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chapter two
~
RYKER AND Ilazily walk along the city streets hand in hand, a soft breeze licking our skin, the streetlights casting dim shadows across the pavement. He seems relaxed, or dare I say, relieved. As for me, I’m numb and still slightly dazed.
“Mila, I just want you to know that I won’t stop thinking about you the entire time I’m gone. Not for a second. We have a connection, you and I, one I’ve never felt with anyone else.” He squeezes my hand. “I feel like we’re together for all the right reasons. Sometimes you just have to take a chance on love, and I’m willing to go on this journey with you.”
It feels like he said all of this a moment ago. Nothing new. Shame on me, but my mind immediately wanders to my guilty pleasure,The Bachelor. He just repeatedBachelorrhetoric almost verbatim. I again force myself to listen to the heartfelt meaning behind his words.
“I feel the same,” I say.
We share a warm smile, but my smile is a tad forced, maybe even a touch fake. I swallow my disappointment whole, in one gulp. It’s now residing somewhere inside the cavernous recesses of my body. I’ll push it down and keep it there for now.
Time to lighten the mood. “Ryker, have you been watchingThe Bachelor?”
He sends me a sidelong glance. “Excuse me?”
“Nothing, I’m sorry. Go on, bad joke.” One he’d never get in a thousand years, even if he did get jokes. He’s not a TV watcher.
He continues as though I never said anything. “You know I’m falling in love with you, Mila.”
Falling.
Notinlove.
MoreBachelorrhetoric.Stop it, Mila.
It’s simply a figure of speech, because he says it to me often. I’ve always taken it asI love you, Mila, and I’m positive that’s what he means. It’s just that, I feel a little knocked flat this evening.
“I’m in love with you too, Ryker,” I say with no conviction whatsoever.
He glances at me, the corners of his mouth turned up in a pleased smile. “All right, then. Me and you. Are we good? Because I think we’re perfect.” There’s a sweet tone in his voice. Soft, caring, yet firm and commanding. He could be a politician and do very well. If he wanted to, he could smooth talk the coat off a freezing man.
“We’re good,” I somehow choke out, as though my lips detect the lie and are trying to push them back down my throat.
I might lick a few wounds when I return to the privacy of my own home, but at least I know a proposal was on his mind. The knowledge that he plans to propose when he returns home will have to keep me warm for the next three months.
“Would you like to sit?” Ryker asks, motioning toward a bench.
I let out a sigh. The longest night ever might as well be even longer. I console myself with the thought that it can’t get worse. “Okay.” I feel like hummingThis is the Song that Never Ends, replacing song with night.
“Back to the subject of my apartment,” Ryker says when we’re situated. “I would love for you to live there. I’m serious. It would mean a lot to me.”
I tilt my head to one side. “Just to be clear. Are you asking me to live with you or to live there while you’re gone?”
“To live there while I’m gone. I know living with someone is not your style.”
No, it isn’t. “I appreciate the offer, I really do. Apartment living is not for me, though. You know being a professional pianist means I have to practice the piano six hours a day. Can you imagine how annoyed your neighbors will be? Typically, I start at six in the morning. That’s why I rented the studio I live in now. Do you know how hard it was to find a mother-in-law suite that was separated from the main house by a backyard in this city? Plus, the homeowners said my practicing wouldn’t bother them, that theylovedthe arts. It’s the perfect arrangement for me. I’d rather not lose the place.”
“You probably won’t need a new place. Have you thought about that?” he says quietly.
My eyes move up to his sharply, as my breath hitches. If he proposes when he gets home, then I suppose I might never leave his penthouse, because it will become my home too. The implication is there, I don’t need him to spell it out for me.
Although if tonight is anything to go by, maybe I do.
Ryker goes on before I can object further. “As far as the piano goes, I’ve already thought this through. I live in an upscale high rise in the penthouse apartment at the top of the building. The soundproofing is amazing. The only wall I share with someone is the floor. The guy below me plays the electric guitar and has parties in his unit until the wee hours of the morning, and I never hear him. I’m not worried. Besides, I already checked with him. He’s an early riser, works long hours, and said he’s hardly home anyway. If he hears anything, it will be distant. It’s not a problem.”
I frown. “Are you sure? It’s my second season performing with the Marin Symphony. It’s an honor to be chosen to be a guest artist for a symphony. It’s imperative that I’m able to practice every day.”
