It was time.
‘Where are we?’ she asks, leaning forward to get a better look at where we are through the veil of snow hitting the window.
I turn off the car and the wipers stop, making it even harder for her to see. ‘It’s a surprise.’
‘At a park?’ she questions as she unfastens her seatbelt.
Nodding, I grab the door handle and push it open. ‘Yeah, follow me.’
The park is just part of the surprise. The rest of it is what’s right behind the building the park is connected to.
Her perplexity makes this even more entertaining as we get out of the car and she follows me through the snow and around the swing set to the slide. I’m rewarded even more when I start climbing up the ladder and her jaw drops.
‘What on earth are you doing?’ she asks, dumbfounded, as she watches me climb higher.
I glance over my shoulder back down at her. ‘If you want to find out, you’re going to have to follow me.’
She eyes the soaking wet ladder with skepticism, but I know she’ll do it – she’s too brave to let a little wet metal get in her way. And just like I knew she would, she starts up the ladder. When I reach the top, I hop into the tunnel slide and go down it, getting rewarded with a sopping wet puddle at the bottom and a bump on the head from the to-do list I had Seth secure in the slide just before we got here.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to put it there.
Reaching up, I unhook the string holding it in place and remove the small whiteboard. Seth’s erased the entire list, except for number one hundred fifty-five which might be my favorite number now. I tuck the board into my side, face down so the marker doesn’t get smeared by the snow.
‘You want me to slide down this?’ Callie calls down through the slide with bafflement in her tone.
I lower my head into the slide and yell, ‘Hell yes!’
There’s a pause and then I hear her squeal as she lowers her feet in then slides down.
‘Holy crap!’ She jumps up when she reaches the bottom as her ass gets wet. ‘That’s cold.’ Once she gets her footing, she looks from me to what’s in my hands. ‘What are you holding?’
‘Your surprise.’ I hand it over, still face down, but it’s more because of my nerves than the fear that it’ll get wet and ruined.
She rubs her lips together as she raises her brows at me. ‘You stole my whiteboard?’
‘No. I had Seth borrow it for me.’ I tap the back of it, noting that there’s a slight tremble to my fingers, something I blame on the snow, completely lying to myself.
A cloud of fog encircles her face as she releases a large exhale. Suddenly, she’s nervous, as if she’s realized this is no longer a game, but a very serious, life-altering moment.
‘I’m afraid to turn it over,’ she whispers, but does it anyway.
I hold my breath as I watch her read the two simple, but very momentous words written in red marker, along with the arrow pointing forward at the apartment complex straight across from where we’re standing. She must read it a few times because it takes a little bit for her to look up at me.
‘Welcome home?’ Her brows dip and her head angles to the side as she looks from me to the board, then her gaze tracks the direction of where the arrow is pointing. I know the moment it clicks in her head what I’m trying to say with this whole charade because her breath catches.
‘You and Seth are always doing crazy things like this whenever you ask me out or try to cheer me up,’ I tell her and nonchalantly shrug when her gaze locks on mine, even though I’m squirming in my skin. She hasn’t shown any signs of being happy and I’m getting worried that maybe this isn’t what she really wanted. ‘I thought maybe it was my turn’ – I brush her hair out of her eyes – ‘to do something surprising for you.’
She’s silent for what feels like forever, although her eyes never leave mine. It’s like she’s trying to read my mind or see into my soul or something. If anyone could, it’d be Callie. I just wish I could do the same with her right now because her quietness is becoming maddening.
‘This is what you want?’ She gestures at the board then the apartment complex without looking away from me.
I nod. ‘More than anything.’ Then I hesitate. ‘Is this what you want, though?’
She eyes me over for a moment or two longer like she’s searching for a hidden answer somewhere inside me. She must find it because suddenly she’s dropping the board onto the ground and throwing her arms around me.
‘Of course this is what I want.’ She hugs me more tightly than one would expect those thin arms of hers to be capable of. ‘I’ve wanted it for a long time.’
I hug her back with everything I have in me. ‘I think I have, too, but was afraid to admit it to myself, afraid to let myself have something good.’ I pull back to look at her. ‘Sorry it took me so long. Do you forgive me?’
‘There’s nothing to forgive.’ She slides her hand down my arm and threads our fingers, beaming as she looks up at me. ‘Now, let’s go see it.’
I scoop up the now soaked whiteboard and lead the way across the park to the sidewalk where we trot up the stairs of building number three.
When we reach the second floor, I take the key out of my pocket and nervously unlock the door, fumbling a few times before I finally manage it.
‘Welcome home,’ I say, then push the door open.
Chapter 15
#156 Welcome Home (Yeah, I know it’s the same as #155, but it seemed too epic not to get two numbers. Plus, the first time around it got erased).
Callie
‘It’s really small,’ Kayden says as he steps aside to let me enter our apartment. Yes, our apartment. ‘But it’s what we can afford, so …’ He trails off, ruffling his damp hair into place as he closes the door.
‘That’s okay.’ I take in the space that I’ll now call home. It’s not furnished yet, so it probably looks bigger than it really is. There’s a living room, which I’m standing in, and it’s attached to the dining room/kitchen that has a doorway that I assume leads to the bedroom. The space in front of me is about twice the size of the dorms, which sounds big, but it’s really not. I don’t care, though. At all. ‘I could live in a storage room and be okay with it as long as you were there.’ I’m starting to sound like one of those sappy romance books, but oh well – it seems fitting for the moment.