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“Prom.” He laughs, but I’m not sure how he got that correlation to the prom I gave him. He must be referring to the original.
“Did we light the room on fire?” I joke.
“Yeah, actually.”
I can’t disagree. Gazing at the dancing flames, I revel in the weight of him against me, his presence. We did the hard part—we found each other again.
“Hey,” he says excitedly. “Can I get a raincheck on that dance you offered me?”
His head bobs and weaves as he glances back at me. My father clearly underestimated his alcohol tolerance.
“That depends. Can you stand?”
Snorting, he shoves off my lap. He’s not even on his feet for a second before he wobbles, which sets him to laughing at himself.
“Alright. I guess I’m leading.”
Standing, I slink an arm around his waist to brace him and take his hand in mine. This is a first for us. I don’t imagine everything will be simple—I’ve still got to contend with parting from Fairway Foods, but my heart skips at the thought of many more firsts to come with him.
“I suppose I’ll have to give Randy his job back,” I muse as I consider the ideas Cam and my father discussed at dinner.
Rearing back, he jerks us to a halt. “You’ll do it? The association?”
“How else am I supposed to see you while you’re working through that graphics client list you’ve amassed in Wenatchee?”
“You did that on purpose.” His attempt to sound cross is pretty damned adorable as I start us swaying again. “Try blaming your mom again. Go ahead. I thought I told you never to lie to me again.”
“I’m not lying. That’s what you’re getting yourself into if you keep your wagon hitched to the Carvers. We’re nothing but meddlers.”
“Well, I’m not unhitching. I don’t care if I have to make graphics for every business or baby shower in Wenatchee. You’re stuck with me.”
“That’s good. It’d be kind of awkward if I weren’t.”
“Why?” He laughs.
“Because I wouldn’t know what to do with all this love in my heart without the person who I want to give it to.”
His feet stumble again, and he gapes at me. “You love me?”
Watching the smile spread across his face is like seeing the sun rise. If I’d known how much joy it would have brought him, I’d have expressed the words sooner.
“Pete.”
He laughs anxiously, breathlessly. Cupping his cheek, I graze my thumb over the smile lines there, committing them to memory.
His hand comes up and gives my chest a nudge. “You do!” he laughs, clearly too impatient for verification to let me appreciate him. “Nod, Pete.”
Now, it’s my turn to laugh. I move my head, putting him out of his misery as I cup his face in my hands. “Of course I love you. I told you—it wasn’t even a choice.”
My mouth swallows his happy sigh. Will his lips ever not feel like the only thing mine were meant to search for?
Leaning his head on my shoulder, he squeezes me and hums. “Let’s go to bed. I want you to do what you did to me the last time you drank moonshine.”
It’s muffled and slurred, making me bite back a laugh to sound severe. “Um, not with my father in the room next to ours.”
Groaning, he slumps more of his weight into me. “I’m not as convincing as I thought.”
Yeah. He’s more than done for the day.
