her, smiling when she grins at me from her spot on the couch, the couch we fought over—and she won. But I also won when we got to christen it when we brought it home. “But I have something to show you.”
She stands without another word and lets me lead her to the second bedroom. “Oh, did you finally make your workout room?”
When we’d gotten this place, we contemplated what we would make the second bedroom. Since our families were close enough, we didn’t really need a guest room, so she had decided I could put my weights and workout equipment in here.
“Something like that,” I say, then push open the door to reveal all the work I’d done in the last few days—when I wasn’t winning hockey games.
She gasps, her eyes rounding, as she walks into the space, taking in every detail.
On the main wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves were filled with the boxes of books she brought when we moved in. Then on the opposite wall was a “statement” wall that had dark-green accents and trim pieces in a design that Mick helped me make.
The center of the room housed a desk with her laptop and pens and notebooks and a big, comfortable white desk chair that was said to give great back support.
But if she wasn’t feeling the desk for her writing, there was an oversized chair in the corner of the room for her to snuggle into, complete with a blanket draped over it stylishly.
Then, on the final wall that wasn’t the wall of windows behind her desk, I’d installed a free-standing fireplace, bringing the room together.
“Lincoln, this is…” She walked farther into the room, looking over everything. The desk, the chair, her writing stuff, the fireplace, and finally landing on the bookshelves. “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
I walk up behind her, placing my hands around her waist and pulling her into me.
She points to the middle of her bookshelf, where an empty book holder sits. “What’s that for?”
“That,” I start, stepping around her so I can see her face. “Is for your first book. When it gets published, we’ll place it right there.”
“Lincoln…” Cassie’s eyes start to water, and I pull her into me, proud of the work I did and happy she seems to like it. “I thought this was going to be a workout space for you.”
“I know that’s what you said. But the hockey gym is ten minutes away, I don’t need a gym.” I gesture around the room. “You need an office, Sunshine. You’ve got a few books to write and a fandom to build. You need a space to do that.”
She shakes her head and looks at me, her eyes taking me in like I’m a creature she’s never seen before. “How did I get this lucky?”
I smile and step closer to her, grasping her hand in mine and pulling her over to the chair in the corner. I sit, pulling her into my lap and resting there with her. The fireplace was on, giving a soft glow to the space as the sun started to set outside the windows.
“It’s not luck, Sunshine,” I say to her, looking up at her as she stares down at me with a look in her eyes that I’ll never get enough of. “It’s love.”