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“Sure,” she said slowly. “I can see that.”
He held out his arm, and she came into his embrace. The warmth of her against his side heated him all the way to his core. “Your uncle Arthur—he was a big part of helping me figure it out. I decided my goal was a place of my own. Not just a roof to live under that wasn’t my old man’s. A home.”
His pulse sped up a tick, his mouth going dry. Getting nervous talking about this didn’t make sense, but he couldn’t seem to help it.
“Arthur promised me then and there that as soon as I could save up the money, he’d sell me this lot—at cost.”
Zoe scrunched up her brow. “But he bought it twenty years ago. He must’ve paid, like, nothing for it.”
Devin let out a quiet laugh. “It was a little more than nothing.” A lot less than it was worth now, but on Devin’s income, it was still a chunk of change.
A chunk of change that had taken him three whole years to save.
He was still a little shy, even with his promotion and his bonus. But that didn’t matter.
“The other night, when I was keeping him company, he changed the deal.”
“Yeah?”
Devin shrugged. “Apparently a heart attack gave him some new perspective. He doesn’t want to make me wait anymore. He trusts me. Knows I’m good for it.”
And he was. With the new promotion and the bonus he’d earned this afternoon, he’d be paying Arthur everything he owed in six months.
Pulling Zoe closer in against his side, he looked around. “He’s signing it over to me next week.”
“Devin. That’s amazing.”
It was. A kid like him who’d grown up with nothing, living off what he could get at the local food bank. Cowering in a dark house with a dad who made him feel like dirt.
And now he was here.
He had the Leungs for his family. He had Zoe tucked beneath his arm.
He had this land.
His voice went hoarse. “This weekend, I was wondering if maybe you’d want to look at some building plans with me.”
“Sure, I mean—”
“For when you move in here with me.” He didn’t want her mistaking him. He wanted to be clear. Looking down at her, he swallowed back his last remaining doubts. “I know it’s soon, but I know what I want.”
Her bright, beautiful gaze met his through the dimness. Her lips curled into a smile, and her eyes shone. “Devin…”
“Building a house. It’ll take time. This isn’t right now, but—”
“Yes,” she said. She rose onto her toes and kissed him. “Of course, absolutely, yes.”
He clutched her in his arms as tightly as he dared, returning the kiss with all the wonder in his heart. “I love you,” he managed to get out.
“I love you, too.” She pressed her mouth to his once more before pulling back. “There’s just one tiny thing you’re wrong about.”
“What’s that?” He was having a hard time concentrating. She felt so good pressed against him.
But then she grinned. “The soul-searching. The figuring out what I want with my life.”
“Oh?”
“I’m done with that.” Her smile widened, and he felt it in the center of his chest. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”
And just like that, so was he.
Here. In this home that they would build.
Together.
