Page 52 of Light It Up Red
“Me too.” Lili leans over the center console and presses her lips to mine. “I’ll see you soon, hotshot,” she says before climbing out of my car.
When I walk into my apartment, I find my mother in the kitchen. “Mom, I didn’t know you were coming today.” I close the distance and kiss her cheek before stepping back and looking at all the groceries lined up on the counter.
“I knew you’d be back today. You needed food, Travis.”
“You do know I can feed myself,” I tell her.
“No, you can’t,” she huffs while shaking her head in my direction.
“Are you planning on flying out to Vancouver every week to stock my fridge too?” I laugh, swipe up some bell peppers and carrots, and set them in the cold storage drawer.
“If I have to, I will. But you’ll have Lili there. I have no doubt she’ll make sure you eat.”
“I have Lili here too.”
“I know, but you also have me.”
My mother cried when I told her I was moving to Vancouver. She was happy for me, of course. Proud too. But knowing I would be so far away hit hard.
“It’s not going to be forever,” I remind her.
“I know that. But don’t you dare have kids over there. My grandbabies have to live in New York, Travis. I won’t have them in a different country.”
“I’m not planning on giving you any grandkids for at least another twenty years, Mom.” I smirk. Truth is Lili and I haven’t even broached the subject of having kids. Not seriously. I honestly don’t care either way. Though I can’t help but wonder how she feels about it.
Would she want kids with me?
Once all the groceries are put away, Mom makes us each a cup of coffee. I lead her out to the balcony and sit down. “I’m going to miss this city,” I tell her.
“This city is going to miss you. How was your little getaway?”
“Pure fucking bliss.” I can feel myself grinning. It’s just what happens whenever I think about Lili.
“Language,” Mom scolds. “I’m glad you had a good time. We really like this girl, Travis.”
“I really like her too.”
“Good. Now, don’t fuck it up.”
“Don’t plan on it.” I’m never going to let Lili go. It doesn’t matter what life throws at us. I will never give up on this relationship.
“What about this one?” I point at a large three-story house on the screen in front of us. Lili and I have been sitting in bed scrolling through Vancouver real estate for the past hour.
“Why on earth do we need a house that big?” she asks me.
“Because you, my dear, are a princess who grew up in a palace, remember? I can hardly make you move to another country, only to have you live in a shack.”
Lili glances at the listing again, her gaze focused on the address. “That’s just down the street from Gray, same development and everything.”
I press the red button on the tab, deleting the page. “That’s in the no pile then.”
“You do know you’re going to have to play nice with him, right? He’s going to be your captain.”
“Yup, but I don’t need to be neighbors with the guy.”
“I wouldn’t mind being neighbors with Kathryn. I’d be able to see Graycee all the time.” Lili shrugs.
Kathryn is Grayson’s girlfriend, and Graycee is their daughter. The girls were best friends in college until Kathryn went missing. She was gone for six years and just turned back up in Vancouver about a month ago.
