Chapter 36 The L-word
WREN
“Where are you taking me now,” I ask as Tanner pulls out of the escape room parking lot.
“I needed to run an errand, and then I thought we could go grab a bite to eat.”
“What kind of errand?”
“You’ll see.” He smirks, grabbing my upper thigh with his right hand. I place my hand over his and link our fingers.
“Today has been a really good day,” I say. “I can’t believe we made it out with time still on the clock. I was so nervous we weren’t going to make it.”
“With you I think anything is possible, so I wasn’t surprised. I can’t believe Ted cock-blocked me in that secret room,” he chuckles.
“I promise to make it up to you later.”
“Oh, do you?”
“Yes.”
He continues to drive, and we both sing along to the music playing through the speakers. I mindlessly scroll on my phone.
“Anything else from your boss?” he asks.
“No, they must be surviving without me. Did your dad reach out?”
“Of course not,” he says, merging into a turn lane.
I click on my email and scroll through the new messages. Four messages from the top, I have one from the mattress company that reads: Shipping Update. Clicking on it, I scan the contents. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I laugh.
“What?”
“It looks like my mattress got delayed again. Something about a cargo ship overturning. I guess my mattress is currently sinking to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.”
“Well it’s a good thing you don’t need one for a while.”
A while. The plan was for me to only stay with him a few months, and I know we’re dating now, but we haven’t talked about whether or not I should look for a different place to stay.
While being exclusive was a no brainer, living together officially seems like such a bigger decision.
I make a mental note to look into alternative places to stay when I have time.
We’re already burning pretty hot—I don’t want us rushing into something more serious too quickly and fizzling out.
“Yeah. I just can’t believe I’ve hit another issue with this mattress. I guess I can go back to sleeping on the—”
“If you finish that sentence, I’m going to take you home and teach that pretty mouth of yours a lesson. Now that you’ve been in my bed, you will only be sleeping curled up in my arms.”
“So bossy,” I tease.
“You like it.”
And he’s right. I do like it.
“So, what were you thinking for food?”
“I’ve got an idea, but if you were craving something different, we could eat whatever you wanted.”
“Why don’t we say it on three?”
“Okay. One. Two. Three,” he counts.
“Italian,” we say at the same time.
“Thank god. I’ve been craving that since Ted said it in his little spiel.” I giggle.
“Me too,” he says, parking the car in front of a building I’ve never seen before.
“Where are we?”
“Logan’s mom, Gwen’s, art studio.”
“Why?” I look at him a little confused. I knew Logan’s mom was an artist. I met her at Donovan and Enzo’s wedding in July, but I’ve never been to her studio before, and Tanner didn’t mention anything about Logan today.
“Do you trust me?” he asks, grabbing both of my hands.
“Yes. Wait, what’s going on?”
“Do you remember when I mentioned starting small with art classes and working your way up to full-blown camps?”
“What did you do?”
“Well, you said that you didn’t know where you would host classes like that, and so it got me thinking that Gwen owns an art studio.”
I stare at him blankly, trying to process what he’s saying.
“I wasn’t sure about how accessible it was, so I came down the other day and toured it, and I don’t know much, but I think it might be perfect, and Gwen seemed really excited about the idea.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I told you I’d figure it out.”
“I know, and I’m not trying to overstep.
You are completely capable of doing this camp thing on your own, and if you hate this idea, we can leave and go carb load on pasta, breadsticks, and wine.
But I also know that you’re stubborn, and you're a little scared to take the leap because you don’t want to fail, and I get it.
I understand being scared of failing, so I thought maybe if I gave you a little friendly push, you could finally have a piece of your dream.
I know it’s not the whole camp plan, but I think it's a really good start.”
I lean forward and press my lips against his. “Thank you,” I say, tears filling my eyes. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
The L-word pops into my head, and my stomach flips. This seems too fast for love. I mean, fuck, it’s only been a day, but damn if I’m not falling harder for him by the second.
“You want to go see it and talk to Gwen?”
“Yes.” I smile and nod my head. “Let’s go.”
We climb out of the car, and I follow him down the sidewalk to a door about a block from where we parked. He doesn’t let go of my hand, and I smile at the thought that, since we started this thing, he hasn’t let many moments go by that he wasn’t touching me in some way.
“Okay, so there are three handicap parking spots right here,” he says, pointing to three spaces up ahead of us.
