Page 30 of Making Haven
This is my home now, for better or for worse. I’m ready to take on everything that means so long as I know Lawrence will face it beside me.
Epilogue
Lawrence
I hum as Imove across the lawn towards the house that Devin is currently working in. It’s the first one across the street from the house we’ve claimed as our own. As much as Devin talked about needing his own space when he first arrived here, he was the one to broach the topic of keeping his things in my house.
Since I knew all the people who once lived here, he’s taken it upon himself to clean out all the houses and get them ready. For what? I have no idea.
Devin claims there will be survivors who need a place to stay someday. We’ve both had terrible experiences, but Devin’s had it so much worse. Despite that, he wants to help people. It surprised me when he told me his plan. I thought he’d be ready to shut the gates and tell anyone who shows up to fuck off, but I was wrong. He wants to make a safe place, a place that won’t demand the unthinkable from someone in exchange for a little help.
I’ve only known Devin for a few months at this point but I’ve watched him come alive in that time. He’s opened himself to me,allowed himself to live again. It’s been beautiful to watch and makes me love him even more than I already do.
Her Majesty bounds past me, chasing something through the yard. I smile as she goes, glad to have her around. Even if she scares some of the birds away.
“Devin?” I call out, stepping through the door and looking around. There are boxes of things all over, certain things put into certain stacks. Devin’s got a pattern to his madness that I don’t understand even a little bit but by the end, I know this place will be ready and certain supplies will be brought over to our house to hold onto.
I step over a box, careful not to disturb anything. The last thing I need is to trip over something Devin’s deemed important and have him give me an earful. The last time something like that happened, he wouldn’t let me be the big spoon for a month. I learned my lesson, thank you very much.
“I’m back here!”
I follow the sound of Devin’s voice towards the back of the house. I find him in what must have been a spare room at one point. Leaning my hip against the doorframe, I watch him work. His brow wrinkles in concentration and my chest flares with affection at the sight. He’s let his beard grow out a little bit which means soon enough, he’ll be begging me to shave it again.
I smile at the thought, thinking back to the last time he let me shave him which led to me shaving more than just his face. At first, Devin was delighted by the feeling of being cleanly shaved between his legs. I sucked him off right there by the little stream we use to bathe under the moonlight. It was a wonderful night. Too bad his delight didn’t last very long. A few days after that he started to grow hair back and then I heard nothing but complaints for about two weeks about how itchy it was.
We won’t be making that mistake again. We’re in the middle of an apocalypse, there’s no need to shave our pubes now that we’ve experienced it the once.
“Find anything good?”
Devin finally looks up, letting out a deep sigh. He sits against a desk that’s pushed against the far wall, wiping his face with the bottom of his shirt and giving me awonderfulsight of his stomach and chest. If I’m lucky, maybe I can convince him to stop early today and spend some quality time in bed soon.
“Whoever lived here before was a fucking hoarder,” Devin says, gesturing at all the stuff piled in here. “Like why the fuck did they keep three boxes of used crayons? Some of this stuff should have been tossed out ages ago.”
I give him a shrug. “Maybe so, but that was then and this is now. We can’t go out and buy crayons anymore, so it’s nice that we have some. Plus, did you know in an emergency, you can light a crayon on fire and it’ll burn for quite awhile.”
“God, you’re such a boy scout, aren’t you?”
When we first met, he would have said that with enough venom to make my stomach sink. Now he gives me the tiniest bit of a smirk, letting me know he’s teasing me instead of trying to tear me down.
We’ve come so far. I never dreamed we’d be here, making a home together, being in love. I thought my chance for love was long gone. Dead along with me. I’m so fucking glad I was wrong. I’m so glad I followed my gut that night so long ago, telling me to head into town. I don’t even let myself think about the alternative.
“Don’t be jealous of my fun facts.”
“More like jealous of your jeans.” When I cock my head to the side in question, he goes on. “Cause they’re hugging your ass when I’m not.”
“Oh my god. That was terrible,” I say but chuckle with amusement nonetheless. It’s hard for me to remember what it was like before Devin came into my life. Sure, I was doing alright. I had my home. I had my chickens. I had my garden.
But now there’s brightness that I didn’t have before. Now there’s life throughout this place. I’m not just sitting here waiting with held breath for the next shoe to drop. I feel genuine happiness.
“You loved it.”
“I didn’t,” I tell him, stepping into the room so I can lean down and kiss the top of his head. “But Idolove you.”
“Sappy vampire.
“Asshole human.”
We spend a moment like that, just staring at all the boxes in this room with Devin leaning against my side. I didn’t know I was capable of being this content.
