Page 107 of No Place Like You

I shake my head. No, she can’t be here andnotstay with me. I can’t stand the idea of knowing we could be living under the same roof, using the same bathroom to brush our teeth in and get ready for the day, but choosingnotto. We have a choice this time. We canchooseto be together without worrying about circumstances or conveniences like work or burgled apartments. “Lucy, no?—”

“I didn’t come here assuming you’d want me to move in with you. I’m not expecting…” She pauses to take a deep breath. “It’s a lot to ask of you.”

“No, it’s not,” I urge, gripping her a little tighter. “Iwantyou to move in with me. I want you to sleep in my bed. I want you to wake up next to me, and I want to come home to you.”

She considers my offer, gnawing on her lip. “I know we’ve been pretty throw-caution-to-the-wind about a lot of things, but this feels like a pretty big step.”

“I know,” I agree. “Trust me, I’m not taking it lightly. I mean it when I say I want you to move in with me.”

She hesitates, and I take the opportunity to kiss the back of her hand, hoping it’ll sway her.

“Okay,” she finally agrees.

“Yeah?” I ask, my face lighting up. It feels like my whole body lights up, like the entire weight of so many things shifts. And it feels a little foreign, a little alien and unfamiliar. I realize I haven’t felt this way since I last saw her. With everything that’s been going on with Janet and being in and out of the hospital, everything’s been piling on top of me, and it took Lucy coming back into my life for me to realize there’s a small stream of hope at the end of the tunnel.

“Yeah,” she answers, smiling at me with her beautiful smile.

“Okay, then,” I say, so giddy I could kick my feet into the air. “Let’s go get your things.”

49

Lucy

My fingers tearat the sliced bread in my hands, and I pop a small piece into my mouth. I reach for the glass of water sitting in front of me, the condensation dripping into the fancy white cloth draped over the table, and gulp down almost half of it.

“Are you nervous?”

I turn to Dexter sitting next to me and huff a tense laugh. “Understatement of the century.” He chuckles smugly and rubs a hand over my shoulder opposite to him. I take a deep, cleansing breath and warily lift an eyebrow in his direction. “Why aren’t you nervous?”

He shrugs. “What are they going to do? Ground us?”

I roll my eyes and look over at the entrance to the restaurant just as I see Hayden and Nat walk through the heavy glass doors. My heart rate kicks up several notches, and I swear my armpits feel damp.

Dexter and I both stand from our seats at the same time Nat approaches our table, and she and Hayden have the same confused looks on their faces.

“Lucy? What are you doing here?”

Dexter gently places a hand at my back. I know it’s to reassure me, but it only adds to the anxiety crawling through me when Nat notices his hand placement.

“Seriously, what are you doing here?” she asks again when I don’t answer.

“Why don’t you have a seat,” I urge. She and Hayden take the seats sitting across from me and Dexter, and they both eye us like they’re bracing themselves for bad news.

A waiter approaches our table, placing menus in front of us while murmuring items off the wine list.

“I’m sorry,” Nat tells the waiter, looking impatient and annoyed. “Can we have a moment, please?” The waiter silently nods and walks away, leaving Nat to glare in my direction. “Lucy, please tell me what’s going on.”

I play with the bread on my plate before I look at her and sit up straighter. “So, I, uh…I guess I should start with the fact that I don’t work at Mr. Bean’s anymore. Those early mornings were wreaking havoc on my skin with how little sleep I was getting anyway. And you know how much I struggle with those gross bags under my eyes when I get anything less than eight hours of sleep. So it’s been a total godsend for my skin. I can practically hear the little voices coming from my pores going, ‘Thank you, Lucy! You saved our lives!’” I say that last part in a high-pitched voice like a cartoon character, and Nat looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“You’ve come all the way here from Seattle to tell me you don’t work at the coffee shop anymore?”

Okay, maybe starting with a joke was a bad idea.

“And why are you here with Dexter?”

I sigh and look over at Dexter. He reaches for my hand resting on the table, right where everyone can see, and he gives me a gentle squeeze.

“I, uh…I’ve been in New York. For the past three months.”

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