38. Chapter 38
Sadie
My baking might not have been the best, but having time and ingredients to actually do what I wanted was amazing. I pulled a pan of cookies from the oven and smiled as the smell filled the kitchen.
“Cookies!” Alyssa said, tearing into the kitchen.
“They’re too hot.” I put them on the island and pulled out the cooling racks.
“Guess what?” she asked, sitting on a stool.
“What?”
“You know that course Cole has been working on? I totally wasted all the football players with my time.”
I glanced at her dirty clothes. “Nice.”
“Yep. And you used to tell me not to climb on the wrong side of the fire escape. I’m sure it helped me win.”
I laughed. “I’ve seen you climb some questionable things.”
I slid a cookie onto the rack, and Alyssa grabbed it. “Ouch, ouch, ouch!” Instead of putting it down, she folded it in half and shoved it into her mouth. She fanned her face wildly. “Hot.”
“No kidding.”
She ran, got a cup, and went to the fridge to pour some milk. As soon as she drank it, she came over and reached for another cookie.
“Really?” I asked.
“They had another minute to cool.” She grabbed one. “I’m going to shower. I’m gross.”
She hurried off down the hall, and I took a cookie.
I heard the front door open, and Cole came in. “Hey,” he said, grabbing a cookie.
“Alyssa said she outperformed all your football players.”
He grinned. “She smoked them. I think at least a third of them are half in love with her.”
“She used to freak us all out when she was little. She was always climbing something. Or jumping out of trees. It was crazy.”
“I can imagine.” He shoved his cookie into his mouth. I might need to make bigger cookies if everyone was going to treat them as bite-sized.
“Do you want to see something?” I asked, grabbing my laptop.
“Sure.”
I opened it and showed him my scores from my first week of online classes.
“Perfect scores. Nice.”
“I’m not sure why it makes me so excited. It feels like I’m actually progressing and not just surviving in life.”
He wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Never go into survival mode again.”
I leaned against him. “I won’t.”
“You should come try the obstacle course.”
I gave a fake shiver. “Do I look like I need to be humiliated? I already know I’d never make it over the wall.”
“I’ll train you.”
“Because that worked so well the first time?”
He pulled me closer. “That didn’t work because all I wanted to do was hold you, and I knew that might get me a black eye.”
I kissed his cheek. “It might have.”
“You know you liked it.”
“But I would have protested out of principle.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Definitely.” I turned in his arms. “I’m glad I don’t have to pretend or protest anymore.”
“You and me both.” He kissed me softly, and I let myself sink into it, into him, into the warmth of knowing there was nowhere else I wanted to be.
I couldn’t believe how much had changed over the last few months. My job. My town. My heart. My dad was back. My sister was happy. And Cole filled every space in my life that had once felt empty.
He’d been the mess upstairs, but I hadn’t realized what a disaster I’d been. Maybe disaster was too strong a word. But I’d been drowning quietly, holding everything above my head so it wouldn’t pull me under.
Now Cole helped me carry it.
I was never going to get tired of kissing him. It was too perfect, too easy, like we’d finally stepped into the life we were always meant to have.
“Hey, you two?” Alyssa called.
We didn’t stop.
“I’m going to Dad’s. Is that okay?”
Cole pulled back just enough to speak. “Please, go.” Then his lips were back on mine.
Alyssa made a disgusted sound, but I knew her well enough to hear the smile behind it. Deep down, she loved romance as much as anyone.
“Bye,” she said. “Try to come up for air every minute or so.”
The door shut.
I pulled back and pressed my nose against his. It felt ridiculous. I didn’t care.
“I love you so much.”
He grinned. “Not as much as I love you.”
“I love you way more.”
“Let’s not argue about it,” he said softly. “I’ll just prove it.”
I giggled as my lips found his again.
This was a battle he wasn’t going to win.