Page 119 of Eye of the Hurricane
“It is,” he confirms with a nod. I look around.
“These candles…” I trail off.
“Are the ones from the hurricane,” he finishes my sentence for me, confirming what I thought.
My eyes fall to another piece, this one a photo. It’s me, sleeping in a surprisingly peaceful and serene way. The light beams cast golden light on me and he’s captured it perfectly. It feels like I’m standing there, looking at myself in person.
“Was this the first time you slept over?” I ask. He nods.
The painting beside it is what appears to be me lying in the sand with a golden sunset behind me. The waves are painted in shimmering gold.Is this how he sees me?
“Everything is so golden and warm. It’s like sunshine lathered on a canvas.”
“They’re all you. Even the ones that aren’t portraits of you. This is what I see when I look at you, Katherine. Basking in your light has been the time of my life. The kind of adventureyou have to make art about.” His admission stuns me for a moment. All I can do is stare at him with tears in my eyes.
It’s the most beautiful and kind thing anyone has ever said to me. If you asked me what love was, I would tell you what he just said to me.
I always felt like there was some big secret I was on the outside of when my friends were in relationships growing up. Especially as we got older and they got more serious. There always seemed to be something more to it, something that no one talked about. Something unspoken but understood.
I understand it now. I know now that it’s unspoken because you can’t speak to it. There aren’t words that encapsulate this feeling in my chest.
“I love you,” I gush.
“I never get tired of you saying that to me.”
“I never get tired of saying it.”
When everything is saidand done, he wraps my hand in his, walks me out to his car, and takes me home. Every night with him feels like a dream. Or like I’m starring in some coming-of-age film where the main characters are falling hopelessly in love every second they spend together.
I don’t know if I really knew who I was before Ares. Not in a way that a man has defined me as a woman. But in a way that he introduced me to a new way of living that I never experienced until now.
Until a couple of months ago I didn’t know who I was outside of my plan. All I knew about myself was how bad Iwanted my goals and how bad I wanted out from under my parents.
I have both of those things now. Not only that but I know myself. Or at least I’m well on my way to getting to know myself.
I know now that I like having fun outside of work. I love camping. Late-night drives for food are peaceful in a cinematic way. I know that I like being someone’s girlfriend and that I like having a boyfriend.
There are few things that feel as right as riding passenger with my hand tucked into his.
When we walk into the door the sound of a little chime grows closer until there’s finally a fuzzy black ball in front of us. Ares reaches down and scoops her off of the floor, rubbing noses with her.
“You know you can’t steal my cat, right?” I joke. He stuffs her under his arm where I can just barely see her.
“What cat?” he asks, turning his body away from me. I frown, reaching for her.
“My sweet baby Bellatrix.”
“She likes to be called Bells, she told me,” he says handing her to me.
“Oh, she told you? You speak cat now?”
“I’m fluent in pussy talk,” he says, flashing me a megawatt smile.
“Corny, two out of ten,” I say with a dramatic groan.
“I’ll take my win of getting a two rather than a zero.” He shrugs and I laugh. I reach down and set Bellatrix back on the ground.
Ares beats me to the kitchen and is immediately pulling food from the cupboards. Bread, cheese, bacon, yep he’s making bacon grilled cheese.
