Page 105 of Taylor

“Yeah, thank you for being the best boss I’ve ever had... even if it’s only been a couple months.”

“Of course. I do hope that we can be friends. I think you’ll fit in with all of us,” Sasha said before standing up and pulling Alice into a hug.

“Thank you, that means a lot,” she said.

After leaving the center, Alice was standing in front of Taylor’s door. It felt weird knocking, but it also felt weird just walking in. She raised her fist to knock but decided to just use the key he’d given her and walk in like he’d told her.

Taylor was playing Monsters of the Realm. That felt right. She stopped in her studio to pick up her tablet and joined him on the couch. On the other end, she propped her feet up on his lap and pulled up the drawing she’d been working on.

Once Taylor got to a stopping point, he put down the control, picked up her foot, and rubbed it. “How’d it go?”

“Good, I told her I’d help for the rest of the season, but after that, I was done.”

“I’m proud of you,” he said, moving his hand up to massage her calf.

“I’m not sure anyone has ever been proud of me for quitting a job.” She chuckled.

“I’m proud that you stayed true to yourself and did something hard. I know disappointing people is hard for you. Don’t blow it off. I’m proud of you.”

How was this man so perfect? What had she ever done to deserve him? While she didn’t know the answer to that question, she would spend the rest of her life working to deserve his love and loving him right back.

He picked up the controller and got back to his game as Alice started sketching. “I was thinking about heading to my place later to bring over some more clothes... maybe filling up the side of the closet you cleared out for me.”

“Okay,” he said, eyes on the screen. “After we finish up here, let’s go get some dinner and then we can both stop by your place later.”

“That sounds perfect.”

It did sound perfect. Most of her future with him felt perfect. While New Year, New Me had not gone the way she thought it would, it went better than she could have ever imagined. She was a “New Me,” and for the first time in her life, she was finding out who she truly was. She still had a long way to go on that journey.

Giving herself grace and truly believing she was enough and trying hard enough were still a work in progress, but she was getting closer every day. Each time she voiced a need and wasn’t told she was asking too much, she trusted herself more. Each time she allowed another person to help her, she realized she was worthy of that help. And every time she was told by a stranger on the internet her art spoke to them, she tried to soak up their words, no matter how uncomfortable it made her.

Someday, she would voice her needs and ask for help without believing she was a burden. Someday, she would believe the kind words of others easily because she already believed them about herself.

She wasn’t there yet, but she was on her way, and for now, that was enough.

As Taylor played his game, she watched. The crease that always settled deep between his eyebrows when he was concentrating made her smile. She put down her project and pulled out the sketchbook she kept on her side of the couch and sketched her handsome boyfriend. This notebook was full of him. Him on this couch, in the bed, on the ice. He was her favorite thing to draw.

When he glanced at her, he caught her studying him. While in the past, she might have been embarrassed and turned away, this time, she just smiled. He smiled right back.

“I love you.”

She said it is as easily as breathing.

“I love you, too,” he said with a wink.

He turned back to his game, and she turned back to her sketch. While this moment was so incredibly ordinary, the love she felt was not. Neither was the life they were creating. What was happening was truly extraordinary but made up of ordinary moments just like this. She couldn’t wait to find out what was next for them because she was sure it would be extraordinary. How could it not be?

EPILOGUE

Taylor

Christmas

Taylor stomped the snow off his boots as he and Alice walked up to the cabin’s front door. As much as he had hoped for a quiet cabin, her family was already here and waiting for them.

“Are you ready?”

With her hand on the doorknob, she stilled. “Yeah.” She turned to him with a seductive look that shot straight to his dick.

---