Page 326 of Let Me In

“I want to build it because it’ll make you happy. Because you deserve to have a room of your own. Because I see how much you give to everyone else—and I want to give something back.”

She blinks hard.

“I don’t want you to think I expect it,” she whispers.

I shake my head.

“I know you don’t.”

I kiss her temple.

“But that doesn’t mean you don’t get it.”

Her breath shudders.

“I’m just… not used to someone wanting to do things like that. For me.”

“I know,” I murmur.

“I know, baby.”

She goes quiet.

Then—

“But what if it’s too expensive? What if it takes up too much space? What if—”

“It won’t.”

I pull her tighter.

“And even if it did… I’d still do it. Because there’s nothing I’d rather make room for than you.”

That’s what breaks her.

Not a sob.

Not a rush of words.

Just a trembling inhale.

A quiet press of her forehead to mine.

“You’d do that for me?”

“I am doing it,” I say simply. “Already drew up a plan in my head last week.”

A laugh breaks from her—wet, trembling.

And then a tear slips free.

Not from sadness.

Not even from surprise.

Just from being seen.

She presses her face back into my chest, and I feel the damp warmth of her cheek against my skin. Her breath fans softly over my ribs, anchoring me to the moment, to her. My fingers thread gently into her hair, as if I could shield her from the weight of everything she's ever been made to feel small for.

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