“Check.”
“And it’s comfortable enough to sleep on?—”
“We don’t have to test that.” I scoffed, exasperated. “This is the one.”
Autumn laughed and sprawled out on the couch, pretending to sleep anyway. She kept her shoes off it at least.
“Fine choice,” she said to me with a smile. Then she turned to the couch, bouncing on its luxurious cushions before patting it. “You passed the test. Come on, let’s get you to your new home.”
I grinned at her silliness.
We were both covered in a sheen of sweat as we pulled out of the furniture store. My new couch tested my truck’s shocks as we headed from the city back to camp.
Leo and Hazel met us in the parking lot, and the four of us hauled the partially assembled gray sectional couch the rest of the way into my cabin. There was a minor snag when I had to detach the door to get it to fit, but eventually, we got it settled inside. Autumn had been right, the couch did set the tone for the space.
I took in the living room, with its fresh coat of paint I’d finished last night and now with the new couch. It was warm in a way it had never been before Nat’s influence. Now, the room was inviting.
My friends all collapsed onto the new couch. Leo, of course, sat on top of Hazel, which turned into wrestling together until I cuffed him on the ear, and Autumn popped the first of a few beer tabs, which got them to settle down.
When we were finished, I walked them through my cabin. It was so different from when the four of us had slept in the same space because we were paranoid that it was haunted, thanks to the scratching in the walls. It’d turned out to be squirrels making a nest, but it’d been freaky for those of us who didn’t read horror books at night.
Leo looked at the new office, approval written on his face. Only a couple of months ago, it had been full of accumulated junk and tools, half-finished projects, and half-used paint cans. The mess had taken long nights and some strategic organization of a storage shed to get under control. I’d kept the door closed, and Nat hadn’t asked me about it. She knew I was organizing it, but now it was a real room. There was new hardwood flooring and light fixtures, as well as a large desk underneath the window. I still had some corner bookshelves to put together, so she’d have a place to store all her books. She’d recently joined a book club Dr. Alyse hosted in Wildwood.
I wanted Nat to see herself in this room and know that she had a place to call home.
Hazel held up a can of paint. “Ooh, you picked my favorite color. It looks just like your eyes, Leo.”
I caught Autumn looking at me from the corner of my eye, but I didn’t want it to be obvious that we’d caught Hazel’s slipup. I did notice Leo tilt his head in her direction as if he were intrigued. We tried not to bother the two of them about their chemistry anymore. The same couldn’t be said for the people of Wildwood, but what else were small towns for?
“That’s why I picked it,” I joked.
Leo patted me on the shoulder. “It’s okay that you’re obsessed with me, Jack. I won’t tell your girlfriend.”
I shook my head. “She’ll understand. We’re all a little obsessed with you, Leo.”
Autumn turned to me with soft eyes. “Nat’s going to love what you did. You turned out to be boyfriend material after all,” she affirmed, pulling a laugh out of me as the four of us moved over to the primary room.
My three closest friends had all seemed a little nostalgic and even baffled when I asked them to help move out the bunk beds tonight, but they’d been eager to help when they learnedI needed assistance so that I could finish on time. A couple of pizzas from Raphael’s made for perfect bribery. We’d all done it before, in those beginning days of camp. Part of me wondered if a piece of Nat would be strangely disappointed to see the bunk beds go, but it had to be done. We needed the space to feel like a room built for a couple. Not a space for reluctant roommates who couldn’t stand each other.
The memories of me ever thinking I could hate Nat were laughable now. Once she got under my skin, she had quickly become my whole universe.
“It’s going to look like a grown-up lives here,” Hazel commented after we got the bunks out. Her dry tone made it sound like more of an insult than a compliment.
“Thanks?”
Maybe we were grown-ups now. I liked that idea. Mostly, I liked the idea that Nat could settle here long enough to become comfortable and feel like this was her permanent home. Nat’s place was cozy, but beyond Trudy, a finicky house plant I took care of while she was away, she didn’t make it her own. There weren’t bookshelves stacked with books or knickknacks she collected from Wildwood, and she hadn’t hung photos from her travels on her walls. I hoped that, if this worked, we’d be doing exactly that in a cabin we called ours.
After we finished dismantling and cleaning up, we toasted to new beginnings. I was more than ready to move on to the next phase of my life with the woman I loved.
Traffic to the airport was easier than I’d expected, and I made sure to arrive early.
Two hours early.
Okay, so maybe I was anxious to see Nat. Eight days had gone by fast with how busy the projects kept me, but the nights had dragged. I missed random moments where we’d argue over what movies to watch or listen to her random playlists while doing soothing face masks. I missed how she’d tuck into my side and kiss me each morning. But today was the day, and I was eager to have my girl back in my arms.
Nat had texted me photos throughout her trip. My favorite one was of her on a gorgeous hike in front of a waterfall. Sometimes knowing she hiked alone gave me anxiety, but she was always careful. Plus, she had Bernice with her since we shared custody now.
On the fifth night of her stay, she had sent me the first draft of her review of the place she had stayed, which was off the beaten path and in need of tourism. Any time Nat wrote about a previously undiscovered place, there was usually a significant bump in their business in the coming months.
