“Nah, this is more fun.”
He groans but covers my hands with his over the top of his sweater. “You’re lucky I love you, Birdie.”
He might be meaning it in a teasing way right now, but those words make me melt. “Yeah, I am.”
His smile softens into something sweeter, and he presses a gentle kiss to my lips. The elevator opens and we step out. I slide my hands from under his sweater and lace our fingers together instead. We walk in silence to his apartment, and Dan holds the door open for me.
“So. Bubble bath, then dinner?”
“Sounds lovely.” I smile, hanging our coats up. “But after dinner, I want you to show me your telescope.”
He lifts his hand, squeezing the back of his neck. “You really want to?”
I nod. “I can’t believe you haven’t told me about it before last night.” His fascination with space was something I knew, but the fact that he has a telescope? I didn’t know until now. And I’m ridiculously excited to view what he sees when he looks into the night sky.
“We’ll have to drive a bit to get away from the city lights.”
“Then let’s skip the bath and eat quickly. I want to see the stars.”
“Oh, I’ll show you stars,” he mockingly growls, dropping his hand and strutting over to me. “All the stars, baby.”
I burst out laughing. “Oh God, no. You are definitely not cut out for slimy flirting. Please, just stop.”
“I thought that was a good line.” He pouts, but it quickly turns into a grin.
I pat his arm, shaking my head. “Not even a little.”
“Fine.” He huffs, turning to open the fridge. “Okay, dinner options. We’ve got leftover Thai from last night, or I can whip up some chicken and pasta.”
“Leftovers are fine.”
We move around each other in an easy silence, getting down plates, reheating food, and eating as if we’ve shared a thousand meals before. And I suppose, in a way, we have. When we were just friends we would eat together. But it’s so much more now.Weare so much more.
And later, when we reach the lookout highup on one of the local mountains, Dan cements his place in my heart.
“What am I looking at?” I ask, peering through the eyepiece of the telescope. He spent forever getting it lined up on something in particular but wouldn’t tell me what it was.
He clears his throat, and I glance up at him. “That’s, ah, that’s my star.”
“What do you mean, your star?” I ask. He looks up at the sky, then back at me, a soft smile on his face.
“You can buy and name your own star. I bought that one two years ago.”
“What did you name it?”
His eyes move down to the ground, and he shifts from side to side as if he’s nervous.
“Um.”
I tilt my head to the side. “Dan?”
“I named it Birdie.” He says it so quietly, at first, I think I heard wrong. Then he lifts his head, and I see the truth shining in his eyes.
“Birdie, because I bought it for you.”
Chapter twenty-eight
Monty
