Page 26 of Infatuated as They Come
My father gently held my shoulder as he guided me closer to him. “Of course. Only a few days left now. Let’s enjoy them.”
“Exactly. Now can we please enjoy this night together as a family?” Mom said.
Lips pressed firmly together, I let my brain repeat that conversation I had just had with my dad in slow motion. He had said sorry, but that sorry hadbeen directed at me and me only. It was a hollow apology.
There was a terrible, heavy feeling in my stomach, my dad’s words from the morning and every other day since I had fallen in love with Sawyer haunting me.
Time, Mom had said. All my father needed was time. I wasn’t sure how much longer I was willing to wait.
Chapter 6
Holly
The goodbye at Fort Worth Airport had been a bit of a mess. Mostly because Mom couldn’t stop crying, and that made me cry, and that seemed to make my dad cry too as he turned around, trying to wipe at his eyes without anyone noticing. Then my mom pulled the three of us into a dramatic group hug that felt like it was never going to end. She had also made sure to wrap her arms around Sawyer, giving him a big kiss on the cheek while my dad and Sawyer just exchanged awkward looks.
Now Dallas was far behind us and so was Sawyer’s dad—and mine—and I just knew that things were going to be different for him. I didn’t care if anyone else didn’t believe in him, because I did with my whole heart.
“Are you ready?” I asked as we stood outside the door to our apartment.Ours. That felt so good to say. It was decorated and ready to go thanks to all the back-and-forth trips me and Mom had done over the last few weeks.
“How much pink stuff did you buy?” Sawyer asked. “I don’t mind, I just wanna prepare myself.”
“There’s not that much pink.” I pushed the door open, walking in backwards. “Okay, we have our exclusive closet to your left.” I pointed to the white doors right by us, watching as Sawyer dumped all our bags to the floor. Throwing the closet doors open, I waved a hand at the mostly empty space. “Very luxurious, right?”
“Very,” he said.
I grabbed his hand, guiding him forward and hoping he liked all the stuffI picked out. I had done my best to keep the space warm and comfortable, with a hint of a feminine touch here and there. Soft carpet met my feet as I kicked my sandals off, nodding to the left. “Okay, here is the living room, where we will live.” I gestured to the cream-colored sofa. There was a rectangular oak coffee table in front of it and a TV up against the wall. “And then back here,” I said, still grasping his hand tightly as I pulled him across the room, “is the dining area where we will dine.” Next to me was a round, white table that was big enough to seat four people, but all I cared about was that me and Sawyer would fit and that we’d get to have so many meals together. “And then right behind us is the bedroom where we will—”
“Bed?” he offered.
“Exactly.” I stood on the tips of my toes, throwing my arms around his shoulders. “You read my mind. Do you like how I decorated?”
“It looks great.” He gave me a slow peck to the lips. “I don’t even care what this place looks like as long as you’re in it. And you—” He frowned suddenly, nodding behind me. “Are those mine?”
“Hm?” Spinning around, I followed his gaze. I had decorated the white walls with a few of Sawyer’s paintings. There were some in the bedroom too. “Yeah. Those are some of my favorite ones so I had to put them up.”
“You hung my own art on the wall?”
“You don’t like those ones?”
“Do you know how weird it feels to see your own paintings on a wall?” he asked. “Makes me feel like a raging egomaniac.”
“I can’t take them down.” I shrugged. “I love looking at them.”
“Can we just keep one up or something?”
“I superglued them to the wall. None of them will come down.”
“Gonna have to rip ‘em off when you’re asleep, huh?” he said. “This place looks really great, though. I know it’s not as spacious as what you’re used to…”
I raised an eyebrow up at him. “Stop it. I don’t care about that. This isourplace and I can’t wait for us to share it. It’s perfect. Columbia isn’t too far away and Central Park is close by, so we can go on nice long walks and have lunch there and go to the Conservatory Garden. Ooh, and we canvisit The Met every weekend and I can tell everyone about how my very talented boyfriend’s art is gonna be in there one day.”
“Such a little dreamer,” he said. “I wanna do all that with you. I don’t know about that last one, though. People might think you’re crazy…”
“Let them. Do you wanna unpack or should we go out and get some lunch?”
Sawyer’s eyes moved over to the clock to our side. “Uh, I actually wanted to go for a walk around the city.”
“We can go together.” I tightened my arms around his shoulders. “I’ll be your tour guide.”
