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Peering over at Wes, and seeing him in his gray sweats, bare chest, half cuddling my dog, it was that sunshine in my soul feeling, chasing all the darkness that had hung around me for the past seven years. All the struggling through rent, living paycheck to paycheck. Meaningless connections and friendships until I met Laura.
Laura.
Alarm shot through me as I pulled up my phone to send her a text.
Me: So I have news…. sort of big news.
The dots on her end started moving but stopped. My brows caved as the dots repeated the process a few times, and then there was a soft knock on the door. Wes didn’t stir, so I tiptoed off the couch and peeked at his security camera.
Seeing who was there, I quickly unlocked and pulled the door open. Searching the porch, I curiously asked, “What are you doing here?”
It was dark out, and the club was still going, but it had died down quite a bit. There was a bonfire burning in the front, offering a bit of light to Wesley’s porch.
Laura was pulled in, and I locked everything up once more.
“Hey, sorry for randomly showing up like this.”
“No, are you kidding me? I’m so happy to see you.”
She fell into my arms for a hug, but I could sense something was off with her.
I heard the movie pause and peeked over to see Wes standing from the couch, rubbing his eyes.
“Hey, Laura, nice to see you. Guest room’s open if you need it.”
Placing a kiss on the side of my head, he headed upstairs with Max on his heels.
I took the opportunity to pull Laura by the wrist and settle into the couch. The cubby in the middle section had a few snacks I’d stashed, so I pulled it open and handed her a rope of red licorice.
“Why are there moving boxes everywhere?” Laura lightly nudged one by her foot.
I looked around, realizing things were a little crazy. I hadn’t really noticed before, with the engagement and orgasmic bliss from earlier.
“Wes built me a house. Three years ago. I just found out. We’re also engaged.” I held up my hand, and Laura tipped her head back in laughter.
“God, I missed you. Of course you’re engaged and the love of your life built you a house. So you’re moving in soon then?”
I shrugged, biting off a piece of licorice. “A few days.”
“Well, Wesley isn’t renting this place out by chance, is he?”
Wide-eyed, I turned toward her. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“The rental car I drove down here is packed, and when you texted me that you were staying, I abused my key privileges and loaded your stuff too.”
I was going to cry.
“Laura…are you for real moving here?”
I was having a hard time grasping the concept, because she grew up in a small town and had wanted the bigger city life for as long as I had known her. Why would she suddenly want tiny Rose Ridge, Virginia?
“I think this place grew on me. Also, I miss you, and living in DC is boring without you there. I’m also utterly dependent on you for more tattoos. I don’t trust anyone else.”
Leaning over to pull her into a hug, I let out a happy sigh as I addressed her earlier question.
“From what I understand, this place will go to the next president. Wes is acting president for a while, but the person in charge will be Killian, and I haven’t heard if he wants this place for when he’s here, or not. But I can ask for you.”
“Uh, I can just look for some place in town. If you’re not going to be here, then it might be weird for me to be.”
