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“You can come in tonight, but that’s it,” I say, gripping the handle at the top of the cage.Nutty shifts as I lift him, drawing my attention to the small tube hanging around his neck.
I squint, but I can’t tell exactly what it is.Still, it sends hope rushing through my chest.I carry Nutty inside, setting his cage on the tile beside the stove.I flick the switch to start the fire before sitting down in front of it and reaching for the door to the enclosure.
“I’m going to let you out, but if you come for my face, that’s it.You’re going back in the cage or out the door, I don’t care which.”
Nutty chirps in response and releases the bars, trembling on his back paws as I reach for the latch.I’m fully expecting him to go for my face—I have a sneaking suspicion he thinks my beard is a female squirrel—but when he scurries out, he remains perched on my knee.
“Good Nutty, good boy,” I say, stroking his head.He’s so tiny, his head isn’t much bigger than my fingertip.The satin thread holding the tube slides easily off his neck without much maneuvering.
I hold it up to the firelight, noting the small cork at the top of the bottle.
It’s too tiny for a corkscrew but maybe…
I shift my grip on the tube and, after a few tries, manage to get the cork off and tug out the paper inside.Unrolling the paper one-handed is trickier, however, and reading the tiny, typed print is downright impossible.
I tip the paper to light, Nutty still on my knee, as if patiently waiting for the big reveal.“Fuck, I think I need reading glasses,” I mutter, squinting at the paper.“I’m only thirty-two.I thought I’d be able to count on my eyes for at least another five to ten years.”
“I thought that might be a problem,” comes a soft voice from behind me.“So, I brought this.”
I flinch and turn, sending Nutty racing from my knee.
He leaps up onto the couch, furiously humping one of the cushions, but I barely notice.
My eyes are all for the woman just inside the door, with snowflakes in her hair, pink cheeks, and a magnifying glass in hand.
Chapter 29
Melissa
Itake another step inside, grateful that Aaron seems as relieved to see me as I am to see him.Even a few hours apart were too much, which probably doesn’t bode well for a long-distance relationship, but I don’t care.
We can make this work.I know we can.
And I’m willing to step outside my comfort zone to make it happen.
Toeing off my snow-wet shoes, I shrug off my coat and hang it on the coat tree before circling around the couch.“Nice hip flexibility,” I say, nodding toward his cross-legged position.“When Ben tries to sit on the floor at the library during story time, his knees are always up by his armpits.”
“I’m an impressive physical specimen,” Aaron says, uncertainty in his gaze.
“You are,” I agree, wishing I’d thought about the type being too small to read before Nora left with Nutty.But it’s okay.I’d rather be here when he reads this, anyway.“And you don’t need glasses.I made the type too small.Here.”I hand over the magnifying glass.
He takes it but makes no move to put it to use.
He just…stares at me, making my skin feel too small.
“It’s nothing bad,” I say after a moment, shifting nervously from one socked foot to the other.“It’s good.At least, I think it’s good.Hopefully you will, too.”
“Why don’t you tell me what it says,” he murmurs, his gaze still locked with mine.“I remember things I hear better than things I read, and I have a feeling I’m going to want to remember this.”
“Okay.”I nod, my hand shaking as I extend it his way.“But I’m going to have to read it.I’m too nervous to remember exactly what I wanted to say.”
He hands the note and glass over, even the feel of his fingers brushing mine enough to make my heart race.All I want to do is wrap my arms around him, press my face to his chest, and order him never to leave my side.
But that isn’t the reality of our lives.If we want to move forward, it’s going to require compromise.
This note is my first attempt to show him I’m willing to do that.
I pull in a breath, taking a beat to steady my nerves before glancing down at the note through the magnifying glass.“Dear Aaron, please accept this offer of four years.Four years of choosing you every chance I get.Four years of being the best puck bunny girlfriend in the world.Four years of helping you live your dreams, because when you love someone, their dreams become your dreams.”I look up, delivering the last part from memory.“All my love, Your Melly.”
