“Oh?” I asked, a warm feeling washing over me.
“Yeah. I didn’t know if you were planning to visit your family or not, but I was hoping you’d come home with me. My parents are dying to meet you. We could always try to squeeze both in.”
“Both,” I whispered, my heart already swelling.
He looked nervous. “I haven’t really figured out the details yet, but yeah. We could fly to one and then fly to the other onChristmas Eve, or the day after. I’m not really sure, but I can be flexible. I just don’t want to be without you.”
I gazed up at him and couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I love you,” I said.
His eyes softened and he gave me a lingering kiss before pulling away. “I love you too,” he said against my mouth.
I’d been feeling it for a while, and it felt so beyond right to share it with him now.
All those years I had spent with the wrong guy, thinking I had to force my love story to look a certain way, and then all that time after that, spent stressing and worrying about finding someone. All of it had been for nothing. I could never have predicted that this person in front of me was the one I needed, yet he was perfect all the same.
His loyalty. That kind heart buried underneath a rough exterior. The way I knew I could ask him for anything, and he’d drop whatever he was doing to help me.
I had always thought I needed to find my other half to feel complete. It turned out that I’d actually needed my complete opposite, someone whose jagged edges matched up with all of my uneven ones. Maybe we didn’t line up perfectly, but any part that I was missing, his pieces overlapped.
Harrison had shown me what it was like to have a rock in my life; someone I could lean on for support who would never break, or be crushed underneath my weight.
And most important of all, I knew I could never be too much for him.
Epilogue: Harrison
THREE MONTHS LATER
“You’ve lived here for how many years, and you never acquired a single piece of your own furniture?” Lila asked, gently folding and placing the last of my T-shirts into a large suitcase she’d brought over.
I shrugged and looked around my almost-bare room. “I mean, the bed is mine, but we don’t exactly need a second one at your place.”
“What about this dresser?” she asked.
“Oliver got that from the side of the road.”
“That lamp.” She pointed at the large gold monstrosity that stood next to my bed. I think Oliver had pulled it out of a dumpster our first year here.
I scrunched my nose. “Do youwantthat to be mine?”
She huffed. “No, but I just can’t believe that moving you into my place only involves a few boxes and a couple of suitcases. I’ve been pacing around my house all week, moving furniture and figuring out how to make space for your things.”
“Hey.” I pulled her up from her crouch and crushed her into a hug. “I love your stuff, okay? You don’t need to make space for me. I already feel at home there.”
She let out a huff. “But it’s so pink and colorful and you’re so—” she gestured to my black sweatshirt. “So not.”
A grin crept across my lips. “Maybe I’m not on the outside, but inside, it’s all pink thanks to you.” I patted my chest.
“Harrison, be serious.” She pushed off me and folded her arms. “I don’t want you to have any regrets about this. I know it’s soon.”
I hesitated for a moment, trying to assess if she was truly stressed about my stuff, or if it was us moving in together that was causing her concern. Technically, she had been the one to ask me to move in, but I had already been thinking about it. The fact that she owned her place and I lived at Oliver’s complicated things, though; I couldn’t simply ask to move in to her house, and I also didn’t want to suggest we move in together somewhere else. She loved that house. It was her pride and joy.
So, when she’d finally asked me, I had gratefully agreed immediately. I didn’t care if it was soon. I didn’t have a relationship handbook, or any prior experience to go off of, but it felt right. I liked having her nearby. I hated the nights we spent apart, the ones where I had to text her a simpleGoodnight, I love you, instead of being able to hold her as I fell asleep.
“Are you having any doubts?” I asked, praying the answer was no.
“What? No way,” she said, and relief washed over me. “I just want you to be comfortable. This is a big step.”
I held her face in my hands, forcing her to take a breath and meet my eyes. “You’re the only person I’m comfortable with, okay? Don’t worry about me. The fact that you’re letting me into your space is already beyond my wildest dreams.”
