Page 43 of Bear with Me
I tugged on his hair until he yelped. "Listen to me. If I'm moving out here, I want to live with you, not in the cottage."
"You mean it?" He pulled me against his chest and hugged me so tight my laughter stuck in my throat. "Shit! Sorry!"
He dropped his hands to my ass and picked me up instead, twirling me around the kitchen until I was dizzy. "You're moving in!" He repeated the litany until I joined in.
"I'm moving in!"
He carried me to the bathroom and lowered me to sit on the sink. "First, you need to brush your teeth and shower. Then, we can make a list of everything we need to do."
My heart melted into a puddle right there on the bathroom floor. Ollie wanted to make a list with me. If that didn't prove he was my fated mate, nothing would.
It tooka few weeks to sort through our list, but then moving day came, and with it, the moment I'd dreaded.
"I'm moving some stuff into the storage unit for you."I sent pictures of my rocking recliner and glass-topped metal desk.
I'd put Mom and Dad's nicest furniture and some keepsakes into storage for Cassie when she finished school. We had to sell the house to pay the rest of her tuition, room, and board. Selling our old home in Rockford had torn us apart.
"I thought Vic moved without you,"she texted right away.
"He did."
"New roommate?"
"I'm moving."I sent her the address.
My phone rang a moment later. "What the fuck?"
"What?"
"That place can't be for rent. If you emptied my bank account to pay for some rundown cabin in the woods?—"
"Hey!"
My tone must have given me away, because Cassie immediately apologized. "This is all so sudden. You didn't mention this when we talked before Christmas."
"I didn't know. Vic moved out while I was in Oregon, and?—"
"Where the hell are you getting all this money to go on trips and buy houses?"
"I'm not! Well, the trip was my gift to myself." I used the money I'd saved for Christmas presents to take a pity trip. "I met someone there, and I'm moving in with him."
"Oh." Her voice softened. "I'm sorry for knocking it, then. It looks like a nice place."
"It is." I squinted my eyes shut against the grief that threatened to bowl me over every time we spoke since our parents died. "You're always welcome to come stay with us. Spring break. Summer break. Whenever." Ollie and I hadn't talked about it, but I knew in my heart he would agree. Why else would he have built an in-law cottage, if not to house the in-laws?
"Thanks. I'll think about it."
"How's school?" I asked, not wanting her to go yet. As painful as it was, I missed the sound of her voice.
"It's good. I made the dean's list last semester."
"That's great!"
"Everything's okay, though? They aren't going to kick me out of my dorm in the middle of the semester?"
"They wouldn't have kicked you out." I'd been late on a monthly payment for her room and board because I didn't know our parents had chosen that payment plan. When I received the first arrears notice, I set it up on autopay.
"Thanks for taking care of it," Cassie said. "I know I've been a shitty sister. I missed you at Christmas."
