Page 75 of The Intimacy of Finding You

Fishy was sitting on his haunches right in front of the sliding glass door, staring into our souls. He whined, shifting from paw to paw in an oddly adorable dance. Per usual, the moment I opened the door, he ran out, jumping off the back porch and into the remaining snow.

The moon was full—bright enough to guide our walk to the shed without any extra lighting. It seemed like there were thousands of stars in the sky joining it, all twinkling so beautifully.

Once Callum turned on the construction lamp, I made my way into the shed with him, taking a seat on the plastic chair set off to the side. “So, what do you have left on it?”

He bent over to pick up a piece of wood, grunting when he sat down with it. “Well, I’ve had the aprons clamped for fucking forever, so those should be dry. I’ve just got this last leg to carve, and I’ll start putting them on, screwing them together once that’s dry, then sanding and staining and then I’ll be done.”

He’d decided at some point that he wanted to build Crew and Price a new table for their dining room. For some reason, he had beef with the one they currently had, so he was taking matters into his own hands.

I’d decided not to ask questions about it.

On the floor behind him was a large tabletop with some clamps holding wood and glue together. I knew he’d been working on it for a few days, slowly getting back into his hobby.

I watched him carve a design into the table leg, chunks, and shavings of wood scattering all over the place. I was far enough away not to worry about them, and he’d positively refused to wear a mask. He claimed it was unnecessary. I decided to lay the argument to rest for now, but I fully intended to bring it up again later.

A cold breeze kicked through the open shed door, turning my hands to ice. I shoved them into my jacket pockets, content to just watch my boyfriend do what he loved doing.

My boyfriend.

It had a nice ring to it and had become one of my favorite things to say. Sometimes, I’d say it around people we knew instead of his name, simply because I liked it. After fighting for the title for so long, being able to say it was the most satisfying reward I could’ve asked for. He was mine, just as I was his, and we were finally, finally on the path to our forever. Our eternity. Our in sickness and in health and in all the bad and good.

“So, do you want to go to that thing next weekend?”

I had to blink a few times to get my eyes to focus again. I’d been staring so hard at him, I didn’t realize they’d gone blurry. “At Crew and Price’s house?”

He blew on the table leg, making shavings go everywhere. “Yeah. I thought it might be good to see everyone outside of work again. They want me to invite Jack, too. I know Willow will bring her partner. Might even bring their dog again if we want to bring Fishy along.”

Not too long ago, that idea would’ve terrified me. I wouldn’t have been able to stop thinking about how I’d left, or how they’d probably hated me. But it didn’t scare me anymore. “It sounds fun, yeah. Will you have the table done by then?”

“Oh, yeah. This won’t take me very long to finish. I’m going to have Jack take it up there before then, though. Mav has a truck, so he can borrow it from him and load it up.”

I watched as he picked up some sandpaper and started to go over the carved wooden leg. Balancing my elbows on my knees, I leaned forward, pushing my glasses up before resting my chin on my palms. “Do you think you’ll ever make something that’s just for us?”

He paused, glancing up at me. “Oh, shit. I never told you, did I?”

“Told me what?”

“Hold on.” He set the table leg down on the ground and walked to the storage box in the back. He opened up a few of the drawers before pulling out a wooden box. “Come here.”

I made my way over to him, looking down at the box in his hands. Right there on the top was my name, burned into it with gorgeous cursive writing. “Woah, what is that?”

He shrugged before opening it. “I made this. I don’t know why, or what I was planning to put in it, but I did, and then I used a wood burner to put your name on it. I made it with you on my mind, so I obviously had something planned, right? I’m just not sure what it was.”

I took it from his hands, tracing over every grain with the tips of my fingers. He’d made something for me. He’d really fucking made something for me. The inside was deeper than I thought it’d be, going past my wrist when I put my hand in it. “Wow. I love it.”

“It’s just a box. An empty one, even.”

Smiling, I took a seat right on his lap. “It’s still something you made for me. It just needs to be filled up, and it’ll be perfect.”

He looked up at me, his hazel eyes so bright and shiny as he wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me securely in his lap. “What should we put in it?”

I thought about it for a second, staring at the box again. Did it really matter that it was meant to be mine? What was mine was his. His heart was in there, and I couldn’t stand the idea of it being without mine. “Do you still have your wood burner?”

“I should, yeah.”

“Well, why don’t we add your name on top, and we can put memories in here? Our memories. Like little tokens, or something from special days or milestones.”

“Hm.” He grinned and leaned his head on my arm. “I like that idea. Oh, you know what we should do?”