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His mouth met mine, and the world exploded with a thousand colors. A million stars.
He pulled back after a minute, his face so, so serious. “Chelsea is signing the divorce papers. She won’t be an issue.”
I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck. “She was never an issue, not really. It was my pride that almost ruined us. And my stupid stubbornness.”
He laughed. “The Galloway pride is legendary. My mother always warned me.”
“Oh, she did?” My lips split into the widest grin.
“She did. And she also told me that you and I are were meant to be. And when my mother speaks, of course, I listen.”
“As you should. She’s a wise lady,” I agreed.
He kissed me again, and it felt like flying.
“Come inside. Stay with me. The whole night this time. I don’t want you running out of here in a few hours with your panties in a ball in your pocket.” He took my hand and led me to the house.
“Only if you promise not to take up all the bed. You’re a horrible cover hog.” I elbowed him in the side.
We approached the house, and Adam caught sight of the canvas I had leaned against the porch steps. “What’s that?”
“Oh. Um, it’s for you.” I felt shy as he picked it up and looked at it silently. His eyes roaming over the swaths of color and sketched drawing.
“This is us,” he said after a few minutes.
“It is.”
He looked at me, his cheeks wet. “When did you paint this?”
“The night at your parents when I first got to town.” I couldn’t quite tell what he was thinking, but I could tell he was struggling to speak.
“If you don’t like it, it’s okay. I only wanted you to see that even then, you inspired me. That you’ve always inspired me—”
He cut me off with a kiss. “You knew,” he murmured against my mouth, and I relaxed into his arms.
“I always knew.”
Epilogue
Meghan
Six Months Later
“I think that’s the last of it,” Kyle said, dropping my suitcase in the middle of the bedroom floor. “I thought there would be more stuff, with you being a woman and all.”
I lightly punched his arm. “Now, I know you don’t subscribe to that sexist bullshit, Web; otherwise, I’d have to beat the crap out of you.”
“You know better than to push her buttons. Did the skating rink incident teach you nothing?” Adam asked, kissing the back of my neck.
Kyle shuddered. “Dude, I’ve repressed that particular memory. The humiliation has haunted me ever since.”
“That’s what you get for telling Meg she skated like a chick. What’d you think she was going to do? Go and cry? Of course, she was going to show your pansy-ass up,” Skylar said, opening a box and pulling out my sketch pads and pencils.
“Those are going in the studio downstairs,” Adam told her.
“The studio?” Skylar asked. “That sounds fancy.”
“Adam insisted we convert his workout room to a studio for me to paint in. I told him I can paint anywhere, but you know how stubborn he is.”
Adam wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against his side. I fit perfectly. I had always fit perfectly. “Yeah, because I’m the stubborn one in this relationship.”
The four of us all exchanged knowing glances then busted up laughing.
Adam started wheeling my suitcase into the walk-in closet. He had already cleared out the right side for my clothes. When I agreed to move in with him, he had hired a decorator to redo the entire house to my specifications.
“This will be as much your house as mine. I want it to feel like home.”
I knew he didn’t want me to feel like I was moving into the house he used to share with Chelsea. He worried that it still bothered me, no matter how often I told him that she didn’t matter.
And it was true.
Chelsea had signed the divorce papers and moved to Miami not long after Adam and I got back together. By the end of the year, after the twelve months required separation, they’d be officially divorced. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Adam hadn’t heard from her since, except through her attorney.
Skylar moved into a cute house downtown and was working from home. Adam hired her to revamp their website and to come up with some new marketing materials. She was working closely with Robert, Adam’s other partner. I noticed they seemed to be putting in a lot of hours on the project. I knew not to ask about it until she wanted to tell me. Skylar was funny like that.
I could relate.
The doorbell rang. “People are starting to show up. Come on, baby.” Adam took my hand and pulled me out of the room. The term baby no longer made me want to run away screaming. Now I kind of liked it.
