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After we’re all seated, Mike comes in wearing oven mitts, holding a giant dish of Alfredo.
“Dinnertime!” Mike cheers.
Fortunately,neither one of us has to sneak into the other’s room. Though the house is large, it isn’t large enough for eight people to have their own rooms, so Ash and I bunk together.
Ash and I always stay in this room when we’re in town, but it’s been years since we’ve been here. Next time, I hope we don’t have to hide the fact that we will be sleeping in the same bed.
We take a shower in the adjoined bathroom, and though we no longer have the guilt of screwing around on Lizette hanging over our heads, we simply bathe, hold onto each other, and stand in the hot stream of water until Ash’s tension-filled shoulders fall a few inches from his ears.
In bed, the plush mattress and lush comforter threaten to take me out before my head hits the pillow, but I force my eyes open and pull Ash into my side.
Despite the largeness of the house, we can hear Brian laughing down the hall, a snore coming from one of the other rooms, and the faint sound of a headboard metronomically hitting a wall somewhere above us.
“I’m glad to hear Mike and Miranda are enjoying themselves,” I say with a grin.
One corner of Ash’s lips tugs up. “It’s good to be here,” he says after a moment.
It really is.
Ash left his phone off and in his backpack, and I turned mine off not long after I called my parents after dinner to let them know we arrived safely.
“Are you holding up okay?” I whisper.
Ash lays his damp head on my bare chest and breathes in. He trails warm fingertips over my stomach, making goosebumps erupt in their wake.
“I’m better now that we’re here. Now that yesterday is over.”
“You did it, Ash,” I murmur into his ear.
He looks up at me with an agitated scowl. “Would have been a lot better if I’d done this years ago. I don’t know how you put up with me.”
I rub his chin with my thumb and shake my head. “What’s the saying? Better late than never?” Ash rolls his eyes. Sometimes my eternal optimism annoys him, but I don’t care because he’s mine and we’re in bed together, and in the morning when I open my eyes, he’ll be curled up next to me.
We kiss and touch for a long time until we both drift off into dreamland.
