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When we’re back at the car, William stops and turns me to face him, looking into my eyes. He’s silent for a minute and I raise an eyebrow, waiting for him to speak.
“I love you, Lexington. I know I don’t say a lot, and voicing my feelings is not something I’m particularly used to. But I promise I’ll work on saying it as often as you need. Just know that even when I don’t say it, I feel it. All the time, every day.”
Goddammit, this sweet man is going to be the end of me. I lean in, wrapping my arms around him, and hug him tightly, my stupid faucet eyes leaking again. Ugh, I can’t cry anymore today. I refuse. Pulling back slightly, I meet his watery gaze and sniff. “Good, yes, well…now that that’s cleared up, let’s go home so I can bury myself inside you until we both pass out from exertion.”
William chuckles and smacks me on the ass as I round the car, and in this moment, it feels just the tiniest bit easier to breathe.
* * *
THREE DAYS LATER…
“Vikki, do not even with that. Fuck,” I mutter, wrenching the large box from her arms. “I will be lifting the heavy shit. Or William, but not you. You are not a forklift, despite declaring that you are.”
She rolls her eyes at me and I sigh. Because she is impossible. She’s doing this just to mess with me, I know it.
Martha is sitting in a chair going through a Tupperware box of small souvenirs. She’s being suspiciously quiet and amenable. She’s plotting something, I’m sure. I need to check her pockets for items she may have stolen before she leaves.
We are packing up Brenda’s things because someone else needs to move in at the end of the week. Just the thought of someone else inhabiting her space makes me want to break down and cry. I still can’t believe she’s gone, but with each passing day, it gets a little easier. It helps that William has let me be a part of the process, helping him plan a small memorial and going through her things.
I’m keeping some of this shit for me. William told me I could.
Her plants are already in my apartment and half dead from overwatering.
I need to give them a little space it seems. I’m smothering them with my love.
I glance over at William and my heart pounds erratically. It happens every damn time.
God, what would I have done if I hadn’t had him with me through all of this?
Hell if I know. I wouldn’t be doing nearly as well, that’s for sure.
“If either of you falls and break something because you’re being stubborn, William and I will be late to meet with the lawyer and I will be none too happy.”
William smiles at me and I set the box down, moving toward him and pressing my lips to his. Because I just can’t help myself.
“Are you sure you want me there?” I ask. The reading of the will is private and usually for family only. I really have no business attending, but when William insisted I was in fact family and needed to accompany him, I about melted right into the ground.
“I am one hundred percent sure,” he says.
God, I love this man.
“I fucking love you,” I blurt loudly, and William’s eyebrows shoot up, obviously surprised at my brash and random declaration in the midst of half-packed boxes.
“Oh yeah?”
“Of course I do. I don’t take this lightly. I’ve loved like a handful of people in my life, but I’ve never felt this way about another person.”
His cheeks darken as he pulls me against him.
“Well good, and I love you too.”
“Yes, I know that already because you’ve told me a thousand times already.” He blushes even deeper, and I lean into him to whisper, “I especially like it when you scream it while I’m fucking you.”
“I don’t scream,” he hisses, and I push away from him with a laugh.
“Yes, you do. You just do it very quietly. I fucking like it, but enough about that. Chop, chop. We have to get this shit done before we leave.” My eyes fall on Martha who is pilfering some fabric and knitting needles that Brenda had stored away in one of her bins. She’s stuffing it all under her shirt.
I just turn a blind eye. As long as she keeps making me pajamas I’ll pretend like I don’t see. Brenda would have wanted her to have it anyways.
