Page 119 of The Love Lie
“There’s something I want to show you,” he says.
“If that’s a come-on”—she smirks—“I think you could do better.”
“No.” He snorts and scrubs a hand over his face, muttering, “Fucking menace.”
“What do— Ooh! What’s that?” She pulls him through the kitchen door, lured by the sight of something new and shiny on the countertop. “Cooper Kelley, is that what I think it is?”
“What do you think it is?”
“I hope you know I have no idea how to use it.”
“Well, I do.” He shrugs. “I told you I’d make you a latte.”
Warmth bursts across her chest, sending tingles down her arms. He’s so nonchalant, so matter of fact, as if buying her an espresso machine and learning how to use it just so he can become her own personal barista for the rest of his life is no big deal. And maybe it isn’t to him. But to her, it’s everything—tangible acts of love that tell her so much more than words ever could. Promises don’t mean anything if they’re hollow, but Cooper fills them. Every day, in big ways and in small ones, he fills them until her heart is left overflowing.
Sam notices another new item on the counter. A grin pulls at her lips as she reads the title of the cookbook. “The Art of Dim Sum?”
“I’m expanding my horizons.”
“Ramen for Beginners?”
“That shit was actually delicious.”
“You didn’t—”
Cooper lunges to stop her but Sam gets to the fridge first and hauls it open. Inside there are five plates filled with dumplings, shumai, and even bao buns. Behind them sit two containers of noodles. That warm feeling cranks up about a hundred notches, the burning almost painful if not for the fact that it’s pure happiness pulsing beneath her skin.
“You made all this?”
“I have no idea if it’s edible.”
That’s the last straw. She simply melts. “Cooper—”
“Save it, Cuj.” He closes the fridge and takes her by the hand again. “They’ll be here in about fifty minutes, and there’s something I want to show you.”
“Are you sure that’s not a come-on?” she asks as she stumbles after him, still curious what other new surprises she might find in the kitchen. “Like, positive? Because, I gotta say, the second time around it sounds even more like one.”
“Maybe your mind is just in the gutter.”
“With you? It absolutely always is.”
“Well, take a whiff of the fresh air for a moment, will you? This is important.”
She stops pulling against him, sobered by the earnest lilt to his voice as they stop outside the first-floor guest bedroom. The last time she peeked in here, it was full to the brim with old camera equipment, prints in various stages of processing, half-broken frames, and about a million other photography-related things Cooper took from his dad’s house after his mom passed away.
“You know how I converted that old barn into a studio?” He grips the doorknob and waits for her to nod before he spins it. “I took all the old stuff that was in here over there, and replaced it with this.”
It takes her a moment to fully process what she’s seeing—the empty bookshelves lining the walls, the desk floating in the center of the room, the comfortable couch tucked in an alcove with a reading light perched above each arm. Everything is pristine and white, just waiting for her to supply some personality.
Sam gasps.
“The couch is a pullout,” Cooper says, his energy nervous. “So your sister and Winnie and your parents will always have a place to stay. There are hidden filing cabinets over there, and I got some electric run through the floor so you won’t have to deal with loose cables. I thought about putting a few books up, but I figured you’d want to fill it with your own stuff now that you can finally unpack. If you don’t like the desk, we can always get another one. I just wanted something here for you, so you—”
“Shut up.” Sam puts a finger over his lips. “I can’t believe—” She pauses to swallow, getting too choked up to speak. “I can’t believe you did this. It’s perfect. It’s everything I ever dreamed.”
She turns to take it all in again, pulling a deep, shaky breath through her lips to calm the raw emotions surging up her throat. Water pools in the corners of her eyes. The sting only intensifies when she looks past the desk to a huge picture window with a view of the front yard, just as she imagined, as if he’d dived inside her mind just to bring this specific dream to life. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her back against his solid chest, holding her close as he nestles his chin in the nape of her neck.
“I know how much you sacrificed to come here. I know how hard this was for you. So I wanted you to have a little corner of this ranch that was entirely your own.”
