Page 34 of Bone to Pick
Theo frowned. “But…”
I shook my head and pressed a finger to his lips. “I thought words were power. You taught me that. But actions speak a thousand times louder, don’t they? You haven’t just givenmea gift. You’ve given a gift to all of the kids in this community. If I wasn’t already half in love with you, Theodore Hancock, I would be now.”
“Love?” His gaze flicked between my eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Frantic-madly,” I promised in a whisper, twining my arms around his neck, flowers and all. “I can’t believe you did all this, and I didn’t even have to yell Sonnet 147 at you to get your attention this time.”
Theo’s hands grasped my waist like he never wanted to let me go. “You’ve had my attention all along, Porter Sunday. Do you remember the first line of that sonnet?”
I felt light-headed and managed to nod jerkily.
My love is as a fever, longing still.
“Good,” he said, his voice deep and full of want. “Because that is how I feel about you. And I’m going to prove it to you day by day.” He leaned down until his lips rested against mine.
“Starting tonight?” I asked with a grin.
“Startingnow,” he said, and then my terrible, brilliant, generous, amazing jerk of a professor, my Doctor Hot-Cock, the love of my life, kissed me right there in the middle of the impromptu taco party…
And for the two of us, there could be no happily ever after more randomly, wonderfully poetic than that.
Epilogue
THEO
The following May
Watching Porter walk across the stage in his cap and gown was surprisingly emotional for me. My colleagues had insisted I be the one to hand him his diploma and shake his hand. It had been several months since the dean of the college had learned of our relationship, and she assured me that she saw nothing untoward about my involvement in Porter’s commencement exercises.
I’d kept the information secret, however, so seeing the look on his face when he stepped up onstage to accept his diploma was a gift.
“Congratulations, baby,” I murmured as he stepped forward to take the folder from me and shake my hand. “I’m so incredibly proud of you.”
His cheeks turned pink, but his huge grin was enough to make me mirror it like a besotted fool. And Iwasa besotted fool. Since getting together at the end of the last semester, Porter and I had been inseparable. His new apartment had only been used on the nights we’d decided to stay close to campus for bad weather. Most nights, we’d slept together at the cabin. As soon as the weather warmed up enough to start our cabin addition project, we’d spent even more time there working to get the new bedroom finished as quickly as possible.
It was finally done, and the two of us would be hosting his family for a graduation cookout this afternoon after the ceremony. What Porter didn’t know was that his brothers had already moved his stuff out of his apartment earlier this morning and deposited it at my place before turning in the keys to his landlord.
We were officially living together as of today, and something about the official-ness of it made a weight lift off me I hadn’t known I was carrying.
I love you, he mouthed before winking and heading toward the other end of the stage to let the next student approach.
It wasn’t the first time he’dofficiallysaid the words, with no disclaimers. It was more likely the thousandth. He’d first told them to me on a moonlit night full of stars when we’d gone outside to search the trees near the cabin for a hooting owl. The hush of the winter air and thick snow all around us had made the setting feel otherworldly. He’d turned to me and stepped into my personal space until our cloudy exhales mixed together.
“I’m madly in love with you,” he’d breathed.
I’d closed my eyes to memorize the feeling of being love-drunk with him. “I love you, too. So very much. Stay with me, please. I don’t ever want to let you go.”
We’d kissed for hours that night, until our hands and toes felt numb with cold and our noses were bright red. It was a memory I carried close like a secret, even though my love for Porter Sunday was anything but.
I was open and free with my feelings toward him. The department knew it, his friends and the parents and kids at the Hub knew it, and he’d even met my family on a weekend jaunt to New York in February. Meanwhile, the Sunday family had welcomed me with open arms—literally—the first time we’d met, each of them enveloping me in a bear hug before demanding to know my feelings on romance novels, heirloom apple varietals, processed foods, and… cows.
Now I had a forest full of Sunday brothers set up in giant tents and an oversized RV parked beside my house to celebrate not only the graduation but also the acquisition of a new building just off campus to house the Hub program. Thanks to an incredible marketing campaign Porter had begun in Hannabury and the two nearest towns, he’d managed to get several local companies to pledge recurring donations to support the upkeep of a building donated by a government grant he’d won for the program.
His family had shown up to spend several days working on the building to finish minor repairs and much-needed painting before the program could officially move into its new digs. The plan was to have it done in time for the Hub’s summer programs next month.
Even though Porter hadn’t been upset to discover my family foundation was the one behind the Hub’s original endowment, he still refused to accept any additional money for the program from us. Instead, he’d thrown himself headfirst into applying for grants—he even let me help write the proposals—and had been thrilled when some began coming through.
Thankfully, several of the program volunteers had offered to help his fundraising efforts, which had included introducing him to some of the wealthy families in town.
