Page 88 of Here for a Good Time
Thatstuns him into silence. He surveys me for a long time, like he’s waiting for me to take it back and sayJust kidding!But I don’t, because I wasn’t. “Why?” he asks, drawing out the word.
“Because I love that place,” I tell him, plain and simple. “Because your parents are going to retire soon, and I don’t want it either getting shut down or being sold to someone who won’t love it nearly as much as I do, oryoufeeling pressured to keep running it when you don’t actually want to. It goes without saying that I’m not kicking them out. They can keep running things for as long as they want to, but I don’t want them to feel like they have to doeverything. We’ll hire a new accountant, and a couple of part-time staff members who can help with the eventual transition. I’ll work with an advisor and propose a fair number that makes sure Auntie and Uncle never have to worry, even during a bad sales month. That place took care ofmewhen I was struggling; it would be myhonorto be the new owner.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Zwe says, but his tone has gotten soft. “My parents won’t let you do that.”
I dismiss this with a wave. “Please, your parents love me, they’ll let me do basically anything I want.” He smirks because he knows I’m right. “What Leila said before, it made me reconsider how I want to spend all of this money I now have. I know I deserve to treat myself every once in a while, but I also want to put it toward something… good. And selfishly, I can’t think of a better way to spend a chunk of it than buying my favorite bookstore in the world. I mean, how many people get to do that?”
“You… haven’t run this by my parents, have you?”
“Oh, of course not,” I say. “I know who you get your stubborn genes from. I’m not going to Auntie and Uncle until I’ve got a solid, color-coded PowerPoint presentation—”
“A PowerPoint presentation?” Zwe asks, amusement tugging up one thick brow.
“Complete with graphics and charts, obviously.”
“Obviously,” he replies.
“It’s always been our bookstore, our place,” I say. “And this way, it always will be.”
I don’t realize I’m crying until he brushes a thumb across my cheek and I feel the wetness get smudged. “Hey, why are you crying?” he asks.
It sounds so cheesy to put into words.
Because I have everything I’ve ever wanted,finally.
Because I do. I have Zwe, and we have a home, and now I have (or am going to have, once I wear down Auntie and Uncle)ourbookstore, and we have our health and our families and I just cannot imagine wanting or needing anything else.
“Just… thinking about all of those new releases I’m going to get my hands on in advance,” I say with a sniffle.
His face wrinkles as he laughs. “Come here,” he says, and pulls me into him. “I love you,” he tells me.
“Love you more.”
“Not possible.” He plants a soft kiss in the middle of my forehead. “You’ve really thought this all through, haven’t you?” I can see the hope building in the way his voice softens, in the new spring of tears in his eyes. It’s as though he’s thinking,Do I really get all of this?
“Nothing has felt more right,” I tell him.
“I can’t wait to go back to our safe and cozy home tomorrow.”
“Me too,” I say. And I know it’s such a cliché, but when he kisses my cheek, I think,Actually, I’m already home.
“Hey, there’s… something else. In the spirit of confessing things, can I tell you something?”
“What’s that?” I murmur into his skin.
“Do you remember that huge fight we had about the sofa? Before we first moved in?”
I pull back, and Zwe’s got a sheepish look. “Yeah.” I frown. “I remember you were so mad about a stupid sofa.”
“AndIremember you were so annoyed thatIwas annoyed about wanting the expensive sofa and not the cheaper teal one that you picked out. And I made up some bullshit about it being a better investment, but the truth is, I got angry because you said—” He pauses to swallow. “You said that there was no point in buying the more expensive one, becausewhat will we do when one of us moves. And I know it wasn’t logical because you were with Vik and I was with Julia and we were both happy in our relationships, but the thought of sharing a home, ofbuildinga home with anyone else…that’s what set me off. I was pissed off that here we were, not even fully moved in yet, and you were already talking about moving in with someone else.”
“You… That’s why you were mad? I… thought you just really hated teal sofas,” I say with a laugh.
“I do hate teal sofas. It makes me feel like I’m in a Barbie Dreamhouse.”
“What’s wrong with a Barbie Dreamhouse, you misogynist?” I shoot back. “What ifIwanted our home to look like a Barbie Dreamhouse?”
He gives a heavy sigh. “Don’t make me say it.”
