Page 83 of Chasing You

Kash’s voice was thick when he said, “So did I.”

She smiled as the register began to beep with every scan. “I love that. It’s rare these days. Everyone’s so…temporary, you know? Like, their attention span doesn’t last longer than a few weeks. They fall together and fall apart before they even meet face-to-face. My partner and I met the old-school way, and I think that’s why we’ve lasted so long.”

“The old-school way? Oh, you’re about to make me feel ancient, aren’t you?” Adele groaned.

She laughed. “The library. The one off Ridgemont has large-print Tolkien books, so I took the bus down to see if they hadThe Hobbit. While I was looking at the rest of the collection, they came over and asked me if I could help them find a braille copy ofThe Silmarillion. It was an epic meet cute.”

“How long have you two been together?” Adele asked, his face all soft the way he got in the face of other people’s love. Kash grabbed his hand and held tight.

“Seven years. We got married at Comic-Con with an Elvish-themed wedding. And I know that sounds nerdy as hell, even for a shop like this?—”

“No, I love it,” Adele said. “I think our son might end up having some type of D&D theme with…what’s that guy’s name? The hot vampire?”

The woman burst into laughter. “Astarion?”

“That’s the one. He’d want some Astarion cosplayer to officiate. I walked in on the full-frontal nudie scene last summer. It was…graphic, but Gage loves it.”

She laughed. “I may have played through that once ortwice. Or five times. But your son sounds super cool. Is his partner a nerd?”

“Oh. He’s still single, but when he does settle down, I can’t imagine it either way.” Adele froze, then said, “Actually, y’all wouldn’t happen to have a spare braille or tactile map, would you?”

The woman blinked rapidly. “Is he blind?”

“His best friend is. They, ah…” Adele’s voice got tight. “They were working on one, but we lost our house in a fire a week ago, and the map was lost with everything else.”

“Oh my God. I heard about that fire,” she said. She set the bags to the side, grabbed a piece of paper, and scribbled on it, her nose an inch away from the counter. “Have him call me. We can hook him up.”

Adele tucked the paper away in his pocket. “Y’all are amazing.”

She smiled as she handed them the bags. “So are you. Stop by again, will you?”

“We will,” Kash said, and he meant that.

“So,” Adele said thickly through a mouth full of roast beef, bread, and au jus. They were in the driveway of an empty rental house that would be theirs on Saturday. They’d signed a year lease with month-to-month options for after. It was furnished and far more expensive than Adele’s mortgage had been, but it was a home.

It would be theirs for a little while, and it meant after their little ceremony, they’d have a place of their own.

“So,” Kash said with a grin.

Adele set his sandwich down and leaned against the headrest, smiling over at him. “I’m so in love with you.”

“I keep waiting for the moment I get tired of hearing that,” Kash admitted. The words made him feel warm all over.

“And?”

“Keep trying.”

Adele snorted and leaned in, stealing a salty kiss. “I am so in love with you,” he said again.

Kash let those words settle behind his sternum—words he never thought he was ever going to hear. “Are you worried about tomorrow?”

Adele nodded, his face going serious. “The wedding is going to be fine, but afterward is going to be a nightmare. Bowen started party planning with the guys at the station. They’ve moved the reception from Lane’s place to Hector’s little farm.”

Kash only knew half of what all that meant, but he’d known the guys weren’t going to let them get away with a little slapdash quickie with appetizers and desserts after. “Frey said we have suits in our closet waiting for us. I don’t even want to know how they got our sizes.”

“Rifling through what was left of our underwear drawer, I bet,” Adele said.

Kash burst into laughter, but the mood quickly sobered the way it always did when it came to the house. “Did, ah…did they find anything at the house?”

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