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“Why does your face look like that then? It’s all weird and smiley.” She laughs again.
“That laugh, Ave.”
She waves me off. “I know, it’s obnoxious. I can be a lot of a person. Most of the time I don’t realize how loud I really am.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” I place my hand on her thigh. “It’s perfect.”
“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better.”
“I’d never lie to you. You have the most beautiful smile, and most contagious laugh. I don’t know who made you feel like your laughter was anything less than, but let me be the first to tell you that it’s perfect. It’s everything.”
A knock on the window doesn’t give her the chance to respond. When I whip my head towards the driver side door, Bill is standing there waving.
“Come on, kids. Are you going to sit out here all day?”
“Sorry, sir,” I say just as I open my door. “I was busy admiring the view.”
It isn’t a lie, except the view I was talking about wasn’t the mountains. When I look towards Avery rounding the car, I see a blush of pink creep into her cheeks as she tucks a loose strand of hair from her braid behind her ear.
“It’s a real sight out here. If you ever want to invest in a getaway house for you two, I recommend the mountains over the beaches.”
“Over the beaches?” Avery’s hand lands on her heart. “But my sun and sand, Bill? You wound me.”
Bill lets out a laugh. “I know. I know, Avery. You’re all about the sun and sand. But after this weekend, I think you will change your mind about the mountains.”
Avery stands next to me, resting a hand on my shoulder before she says to Bill, “We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”
“Let’s go, kids.” Bill waves a hand signaling for us to follow him. “I’ll show you your room.”
I feel Avery’s hand tense up on my arm. I know this was what she was worried about this entire trip, but there’s a piece inside of me that hopes she changes her mind. There’s nothing more I want than to wake up with her in my arms this weekend.
I scoop my arm around her neck, leaning in to whisper in her ear, “We’ll figure this out.” Before I press a kiss to the side of her head.
Bill gives us a grand tour. He confirms his home is three floors. Technically, the bottom floor is a basement, but it’s finished as if it’s a living space. For how big the house is, it’s a very cozy space. It even smells like the woods. Pine and cedar fill the rooms, while the lingering smell of firewood looms in the air from the last time it was lit.
The first floor has a standard kitchen with a dining room off to the side. There’s an archway that leads to a spacious living room that has a beautiful wood burning fireplace and a television mounted on the wall. The upper floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom, while the basement floor has another living room and a single bedroom.
“Since you two beat Todd and Vivian here, you get first pick of the rooms,” Bill says at the end of our tour.
“Upstairs works,” I say at the same time Avery says, “Downstairs.”
We both look at each other, and I can see the silent look in her eyes that says downstairs would be the better choice. Considering it would leave us alone from the others… and there’s a living room right outside of the bedroom.
“Downstairs it is,” I say to Bill, but smile at Avery.
“Good choice.” He nods. “I’m going to check on Cathy. She was just getting out of the shower. Todd should be here within the hour. I’ll leave you two to get settled.”
“Thank you,” Avery says as we walk down the stairs into our space. “I figured this would be better for our… sleeping arrangements.”
I swallow the lump in my throat and bite my lip to ward off the tension. Choosing not to answer her right now because that’s certainly not how I want this to go. Instead, I place our bags on the queen size bed in the room and start to unpack.
“Is this okay?” she questions as she plops down on the bed next to the bags.
I stay silent because the truth of the matter is that it’s not okay. I pick up a stack of t-shirts I brought with me and place them in a dresser drawer before I unpack my shower bag and place it on the bathroom sink.
“Marc.” She stops me just as I'm walking out of the bathroom. “Stop.”
“I’m just trying to unpack, Ave.”
