Page 49 of The Way Home
Jeremy’s eyes glinted, and he grinned wide. “Wait. Say that again.”
“What? Which part? That I suck at cooking, because I do.”
“Don’t worry about that, I enjoy it. But that’s not what I meant. Before that.”
“I said I would be a terrible house—oh!” My cheeks warmed. It had just come out without even thinking.
“Husband,” Jeremy said reverently. “That sounds pretty fucking good to me.”
My heart leapt about in my chest. It was far too soon to be thinking about, and yet, it wasn’t. I’d been hyphenating our names in a notebook that very first summer.
Jeremy patted my leg. “We’ll table that… for now. Move in with me, Ri, and we’ll figure out the rest later, how about that?”
I smiled genuinely. “Yeah. Okay. It’s not like I had any great job aspects back in Oregon anyway.”
Jeremy pumped his fist. “Yes! Holy shit! Today is my new favorite day.”
I chuckled and asked, “Did you have an old favorite day?”
“Yup. The day I kissed a boy in the bathroom of a church.” Lights twinkled in his eyes, making me feel like I was floating in the stars. Jeremy created his own gravity just for us.
“You’re going to spoil me,” I said with wonder laced in my voice.
“Yup. Better get used to it. Now, let’s eat. We gotta replace some of those calories we burned,” Jeremy winked and grabbed his plate off the bedside table.
“Asshole,” I murmured with a tease, feeling deliriously happy.
“Just for you, darling.” Jeremy tapped his bottle to mine once more.
We were going to move in together, which meant I could look forward to more days like this. Heated love-making, dinner in bed, this beautiful man at my side. It sounded perfect. With how elated and giddy he made me feel, there was no way I was going to be able to hide this from my mom. Especially not if I grinned like a fool every time I thought of him. I thought about it while we ate, playing out the conversation in my head. She loved me and supported me. Jeremy was confident it would be fine, and I had to believe him.
When we were done with dinner, I got out of bed and found a pair of shorts.
Jeremy watched me and asked, “Where are you going? I thought we could stay in bed.”
“I have to call my mom.”
“Oh. Right. And you can’t talk to her naked even though she’s not going to see you and isn’t even in the same state.” Jeremy pursed his lips trying to stop from laughing.
“Yes. Exactly.”
“Do you want me to talk to her with you? Is an apron clothing enough for that or do I need underwear?”
I huffed a laugh and shook my head. “I appreciate the thought, but I need to talk to her on my own, and I don’t think I can look at you when I do, especially not in that apron.”
Jeremy held the edges of the apron out like a skirt. “What’s wrong with this?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You’re sexy as fuck in it, but I can’t be thinking sexy thoughts when I’m talking to my mom. I think I’m going to sit out front and call her.”
Jeremy grabbed a sweatshirt that was hanging off the side of a dresser and held it out to me. “Then you’d better take a hoodie, too. You don’t want her to hear your nipples get cold.”
“Shut up!” I snorted out a laugh. He was probably right, though. It had been getting cooler in the evenings. I crossed the room and went to take the hoodie from him.
Jeremy held on for a moment, keeping me in place, and when I connected with his gaze, he said, “It’s going to be okay, Ri.”
I breathed out, “I hope so.”
He let go of the hoodie, and I pulled it over my head. Jeremy pushed up on his toes and gave me a quick kiss. “Hey, I love you bigger.”