“That’s great.”
“And there’s no stairs to enter the building, which I thought would be good because I’ve been reading, and I know a lot of times people with brain injuries can have trouble with balance, and I know Cody uses a wheelchair.”
“You’ve been reading?”
“Yeah, I know it’s important to you, so I want to know more about it.”
I stop right before we reach the door of the studio, and he turns to face me. Tears fill my eyes, and his face falls. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s just…” I say, my face breaking out into a smile.
“I don’t understand how you ever thought I deserved more than you.
This whole day has felt magical, and now we’re here and you’ve taken your time to learn about something so close to my heart.
Tanner, you’re incredible, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. ”
I step towards him and wrap my arms around his neck. Pressing my lips to his, he pulls me against him. Butterflies dip and swoop in my stomach.
“For what it’s worth,” he says, breaking our kiss but still holding me close, “today was easily the second best day of my life.”
“The second?”
“Yep, the best was the day I met you.” He leans forward and kisses the tip of my nose. “Now let’s go make your dream a reality.”
He takes my hand again and opens the door. We walk into the studio space. It’s large and spacious with lots of natural light. Gwen walks out from the back wearing loose overalls covered by an apron splattered with paint. Her light brown hair is pulled back out of her face using a clip.
“Hi, you two. Thanks for stopping by.” She smiles at both of us warmly.
“It’s so nice to see you again,” I say.
“Yeah, thanks for meeting with us,” Tanner says, letting go of my hand long enough to wrap Gwen up in a hug.
“Tanner tells me you’re looking for a place to hold art classes,” she says. “Would you like a tour of the studio?”
“I’d love that.”
Her studio is incredible. There’s a private studio where she paints most of her pieces, a splatter paint room, and a small gallery of her paintings.
“Are the tables adjustable?” I ask when she shows me the classroom space in the back. It’s lined with long, counter-high tables and barstools, and while I’m sure the current set-up meets the needs of her usual clients, my students would require a more accessible set-up.
“They aren’t,” she says. “Would they need to be?”
“Yeah, the barstools might work for some people, but it would be safer if we could use chairs and then if someone is in a wheelchair, like my brother, we would need to lower the table so he could use it.”
“Hmmm, well if you want to bring in adjustable tables, I wouldn’t be opposed to that,” Gwen says.
“That might be doable. I’d just need to look into how much they cost. How much were you thinking you’d charge me to use the space? I’d probably start out with one class a month. If the turn out is good, then I might want to add more down the line.”
“Oh, honey. You don’t have to pay me. We’ll just need to work it around my current schedule which shouldn’t be that hard.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. You two are friends with Logan and Poppy, so that makes you family.”
“Well thank you. Your studio is great, and I’m so excited to get this started. You have no idea how much this means to me. I’ll look into the tables, and then maybe we can meet again soon and get a plan together for the first class.”
“Sounds perfect. I’m happy to help in any way I can.”
“Gwen, do you mind if I use the bathroom before we head out?” Tanner asks.
“Nope, through the door on the left.”
“Thanks. I’ll be right back,” he says, kissing me on the side of the head and then walking away.
“It’s so nice to see two young people in love,” Gwen muses, sitting on one of the barstools.
“I’m sorry?” I ask. “No, we just started dating last night. It’s too soon for love, but maybe one day.”
“Hmm,” she hums. “I know love when I see it, and that boy loves you very much. He wouldn’t have called me if he didn’t. And I recognize the look on your face. It’s the same one Poppy makes when she’s around my son.”
“You ready to go?” Tanner asks, walking back in from the bathroom.
“Oh, uh, yep. Thanks again, Gwen. I’ll be in touch really soon.”
“I look forward to it. I’m so glad y’all stopped by.”
We walk out of the studio, and a cool breeze sends a shiver through me. “Goodness, it’s getting colder.”
“Hold on,” Tanner says, removing his jacket. He wraps it around my shoulders and pulls me into his side, rubbing my arm with his hand. “Is that better?”
“Much better.”
“What were you two talking about when I went to the bathroom?”
The L-word pops into my head again, and my heart rate spikes.
“Just art class stuff,” I lie, and my stomach sinks. An unwanted memory of my breakup with Chad pops into my head, and I realize I’m terrified of the word love. I’m terrified that I’ll eventually put myself out there and it won’t be returned. Or worse, he’ll say it and won’t mean it.