Page 90 of The Write Stuff

“I am too.” She glanced around. “Let’s start walking. I will make a note of the stores I want to go back to. We’ll keep going until we find somewhere we want to eat, and then I’ll double back to check out the stores.”

“That sounds good to me.” I took her hand as we waited for the crosswalk light to change.

“There’s a candy kitchen,” she noted. “We could get some candy.” Her voice sounded a little strained.

“Whatever candy you want, we can get,” I encouraged her.

She didn’t meet my gaze, instead making a big show of looking around at the colorful storefronts. “We could take some candy back for Lucy.”

Ah, there it is. Lucy was still torturing her sister, even though we weren’t with her. “If you want.”

She slid her eyes to me. “You don’t think I should get her anything.” She didn’t phrase it as a question. “You’re probably right.” When she lifted her thumb to start gnawing on the nail, I knew she was feeling anxious. That was one of her tells.

I grabbed her hand before she could sink her teeth into her thumb. “Candy isn’t the worst thing you could buy. It’s a peace offering without going off the rails.”

“She loves pralines.”

“Do you like pralines?”

“I’m more of a chocolate and caramel person.”

“Well, we’ll get both.” I scanned the various storefronts. There were a lot to choose from, including a pirates and treasure museum. I found what I was looking for right away. Belford’s Savannah. It touted seafood and steaks. “There we go.” I inclined my head.

She looked in the direction I’d indicated and grinned. “It’s kind of early for something that heavy.”

“Yes, but if we eat it now, we can walk it off. Then, when it’s time to go home, we’ll pick up something lighter and eat it in bed with the cookies and candy.”

She pressed her lips together, her eyebrows edging up, and showed me my favorite of all of her expressions. I loved them all, but this one, it just did things to my heart that I couldn’t explain.

“That sounds kind of fun,” she admitted.

“Good.” I tugged on her arm and moved her in front of me, rubbing my hands over her hips as we waited for a group of tourists to cross in front of us. In that moment, just as Wylie smiled at the guy with the horse, I recognized that this was it. This was what I wanted forever.

I could see Wylie and me going to coffee shops to get our writing in. I could see us sharing a house, and even an office. We would get one of those big old desks that had openings on either side so we could work at home.

We would buy one of those ridiculous, over-the-top coffee makers and try various recipes. There was a new slush machine that everybody was talking about on social media. We would get that and experiment.

We would go on cemetery adventures and hit the same tours over and over.

We would live downtown, because she was right, The Landings wasn’t going to be our long-term vibe. This city would be. Between the history, ghosts, and eclectic people, this city would fit us like a glove.

It was too soon to tell her I loved her — way too soon — but I felt it. Was it the childhood we’d spent together? I felt as if I’d never known anybody better, and yet there were still mysteries to unlock.

The only thing I knew with absolute certainty was that I wanted this life, with her. There would never be anybody else for me. Only Wylie.

That meant the time to talk to my mother was upon me. As long as the specter of Eleanor Ambrose and Agnes Quincy hung over our heads, we would never be free. It was time to tell them.

Now I just had to figure out how to do it.

24

TWENTY-FOUR

My life was perfect. Rarely could I actually say that and mean it. I meant it now, though. And, sure, I understood that imbuing Huxley with superhuman powers for delivering that happiness was a mistake. I still did it, even if I never mentioned it to him.

Nobody needed him to develop an overblown ego or anything. Not that I thought he would. He seemed pretty down-to-earth.

“Eat.” I shoved my doughnut in his mouth as we cavorted on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. We were officially seven weeks into our relationship, and I’d never been happier — or more comfortable, for that matter — with anybody in my life. It felt as if destiny had smacked us upside the heads as children, and we were just now getting the message.