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For the next few hours, I baked in Axel‘s kitchen, humming along to the soft rock he had playing in the background.
It was kinda cute that such a big, tough guy listened to the same radio station that my mom always listened to, but it was also really nice to hear such familiar songs. They were the songs of my childhood.
He had some work to do on his laptop and needed to place some orders now that the real permit for the apartment had been approved, so we settled into an afternoon of domestic bliss that felt exactly right.
Much of the time we were silent, occasionally, jumping in with some chitchat or a random thought, but never feeling the need to fill the silence between us.
It was like we had lived together for ages, and this was our routine, even though it was the first time we’d ever spent twenty-four hours together.
I packaged up the biscuits after they cooled and left a bowlful on the table for Kona.
“She seemed to like the last batch best, so these are from that.” I scooted the bowl closer to Axel as I sat down across from him.
“Thank you. I think she loves having you around almost as much as I do.” He winked and something fluttered in my tummy.
“Well, I like being around.” My voice was quiet but firm. I was done holding my thoughts. I would never find the happiness that I wanted with Axel if I was afraid to speak in front of him.
“About that…” He extended his arm across the table and opened his hand.
I dropped my hand onto his and he clasped it tightly. “Maybe you should just stay here. It doesn’t make any sense for you to sleep by yourself at work when I’ve got a perfectly warm chest for you to sleep on.”
I held my breath and bit the inside of my cheek as I looked at him, gauging his sincerity. “Do you really mean that? Like, isn’t it soon for us to make that move?”
“Maybe it is.” He shrugged and moved around the table so he was sitting right beside me. “But last night was the best of my life, and I don’t ever want it to end. I know that I love you and want to spend every minute I can with you.” He raised an eyebrow, encouraging me to speak. “How do you feel?”
Tears filled my eyes as I nodded emphatically. “The same. Exactly the same. I love you too, and I don’t want to sleep by myself anymore either. I want to sleep with you. Always.”
He pulled me from my chair onto his lap and kissed me with both the intensity I felt from him in the bedroom, but also a tenderness that spoke volumes of his true feelings. “You make me so happy, Billy. I promise to do everything I can to always make you happy too.”
I sniffed and wiped my tears on my shoulder as I nodded. “Me too, Daddy. I’ll do anything to make last night and today…last forever.”
“Then it’s settled.” He popped a quick kiss on my cheek and then patted my hip so I could stand up. “Let’s head back to the daycare so you can get the rest of your stuff, and we can drop off these biscuits for tomorrow.”
“Okay.” My smile quickly faltered as I worried about what this meant for the boarding business. “But what about the apartment? The guys have spent so much time and money building it for me.” I looked at Axel. “You’ve spent so much time building it for me. I’d feel terrible if I never even used it.”
He pulled me against his side as we walked toward the bedroom. “Don’t feel guilty at all. Tony and Jason planned to build that apartment no matter what. We rushed it a little bit so that you would have a safe place to stay if you needed it, but they’ve been getting requests for boarding since they opened. This is important for their business. Besides…” He turned me around. Once we were inside the bedroom, he unfastened the apron from around my neck and my waist. “If you choose to work overnights, Kona and I can stay there with you. It’s a pretty sweet apartment.”
I grinned wide and threw my arms around him, bouncing on my toes. “Really? You’d do that? I really do want to help with overnight shifts, but not if it means being away from you.”
“Of course, baby. Don’t worry about those details. We’ll figure it all out.” He kissed my head, and then I took a step back. “Things always work out when they’re meant to be.”
EPILOGUE
AXEL
Billy and I stepped into my mom’s studio apartment, and he let Kona down to greet her.
“My babies are all here.” My mom was sitting at the small table by the window, reading her book. She scooted back just in time for Kona to hop onto her lap. “Yes, sweetheart. I missed you too.”
Billy stepped up to her next, pulling my mom into a warm embrace. “Hi, Mom. It’s good to see you. Your hair looks nice.”
“Just got it done. Thanks for noticing.”
He and my mom bonded quickly after the first time they met. Billy said she reminded him of his own mom, and she insisted he call her by the endearment if he was comfortable with it.
I didn’t know if he started doing it not to hurt her feelings or because he wanted to, but in just these few months, he had started to truly treat her like his own mother.
In fact, they talked daily, usually about recipes that he wanted to try for me.
