Page 135 of Light My Fire

“I’ve never actually been there. I haven’t spent much time in Chicago, really. I’d love to go to the zoo.”

That surprises me, though I’m not sure why. “I didn’t realize you haven’t been here much. What made you decide to do your clinicals here then?”

I open the front door of her building for her, and we step out onto the sidewalk. The air smells crisp and clear, yet there’s no real wind. It’s a perfect day for this time of year.

“My grandmother lives here and of course, my brother and my sister-in-law. My aunt and uncle are here, too. I wanted to experience a different city but without being totally on my own. I can’t imagine moving somewhere I don’t know a single person. I don’t always do well in large crowds or new environments. I kind of shut down.”

“I understand that. I’ve always only lived here, and I have no desire to leave Chicago. This is home. All my people are here.” I give her a smile. “Including you. I’m so damn happy you moved here.”

“Me too.” She’s fallen in step beside me, but she glances up. “Are we walking there? I don’t have a good sense of the geography here yet.”

“No, it’s too far, given that we’ll be walking around the zoo.” I pull my phone out. “We can take a car service.” Normally I’d take the bus or the train but then we wouldn’t be able to talk as readily.

In the car, we chat casually about movies and favorite foods and how we both come from large extended families but with only one sibling each. I have a little sister who is a pediatric nurse.

“My grandmother told me you’re mechanically inclined,” she says at one point. “I’ve been trying to figure out what that means exactly.”

That makes me laugh. “Why would your grandmother tell you that?”

“She said we have a lot in common. I think she was trying to matchmake us when you came to the cabin.”

“Then I guess I owe your grandmother a thank you. Hell, a giant fruit basket. I’m good at fixing things, especially if they have gears or hydraulics. I’m the guy they send out on elevator rescues. But I’m not sure what that has in common with healing animals.”

“Well, we both like to problem solve.”

“That is true. I also think we have similar temperaments.” More so than her and Luke or Jackson.

She nods. “I agree.”

I’ve been holding her hand in the car, and she squeezes it now.

“Being with you is really easy, Wyatt.” She gives me a bright smile. “You feel like home to me.”

I couldn’t ask for a bigger compliment than that. It drills me straight to the core.

I’m in love with Brooke.

Absolutely, fully, one hundred percent in love with this amazing, caring, intelligent woman.

I almost tell her.

I want to tell her.

But the moment doesn’t feel quite right, so instead I kiss her again, passionately.

She sighs into me, into the kiss and I want to capture it, and remember every single second of being with her. If I feel like home to her, she feels like the entire universe to me.

We kiss in front of the zoo when we arrive and take a selfie together.

I want pictures of us together so I can look at them when I’m not with her. Lots and lots of pictures, documenting a life together, time passing, concrete evidence of a past between us as we flow forward into a future.

“We look so cute together,” Brooke says when I show her the picture on my phone. “Text that to me, please.”

“Of course.” I send her the picture immediately and take her hand as we walk to the gate. “Are you cold?”

“No, I’m good. It’s really nice out today. I am from Minnesota, remember?”

“As if I could forget.” I grin at her. “I have a whole new appreciation for snowstorms now.”

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