“Thank you for coming. Don’t forget to take a flyer for our annual BookFest next week. There’s a twenty per cent off coupon at the bottom.” I smile and wave the customer goodbye as Archie locks up the doors after her.
He stretches his arms above his head and yawns. “My goodness, today was a slog. Can you believe we sold out of Kayla Kyng’s Saving Ella in thirty minutes? I’ve taken twenty more pre-orders for when the stock comes in.”
I smile. “I’m not surprised, she’s one of my favourite authors and that twist? Holy crap, it had me absolutely white knuckling the book.” I finish ringing up the register when I notice the time. “Shit, I’m supposed to meet Nate in thirty minutes.”
Archie waves me off. “Go, I’ll sort everything out here. The last thing I need is him turning up and you two making kissy faces at one another.” He shudders and ducks as I chuck a pen at him.
“We donotmake kissy faces, but thank you all the same. I’ll see you later at mine anyway, right?”
He falters for a second, his eyes shuttering down so fast I almost miss it, before he pastes that easy-going smile on his face. “Sure. Later.”
Before I can think about it anymore, he’s ushering me out the door so I can hurry to meet Nate. I have a question I need to ask him, and I don’t know if he’ll say yes or a firm no and break my heart.
Shut up, brain. Of course, he’s going to say yes. The man is obsessed with us.
I smile at my own thoughts because it’s true. Nate is the epitome of a green flag guy; in fact, all of the Peterson Brothers are, and tonight everyone is coming together at my house to celebrate my housewarming, albeit a year later than it should have been.
When I pull up at home, Nate is pulling up at the same time. He smiles and waves through the window, and my stomach rolls around inside me as my smile wobbles, so I take a deep breath to calm my nerves.
We climb out of our cars, and Nate opens his back door before pulling out bags of shopping. He smiles over to me. “I’ve got everything you asked for, shall we start making it?” I nod, because suddenly I’ve lost the art of speaking.
I walk to my front door, unlock it, and head to the kitchen while Nate trails in behind me. He places the bags on the side, getting things out one at a time, and all I can do is stand by and watch him as I wring my hands.
He stops what he’s doing and turns to face me, his brow cocked. “Wanna tell me why I can hear the gears grinding in your brain?”
Letting out a shrill laugh before I clamp my hand over my mouth.
Nate’s eyes widen as he laughs out loud. “What the hell was that?”
I shake my head and move my hand. “I have no idea.” My feet burn a trail in the floor. “Okay. I’m just going to say it.” I nod, but Nate stays quiet, assessing me with his eyes.
I throw my hands up in the air. “I love you, you know that, right?” He nods but again doesn’t speak. “Okay, so why then have you not moved in with me yet? I mean, what is this exactly?” I flick my hand back and forth between us.
Nate unfolds his arms and stalks forward, caging me in against the counter, smiling. “Hayleigh Wallcroft, you absolute crazy woman, I haven’t moved in yet because you haven’taskedme to. I’d have moved in with you from day one if you’d have let me.”
My heart instantly calms as I breathe out. “Oh.”
He nods. “Yeah, oh. So you want me to move in with you?”
I nod, and he kisses me.
Then, just like that, everything falls into place once more. I don’t have the life I thought I was going to have when I was younger, and I’m okay with that because it wasn’t mine to begin with. It was my parents' demands of me and what everyone else wanted above what I needed.
But with Nate, my life is whatever I want it to be. Sometimes we make plans, and other times we don’t. He drives me mad when he snores, and I drive him mad with my collection of books towering at the side of my bed, but what we have is imperfectly perfect, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Life will throw you curveballs and shit times, but you have to overcome them. You have to grow and choose life, because the alternative is to wither into endless nothingness.
I met Nate Peterson when I was a shell of a person, and now I’m loving him with every fibre of my being.
6 months later…
Nate
It’s Hayleigh’s birthday today, and I’ve been up since the crack of dawn, blowing up balloons and making sure everything looks perfect for when she wakes up, which will be any minute now if she sleeps any longer, because there is no way I can keep Archie quiet for another minute.
“Can I go wake her up now?” He practically bounces on his feet, dressed from head to toe in a tiger costume.
I glance at my watch and nod, but just as he walks towards the door, Hayleigh bounds down the stairs and skids into the living room, eyes wide at the sight before her. That’s when she takes in Archie and me, because he may be in a tiger costume, but I’m in a lion costume, mane and all.
