Page 42 of Better Than Expected

“Better than last year?” Hannah asked, initially teasing, but – actually genuinely questioning.

“Last year was the best at the time,” Caroline acknowledged with a grin, “You kissing me in front of Ab was… it was special. But having you two here all night with me was better.”

Abbie had announced that she wanted to spend Christmas Eve over at Caroline’s house when they’d finished decorating her tree together last week. And Hannah – well, she’d had a lot to consider and think about in the last few weeks, but that aligned closely with what she wanted, she’d found.

She wanted to spend the holidays here. In the house she designed. With the woman she loved. In the place her daughter felt at home. She wanted to be here on most of her days. On… all of her days.

And while that was terrifying to admit to herself on one hand, it was also liberating.

The only thing she had left to do, was tell it to Caroline. But did she tell it? Or – ask it? Caroline had made no secret of the fact that she wanted this – wanted them. Permanence, promises, and future.

All of that definitely included living together.

But other than the few – tense. Because of Hannah, but still – moments of conversation about key exchanges and the future, Caroline had never really expressly asked Hannah to move in.

In fact, she’d expressly said that she wasn’t asking.

So, how did Hannah go about bringing that up? How the hell did someone ask to move in with their partner?

It had been on Hannah’s mind prominently for the last few weeks, because she felt so out of her depth. The only thing she had managed to do was have a talk with Abbie over dinner last week around how she might feel about moving in with Caroline at some point.

The affirmative excitement she was met with was resounding and entirely unsurprising.

Even though it had made sense to her at the time to ensure that Abbie was comfortable with the possibility of living with Caroline in the near future, she now wondered if her mistake was not discussing it first with Caroline. If only because of the sheer amount of times she’d been asked since that conversation when! When! When!

When, indeed.

“Hey,” Caroline’s voice brought her out of her head, concerned eyes trained on her face. “You okay?”

“Yeah!” She coughed, rolling her eyes at her own breathy, unconvincing tone.

The dubious look on Caroline’s face reflected how she felt.

Was this the right time? The thought bounced around her mind. Late Christmas morning in their pajamas, while Abbie combed through the gifts on the floor. Hannah hadn’t really had many moments in life that she planned for the right time.

Her mom had died before she’d seen sixty-five, and Hannah hadn’t been ready. The stick had turned pink when she’d only been twenty-one, and Hannah hadn’t been ready. Michael had fooled her and manipulated her into a whole marriage and life no one could possibly ever be ready for. She’d left Michael with no real plans in place and had scrambled for stability, not ready at all.

Even falling for Caroline, as amazing and beautiful as it was… Hannah hadn’t been ready.

“Seriously, what is it?” Caroline asked, turning to face her.

Hannah searched those dark eyes, eyes that made her feel safe, and opened her mouth, trying to find the right words.

She only struggled for a few moments before Abbie popped up to stand in front of them. A large green bow from one of her gifts was stuck onto the top of sleep-messy blonde hair from when Caroline had stuck it there over an hour ago, and she was holding a box.

A rather large box that Hannah definitely did not recognize, messily wrapped in the way that Abbie wrapped gifts.

She deposited the box on Caroline’s lap and bounced on the balls of her feet.

Hannah arched an eyebrow at her. “How did you get that box here without me seeing it? I didn’t bring that with our other gifts.”

“I found the box here, in the basement from all of the boxes that Caroline used to move,” Abbie explained, biting her lip before she urged Caroline to open.

Caroline shot her a questioning look, before she slowly unwrapped the box. Hannah leaned in close to peer over her shoulder as she flipped open the cardboard flaps and revealed…

“Are these… your clothes?” Caroline asked, sounding just as puzzled as Hannah felt, as she picked up a blue T-shirt that was most definitely Abbie’s and held it up. She let out a little laugh, holding the shirt up to herself. “I don’t think it’s really going to fit, but I appreci–”

“It’s stuff I’m bringing with me to move in!” Abbie informed her excitedly.

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