Page 101 of Ms Perfectly Fine
“Satisfied?” she asked, only to chuckle when he lifted her onto the counter.
“Never,” he said, placing his hands on her thighs. She rolled her eyes, knowing she had to talk to him before they got carried away.
“I have something to tell you,” she began, trying not to make it sound too daunting.
“Should I be sitting for this?” he asked, resting his hands on either side of her on the counter.
Considering all they had been through together in the last few weeks, she didn’t blame him for assuming the worst. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gave them a squeeze to try and lighten the mood.
“No. It’s good news—well, it depends on your perspective, really,” she added, unsure of how he was going to feel about it.
“How intriguing. I’m all ears,” he said, staring into her soul, which only made her more nervous.
“I’ve decided I’m not going to go on the national tour. I called them while you were out,” she confessed.
Elijah’s smile slipped into a frown. Worried by his expression, she dipped her head.
“But I thought that’s what you wanted?” he asked, lifting her chin gently to look at her.
She shook her head. Before she even had a chance to explain more, she was in his arms, his lips crushed against her smile.That’s more the reaction I was hoping for.
“Are you sure this is what you want? I don’t want to hold you back.” He rested his forehead against hers.
“Itwaswhat I wanted, but I’ve had time to think, and after talking with Sasaki, I’ve decided to take some time off after everything. Maybe try my hand at composing.”
“Composing?”
“I believe you once called one of my pieces ‘cats being murdered?’ But the week of the showcase, those nights you heard me playing, they were my own. I was always too afraid to share them.”
“I would never have said such a thing,” he protested, pulling at the back of his neck, but she wasn’t offended—not anymore, at least. “I can’t believe you never mentioned it. Aren’t you just full of secrets?” He brushed her hair over her shoulder. She shivered as his fingers grazed her skin; she loved it when he played with her hair.
“This means I won’t have to leave for three months and I still get to do what I love, but at my own pace for once,” Autumn said, swallowed up in his embrace.
“I don’t like the idea of being separated from you for more than a day, but I’d never have asked you to give up the tour. I told you before, I’ll still be here if you want to go. You couldn’t get rid of me before, you certainly won’t now.”
Autumn smiled. His love and support for her only made it more impossible to leave him and the home they had built. His words reminded her of how rockily they had started. All the petty squabbles and attempts to drive each other crazy she could only look back on now with fondness.
“I know how much you support me, and I promise I’m doing this for me, because I want to, and not because I feel like I have something to prove or have some greatness to achieve. I just want to play,” she said. He kissed her nose as she continued to explain all she had been plotting. She would have told him sooner, but she’d wanted to figure out everything first. “Sasaki has already told me he thinks a show with original pieces would be an even greater success, but I have months to work on it, so I can finally give my body a break.”
“So long as you’re happy, I’ll support you. Whether it’s here or the other side of the world, you aren’t getting rid of me,” he promised.
Autumn leant out of his embrace. “But we have one small issue outstanding.”
“What’s that?” he asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“What are we going to do about living arrangements?” she asked, then was surprised by his nervous smile.
“I have something for you. I was going to wait until you came back, but since you’re staying…”
He led her outside and turned her towards the gate. Thankfully, it was dry, because she was only in her socks, but she hadn’t wanted to interrupt him by stopping to put on her shoes. Brinkley hurried out the open door, clearly wondering what they were up to.
“Should I be worried?” Autumn asked, hearing something clink behind her.
“Turn around,” he said, and she could hear how shaky his voice was.
She found Elijah holding a set of keys with a paw-shaped keychain. Her eyebrows pulled together in confusion as he placed them in her hand. When she looked inside the golden keychain, there was the picture of the three of them they had taken on a walk a few days prior.
“A key? Please tell me you didn’t change the locksagain?”
