Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 76592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Henry parks, kills the engine, and glances over at me. “Welcome home.”
I can’t move. “You weren’t kidding.”
He shakes his head. “Come on.”
He leads me up the steps. The door swings open with a soft creak. Inside, the space is simple and warm with hardwood floors, a stone fireplace, and sunlight pouring through wide windows. It smells faintly like cedar and coffee. And him.
Like Henry.
There’s a couch. A kitchen that looks like someone actually plans to cook. A row of shelves half-filled with books. A single mug on the counter.
I look closely. It has my name on it.
“You already—” I start.
“Got you a mug?” His smile is crooked. “I got you a toothbrush too.”
I laugh, walking through the living room. “Henry, this is…”
“Yours,” he says.
“Ours.” The word slips out before I can stop it.
He closes the space between us. “I like the sound of that.”
When he kisses me this time, it’s not desperation or goodbye or relief. It’s the staying, the choosing, the ordinary miracle of two people who finally stopped running.
We end up on the couch, tangled in each other, Zach sprawled at our feet like he’s guarding something holy.
Maybe he is.
“Still think you can handle city life?” I whisper against his mouth.
“I can handle anything,” he murmurs. “As long as it ends like this.”
“Every day?”
“Every damned day.” He presses his forehead to mine. “You know what’s funny?”
“What?”
“All the time I couldn’t get Ralph and what happened out of my head, and then the accident… I longed for peace. Silence.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. But now peace isn’t silence. Now it’s you breathing next to me.”
My throat tightens. “That’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said.”
“And probably the truest.”
I trace my fingers down his arm. “I think we finally made it.”
He smiles, the kind of slow, easy smile that belongs to a man who knows what home is now. “No, Tabs. We’re just getting started. I love you, you know?”
I smile. “I know, but thank you for finally saying it. I love you too.”
Outside, the mountains stand tall. Inside, the world feels small and infinite all at once.
Our world.
Henry’s and mine.
Our lives bound together.
Forever.