Page 110 of Return To You

thirty-four

Grace

“I’m leaving early tomorrow,” Ethan thinks necessary to remind me as we get dressed for the day after a quick shower together. “I have a couple of errands to run, and I want to stop by Mom and Dad's to say goodbye.” He pulls me to him by my waist. “Tonight is all for you.” His eyes go dark as he leans into me for a long kiss. He pulls my face into his chest after breaking the kiss. “You very busy today?” His voice is raw with emotion.

I’m packed. “A little.” If only I could get cancellations today.

He kisses the crown of my head. “Why don’t you let me get you a proper coffee? What’s today’s gonna be?”

I smile big at him. “A Maple Kiss in the mug with the kittens. Please.”

“You don’t want a new mug?”

I giggle. “You already gave me three. Plus, Millie’ll give you a discount if you bring your own mug.”

“Ah. My Grace is thrifty. Good to know.” He takes a deep breath, his gaze doing all sorts of funny things to my insides as it goes through different emotions, until he blinks the shine out of his eyes. “I’ll meet you at the spa? Let you get started.”

“I’ll try to get out early,” I whisper as he boops me.

“One Maple Kiss, coming right up!” He grabs the mug from its display shelf as he leaves the house.

It’s the mug he personalized in his own hand, and just thinking about it makes me as giddy as a teenager.

It feels good. I’m tired of feeling old and acting reasonable. I know this thing with Ethan is nowhere near my teenage fantasies of a happily ever after, house full of his babies, Ethan’s mouth on my body every morning, but hey—it’s close enough.

It’s better than I had a month ago.

So. Much. Better.

I’ll do what life has taught me to do: accept and adapt.

The spa doesn’t open for another hour, so I start on my admin work right away, hoping Ethan will take a minute to sit with me and have a coffee before going about his day. I’m close to inbox zero when his bike roars faintly outside. Closing my laptop, I greet him at the door.

He jumps up the steps, holding my travel mug and a disposable mug, and whirls me in his free arm as if we haven’t seen each other in forever.

“Hi again, beautiful,” he says against my mouth before kissing me. “Just a quick kiss and I’m out of your hair.”

“I have time for you.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

I take his hand. “Come outside. We just need to stay away from the rotten planks.”

He steps to the deck’s damaged area, examining it. “I didn’t realize it was that bad,” he grunts, irritated.

But me? I’m just realizing how sharing the little things, the daily frustrations, makes everything right again. “Yeah, it sucks for the golden girls’ wellness session. I’ll have to move them inside.” Oh well. “Come sit,” I say as I pull two cafe chairs next to each other and sit in one.

Ethan takes the other and throws his arm over my shoulders, pulling me inside his warm frame. He plays with my hair absentmindedly, brushing his fingers against my nape occasionally. “You’d let me know if there was anything I could do to help, right?”

What does he mean? “Yeah, sure.”

“Good,” he says softly, kissing my temple. Then he adds, “What’s that tiny piece of twine?”

“What?” I look around but see nothing.

“In your box. There’s a little plastic pouch and inside, it looks like twine tied in a loop.”

“Oh.” I swing my head to look at him. The distant memory collides with today’s reality. What will he think? Oh—who cares. “It’s a wedding band you made for me. We were playing wedding—Haley’s idea. She’d convinced Justin to play with us, probably bargained something. You came up and declared they didn’t know what they were doing. That Justin wasn’t saying the right words, or that Haley couldn’t marry her brother. I don’t remember the details—I wasn’t paying that much attention until then—until you placed yourself in front of me, looked into my eyes, produced a little ring—it had blue flower buds at the time—took my hand, slipped the ring on it, and said “I thee wed and shall protect you forever and ever.” Then you turned to Justin and told him what he was supposed to say. He refused to repeat it, so you leaned over me, kissed the crown of my head, and said ‘I now pronounce us husband and wife.’ And then you left.” I laugh at the memory, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t think it’s laughable.

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