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“I remember everything you’ve told me,” he said softly. “And I signed us up for painting lessons at the Met too.”
She stared at him, unblinking. “Like us meaning me and Jorge?”
“Like us meaning all three of us.”
She let out a deep breath, her eyes shining. “Oh, Gideon.”
“I pulled out the painting. The one from that day at the Legion of Honor.” He’d seen where she’d stored the tube in which she’d rolled it up.
She bit her lip. “And?”
“It wasn’t exactly easy to look at. And it’s probably not going to be easy for me to paint again.” He touched her hand. “But I’m ready to look at some of my stuff. And painting seems like a pretty damn good way to do that. Especially if you’re right there beside me.” He’d looked at the painting on his own, and somehow it hadn’t been as traumatic as he’d feared because Rosie had already seen it. Because it hadn’t horrified her. “I’m glad you didn’t let me tear it up.”
“I love you so much,” she whispered.
“As much as I love you.” He kissed her fingers. “And I was thinking that next summer, when Jorge’s out of school, we’d go to Paris and see the Louvre.”
She threw herself at him, hugged him tight.
“Get a room,” Ari teased with a smile as she carried over two huge pitchers of margaritas. Matt followed with lemonade, plastic glasses, and a plate heaped with sandwiches. Charlie’s robot fountain would be filled with the margaritas and lemonade.
“Gideon is taking Jorge and me to the Met.” Rosie’s voice was full of awe and wonder. As if she didn’t know he’d happily take her and Jorge wherever they wanted to go. Even the moon.
Ari didn’t need to ask what the Met was. She knew Rosie well enough. But she nudged Matt. “I bet Noah would love to go too.”
Matt gave her a look. “What if this is some sort of romantic getaway? We’d be horning in.”
Ari smiled at Gideon. “Is it a romantic getaway we’d be horning in on?”
Every moment with Rosie was romantic, whether they were filling the dishwasher or dancing beneath the fairy lights in her backyard. “It would be great if you came,” he said. Truth was, Gideon was even happier about the thought of a full-on family vacation. Heck, maybe they could convince some of the other Mavericks to come too.
“Noah will love it,” Ari said. “New York City is so vibrant.”
“I haven’t booked the plane tickets yet,” Gideon said, “but I can do it for all of us.”
“Or we could just keep things simple and use my plane,” Matt offered.
Rosie laughed. “I vote for simple.”
A year ago, neither Gideon nor Rosie would have thought they’d know someone who had his own plane, let alone that they’d fly in it.
A year ago, they didn’t have each other either.
But now they had absolutely everything.
Jorge had started his art lessons, and Charlie and Sebastian were paving the way for Rosie to enter the art world now that she no longer had a reason to hide. Gideon was unquestionably positive that her career was going to be huge. She wouldn’t be an accountant for much longer—there simply wouldn’t be the time when she was so busy painting.
What’s more, Jorge’s bio-dad was going into Witness Protection. He’d signed over all his parental rights and agreed never to contact Jorge. At the age of eighteen, Jorge could decide whether or not he wanted to contact Findley.
Yeah, life with Rosie and Jorge was nothing short of perfect.
Gideon raised her hand to his lips. He would never get tired of touching her. “Need a margarita, sweetheart?”
“That would be marvelous, thank you, honey.”
He loved the endearment. And it was with great difficulty that he managed to let go of her hand so he could retrieve the offered drink.
Ari was pouring the mixed margaritas into Charlie’s amazing robot fountain.
