Page 163 of Huckleberry Hill
“The you and I finding a bigger place so we can live together comfortably conversation.”
“Oh, that conversation. Yes, it’s too early.”
“You do realize that you kind of already live here, right?”
“I don’t.”
“No? When’s the last time you slept in your own bed?”
“Uh . . .”
“You took over half my closet with your clothes.”
“You don’t sound mad about that.”
“I’m not. I like seeing our clothes hanging up together. You’ve also used up your entire drawer and you’re encroaching on another one.”
“Well, I have a lot of socks . . .”
“And that bathroom—it’s a nightmare showering with you.”
“Hey!”
He laughed. “I just meant, every time we try and move around each other, one of us nearly tumbles out of the tub. And now we’re raising this goat together . . . Goat things take up a lot of space, Hadley.”
“How did I move in here without actually having that conversation with you?” I asked.
“Evolution.” He paused. “How long did you live with Gianni?”
“I didn’t live with Gianni. We were waiting until after we got married to move in together.”
“Huh. That’s kind of weird.”
“It’s not that weird,” I said.
“I guess not. But why didn’t you live together?”
I thought about his question and then replied, “We talked about it every few months. But he liked his space, and I liked mine. I also loved living with my sister and friends. And I didn’t want to be that kind of girl.”
“The kind of girl who moves in with her fiancé?”
“The kind of girl who forgets she had a life before a guy,” I said. “It’s so easy to get lost in a relationship, you know? I thought if I continued living with Salem and my friends that I’d maintain some sort of identity. With you . . . it feels different.”
“Different.”
“I like being in your space. And you never make me feel . . .”
“Feel what?”
“Like you want time away from me. So naturally, that just makes me want to be with you even more.”
“I always want to see you.”
I smiled. “Very golden retriever energy.”
“Did you just insult me?”
“No. I gave you the highest compliment. We’re not going to talk about officially moving in together tonight—but if we were, I would say, there’s not really a better place than this cabin. It might be small, but there’s no commute to work.”
