Page 41 of When I Found You

The weeks since then have been super busy for the both of us. Peyton accompanied me to the awards show a few weeks back, where Lee, Reese, and I all won awards for the songs we penned, and Reese recorded. Hearing my name get called was a feeling I’ll never forget, and having Peyton there by my side to help me celebrate made it that much more special.

We’ve split our time between who drives to who each weekend as we hate being apart from each other. Having a set end date on when we’ll no longer have to think about not coming home to each other each night has been our saving grace these past two months.

I left the studio around lunchtime today, wanting to have a little bit of time to pack a few more boxes to take with me today,when I drive to our new place and meet Peyton to get the keys. We plan to come back to my place tomorrow with a U-Haul truck to get everything else and then do the same for him. His furniture belongs to the apartment, so it’s working out perfectly that we only have to deal with one set, and we also don’t have to run out and buy a bunch of stuff to furnish our new place.

I’ve been packing for a few hours when I hear my cell ringing from the living room. I run out to grab it before it rolls over to my voicemail, and see Peyton’s face flashing on the screen.

“Hey, babe,” I greet as soon as the call connects.

“Are you leaving soon?”

“Yep, I was just finishing up a few more boxes. But I’ll load them up and then hit the road. Are we still on to meet at four?”

“That’s the plan. I just got off work. I was going to swing by my place and grab stuff for tonight. But I was thinking, after we get the keys and unload both of our vehicles, why don’t we drive back to your place, so we don’t have to sleep on the air mattress. And that saves us the drive in the morning. We can just get up, go grab the U-Haul, and get to work.”

“That works for me.”

“Sounds like a plan, babe. I can’t believe this day has finally arrived,” he gushes into the phone.

“You sap,” I tease him. “If your squad could hear you now. Think of all the shit Lukas and Max would be giving you.”

“Yeah, they were ragging on me today when I told them I was leaving early. I think it’s taken them all this time since I told them about you to actually believe I was serious and had changed my view on relationships.”

“Well, when you make a complete about-face on your stance, I don’t blame them.”

“All right, babe, I’ve got to get off my phone if you want me to start driving. Drive safe, and I’ll see you soon. Love you.”

“Love you, too,” I tell him before we disconnect the call. This man has me so tied up in knots and I love every minute of it. He might have been the shock of my life, but I wouldn’t change meeting him when I did for anything.

“Peyton,Stacey, so nice to see you both again,” Kyle, our leasing agent, greets us.

“Good to see you, Kyle,” Peyton tells him, shaking his hand.

“Ready to get moved in?” he asks the both of us.

“So ready. We’re tired of the commute between our current places. Ready to just have one place to call home together,” I say, as he unlocks the door and lets us in.

We conduct the check-in walk-through before he hands us our keys. We already took care of our deposit and first month’s rent when our application was approved a few weeks back.

“Well, welcome home, guys. Please call the office if you need anything. If it’s after hours and you have a maintenance issue, there’s always someone on call to help.”

“Thank you,” we both tell him as he sees himself out.

“Welcome home, babe.” Peyton pulls me into an embrace.

“Welcome home,” I echo. I look around and can see us settling in here, and the memories we’ll make excite me.

“Ready to start unloading?” he asks after a few moments.

“Yep!” I eagerly tell him.

We get both his truck and my car unloaded in just around thirty minutes. We don’t worry about starting to unpack, since we need the furniture moved in to get things put away, so for now, we just stack all the boxes in the second bedroom. That way, they’ll be out of the way when we arrive tomorrow with everything else.

“How about we leave your car here and take my truck. That way, if we have to haul anything in it, we can,” Peyton suggests.

“Sounds good to me. Want to stop for some dinner on the way?”

“Absolutely, I’m starving.” He links our hands together as we head out to his truck, only stopping long enough for him to lock up the front door.

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