61. Isaac
Chapter 61
Isaac
“ B y the way, I’m moving in,” is what she said to me when we left work together last week. Not a question, but a simple statement that reflected her seriousness in our relationship.
“No damage!” I attempt some gentle parenting as Liam carries the last of Jo’s boxes up to my apartment. She wasn’t lying when she said she was moving in. Two weeks and about 500 boxes later, all her belongings sit in the middle of my living room, just waiting to be sorted and organized.
“You owe me for this,” Liam jokes, making his way to the refrigerator for a beer. “My one bye week and I’m here moving your wife’s boxes.”
I clear my throat, taking the extra bottle he’s holding out to me. “Cool it, we’ve been dating for five minutes.”
“Plus 12 years.”
“Hey, where’s my beer?” Jo emerges from the bedroom, her hair pulled up in a clip. Liam turns around and pulls open the fridge once more. He hands her a bottle, and she twists it open with a hiss. She surveys the room and signs, downing half her beer in three uninterrupted gulps.
“Well, I’ll leave you two to this chaos.” Liam gestures at the piles of books and clothes and boxes littering the living room.
The moment the door clicks closed, Jo sets her beer down on the counter and falls into my chest. Her voice is muffled by my shirt when she whispers, “Home sweet home.” I gently brush my fingers against the exposed skin of her arms. She shivers against me though the room is warm. It may be mid-February, but those apartment stairs amounted to quite the workout.
“I’m sorry it took us this long, Jocelyn.” The words fall out of my mouth—a sincere apology for wasted years and mistimed love. As we stand here, surrounded by all our cherished belongings and memories, I mourn the loss of the days that I should’ve had my arms wrapped around her. I cherish this moment when I can stand next to her and hold her in my arms.
And I wish for a future where we can stand together and face the world.
She pulls back and looks up at me, the glisten of fresh tears in her eyes.
“I’m just glad we stopped being idiots and figured it out.” She smiles. “Liam is also especially relieved.”
I burst into laughter, knowing that he inevitably made his opinion known to her at some point in the last two moving days. “Carmen let me know that she’s glad I pulled my head out of my ass,” I use air quotes around Jo’s head to accentuate my words. “And stopped fumbling the bag.”
Jo buries her face in my chest again and laughs.
“I’ll be the bigger man and take the blame.” I pause. “But let’s be honest, this is basically all her fault.”
“Huh?” Jo pulls back and examines my face. “What the fuck did she do?”
“Scared the shit out of me, obviously.”
She laughs, releasing me from her grasp and falling back onto the last bit of open space on the couch. I grab her beer off the counter and hand it to her.
“Do you know when I fell in love with you?”
I kneel down in front of her on the carpeted floor and rest my chin on her knee. She leans forward and runs her fingers through my hair. “When?”
“That first day. We went to Golden Hour, and the Eagles song came on the jukebox.” I lean into where she’s placed her palm on my cheek. “I was a goner.”
“The cream soda and pickles is what got me.” She giggles.
Charlie makes a home between our legs, settling on top of my foot. I thought I would only get unconditional love from a dog, but turns out unconditional love, plus her dog, was right in front of me all along. Twelve years of stories consume the remainder of our evening. Unpacking can wait.
We have the rest of our lives.