AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 9
AINSLEY
It’s been a wonderful two weeks.
Two weeks of relaxation and excitement. Two weeks of fun in the sun and nights under the stars. Two weeks of getting closer. Two weeks (okay, one week) of really great multiple orgasms, too.
I’ve found the One—my lover, my friend—and he was right under my damn nose the whole time.
Every time I think about kicking myself for wasting time, Jordan reminds me that neither one of us was really ready for this before now, and there’s no point looking into the past unless you’re prepared to appreciate it for what it’s done to your present circumstances, and then move on.
Huh. I guess that master’s degree in school counseling wasn’t complete crap.
My boyfriend is wise.
And yes, saying “my boyfriend” and meaning Jordan still gives me the good kind of chills. #sorrynotsorry
Now we’re going home.
Jordan has his conference for three days starting tomorrow, before the school year commences. I still have my paralegal job, but I return to full-time in the office this week.
I’m not sure how we’re going to be Us, or where we’re going to live, or how it will all work. But I hope it’s going to be good.
I’m sad to check out on Sunday after lunch, but it’s only a short drive home. In 90 minutes, we’re heading into Rivertown on the interstate and I’m feeling increasingly unsettled.
How are we going to do this?
Mr. Turk is going to be putting Aunt Nell’s house on the market soon. Maybe it’s the sale of the house that’s bothering me, because it’s the only place I can remember living. And I hate the idea of packing up all my stuff, never mind all of Aunt Nell’s stuff.
Should I get an apartment?
Should I just assume that I’m moving in with Jordan?
Where are we going with this?
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Jordan asks, turning off the music on the car speakers.
“Hey, I was listening to that!” I turn “Interstate Love Song” back on.
“Okay,” he says patiently. “But I am getting very unhappy vibes from you over there, and it’s worrying me. Stop chewing on it and just tell me.”
“Where am I going to live?” I whisper, and then it all comes spilling out. I can’t believe we never talked about this on vacation. All the talk we did about whether Netflix’s production of “The Wheel of Time” is worth watching (Jordan says yes, I say no, except for Rosamund Pike’s performance as Moiraine being awesome)…all the chat about the situation in Ukraine and what we could do to help…all the talk we had about how much we loved each other, and we never even fucking addressed my living situation.
I could scream.
I do scream, about the time that we pull up in front of Aunt Nell’s house on McDonald Street. Jordan stops his car in the driveway and turns to me. “We’ll figure this out,” he says in that calm way of his that makes my shoulders relax. “Really, Ains. Didn’t you say that your legacy would make a good down payment on a house?”
I nod.
“Well, why not this one?” he asks reasonably. “I don’t think your mom would mind if you bought out her interest in it. Clearly she’s living in North Carolina and she doesn’t need it, and it’s in decent shape. Could use some TLC, but the bones are good.”
“But…you have your apartme—”
He cuts in on me. “It’s just a place to live; I don’t love it. My lease runs out in December; I could sublet it if I need to. What it comes down to is that you love this house. For that matter, I’ve always like this house.” He shrugs, touches my cheek. “We should buy it.”
“We?” I whisper.
He sighs. Smiles at me. “Yes. We. Ainsley, I thought we covered this. There’s no going back. You and me. Ains and Jordan. BFFF, right?”
