Page 84 of Like First Love, Again

“I make more than enough for both of us,” Tori said carefully. “You could focus on school. Or on figuring things out. No pressure. Just support.”

Mia pushed herself up a little, elbow on the mattress, hair tumbling down her chest. “Tori.”

“I know it’s a lot. But I’m saying it because I mean it.” Tori tried to keep her voice even, tried not to let the hope in her chest get ahead of her. “You don’t have to say yes, obviously. I just want to put it out there.” She offered a little smile. “Let’s be realistic here. We’re going to move in together way too soon anyway.”

Mia looked down at the sheet between them, fingers idly twisting in the fabric. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“I don’t want to sell my mom’s house,” Mia said, eyes full of the regret Tori hoped she’d learn to shed.

Tori nodded and waited for Mia to offer the next logical alternative. Hoped that she would.

Then Mia looked at her, unsure in a way that shouldn’t be possible after everything they’d been through. “Would you consider moving in with me?”

Tori turned toward her fully, heart lurching. “You’d want that?”

“I do want that.” Mia reached for her hand under the sheet, lacing their fingers together. “It’s just a house without you in it.”

Tori grinned, an enthusiasticyesprinted on her lips.

“One question.” Mia focused her gaze. “How soon is thistoo soonyou speak of?” She climbed on top of Tori, golden sunset at her back. “Because the way I see it, we’ve been dating, like, almost twenty years.”

Tori laughed, chest light and body weightless. She rested her hands on Mia’s hips. “Twenty years, huh?”

Mia leaned forward and kissed her even though they were both still smiling. “By my count you’re slow as hell.”

“If we move in together does that mean I get all my old stuff back?” Tori ran her hands up Mia’s back, holding her tight before flipping her onto her back and climbing on top of her.

“Technically, I guess.” Mia’s hazel eyes were electric. “But the varsity jacket is mine.”

Tori stared down at her. Mia had once been her entire world, then the most painful heartbreak of her life, then a memory, and now… Her future. She kissed her to seal the agreement, sure she’d never let her go again.

It was impossible to know what the rest of her life would look like. But she sure as hell knew where it was starting.

Epilogue

Five Years Later

Tori still didn’t exactly understand the purpose of a white coat ceremony. Mia and her FIU classmates wouldn’t be doctors yet—she still hadn’t even graduated from the med school that had taken many tries to get into. But what Tori did know was that the damn thing started at four o’clock. And Mia—who was still in the garage/workshop, elbow-deep in paint, working on the kitchen cabinets—wasn’t going to have enough time to get ready.

“Mia, let’s go,” she said when she opened the door leading from the house to the garage. Tori stopped and looked around, confused.

The garage was empty except for the wall of storage built into one side that now held all of Mia’s family heirlooms. All the things she wanted to keep, but didn’t have any use for. Considering the garage, house, and pool house used to be full of those things, a few cabinets weren’t so bad.

Tori returned to the house and continued looking. They’d kept Grisel’s Pottery Barn couches after testing hundreds of possible replacements over the years, but everything else wasnew. Little by little, they’d moved things out and made space for their own taste. Made space for themselves.

In the kitchen, Mia’s latest project was organized chaos. Convinced that it would be more manageable, Mia was taking down one cabinet unit at a time and repainting the solid wood a warm white. Judging from the mess of supplies and cabinet innards, she had been there recently.

“Where the heck are you?” Tori called down the hall toward their bedroom, the primary they’d moved into years earlier. Unfortunately, the adjoining bathroom didn’t have a single sign of Mia having recently showered.

Tori checked her phone. Mia had considered getting her hair done, but if she’d made an appointment, she would have at least texted. Pulling up Mia’s location, Tori furrowed her brow. She was home. Or at least her phone was.

With nowhere else left to look, Tori went outside. February was crisp and cool even at noon. She was heading toward the pool house when she spotted her runaway girlfriend.

“What the hell are you doing up there?” Tori shielded her eyes from the sun when she looked up at Mia sitting on the roof.

“Waiting for you to find me,” she said like it was obvious. Like it was Tori who was doing something strange. “Do you know how long I’ve been up here?”

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