Aiden sighed. “Ruth.”
“Don’t youRuthme.” She furiously stirred the pot. “I’m still not speaking to either of you.”
“Ruth, we talked about this.”
“Wetalked aboutthis? Oh no, we didnot.” She whirled around, the spoon in her hand flicking angry splatters of chili around the kitchen with every word. “This is a travesty. Acrime! Aiden, howcould you let this happen? Lola”—she flashed her sweetest smile at me—“it’s not too late to change your mind. Aiden has a huge place on the mountain and—”
“Ruth,” Aiden warned.
She ignored him. “Lola, hedesperatelywanted you to move in with him instead of buying this place. He talked about nothing else for hours. He misses you, and he’ssolonely—”
“Ruth!” Aiden scrubbed a hand down his face. “Stop.”
“Never!You two are perfect together.Perfect.I don’t know why you’re wasting time pretending like you’re not utterly mad for each other by living in separate houses.”
“We’ve only been dating for a few weeks—”
Ruth snorted. “You’ve been in love with Lola for months.” She glanced back at me with a smile full of sunshine. “Formonths.”
“Stop.” Aiden’s command was gentle but firm. “Lola and I… This is all new. For both of us. We need time to get ourselves right before adding any extra pressure.” He squared up, hands on his hips, and fixed her with a glare. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Until the day you put a ring on that woman’s finger”—Ruth pointed her spoon at me—“you’re absolutely my business. And, well… yeah, okay, probably after that, too. Less, though. Promise.”
Aiden grunted.
Ruth’s lips curved in a calculated smile. “Have you shown Lola her surprise yet?”
My eyebrows popped up. “What surprise?”
Ruth chittered an evil laugh. “I’ll showyounone of my business,” she muttered, giving the pot another stir like a witch brewing something wicked in her delicious chili cauldron. “I’ll have you pair married in no time.”
Aiden frowned at the back of her head. “Uh, yeah, a surprise.” He lifted his shoulder. “It’s just a little, um… Come on. I’ll show you.”
He led me through the kitchen, past Brooke’s colour-coded moving boxes lining the hallway, to the spare room door. Hishand rested on the knob. He drew in a breath so deep, you’d think he was about to jump off a cliff.
“If you don’t like it, I can change it,” he said, nudging the door open.
I stepped inside.
My jaw dropped.“Wow.”This couldn’t be real. Itcouldn’tbe. “Just…wow.”
The spare room had been turned into a library. Not just any library—my dream library. Built-in shelves stretched to the ceiling, complete with a ladder for any hard-to-reach books at the top. Pink curtains framed the window. A white sofa was nestled underneath, loaded with soft, squishy pillows, and a pink shag rug covered the battered wooden floor.
I wanted to spin and twirl like a girl in a teen movie montage. I wanted to drop onto that rug and make snow angels with my arms. The library was…perfect.
Aiden watched me cautiously from the corner of his eye. Why was he worried this time? Couldn’t he see how much I loved this room?
“It started with the bookcase in the middle,” he said. “The special project I was working on when you stayed with me.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Once I knew this was the house you’d chosen and I got the measurements, I, uh… I guess I got a bit carried away.”
I shuffled to the wooden bookcase in the middle. It was different from the others. I pointed to it. “This is the one you started first?”
Aiden nodded and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
My fingertips danced along the smooth top of the bookcase. The other shelves were white and were a high-end, fancy design—probably the type Aiden installed for his business. The middleone was long and low, made of striking red wood, its knotted top distinct and imperfect, yet somehow still beautiful.
Aiden hadmadethat. No—he’dcraftedthat. All of it. For me.
Tears pricked my eyes. I lifted my glasses to scrub them away with my wrist. “Aiden, you’re so talented.”
