Page 43 of Better Than Expected

Oh, boy. Hannah dug two fingers into her temple and rubbed, hard, as she figured… she shouldn’t be surprised.

Caroline seemed at her own loss for words, the shirt laying crumpled on her lap as she looked between Hannah, the box, and Abbie, then back. She finally shook her head, giving Abbie a smile that Hannah could tell was a little forced. “I, uh, think your mom would miss you.”

Abbie shook her head. “No! She’s coming too! We want to move in!”

Hannah’s cheeks burned as she shook her head. “Ab, you can’t – we can’t just say we want to move in.”

Caroline whipped her head to look at Hannah. “We? We? Want to? You want to?”

“Someone has to say it!” Abbie gestured wildly.

Caroline didn’t take her eyes off of Hannah. Wide, hopeful, confused, and questioning, they bore into Hannah’s own and demanded an answer.

“I just… there’s not much in my life that I’ve had the luxury of waiting until I was ready. It’s all been a series of moments that I’m thrust into and I manage them the best I can. And I think…” She dragged her hands through her hair, shrugging with a deep breath and ridiculous butterflies in her stomach. “I think I needed that, for once. The time to feel like I was ready. Like I am ready.”

“And, you do? You feel like you’re ready?” Caroline asked, sounding breathless, a bright, hopeful expression Hannah adored on her face. “Don’t play any Christmas pranks on me or anything, you know this day and I have a tenuous relationship already.”

A laugh escaped through Hannah’s lips, pushing through the nerves, her heart beating a little too fast. “I wouldn’t. Not about something like this.”

Not something that mattered so much.

She only had time to let out a surprised exhale as Caroline snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. Hannah sighed into it, immediately reaching up to trace her fingers over Caroline’s jaw. The sharp lines that started it all, really.

The thought made her smile against Caroline’s lips, and the smile didn’t dissipate at all, as she distantly heard Abbie gleefully whoop.

No, it wasn’t a proposal, it wasn’t marriage, it wasn’t the promise of always. Not yet.

But for Hannah, it was as good as. This was the first step toward a new forever. One that she actually thought could be even better than she’d ever expected.

---