Page 122 of Where We Fall

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Nothing. I just wanted to tell you first that this is the room that has completely sold me on this place. It’s not what the room is today, but what it could be.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Ok.”

He pushes the doors open behind him and then backs into the room.

The room is a large two-story office. The walls are all painted a dark gray. It’s decorated beautifully right now, but I lose my breath when I see the floor-to-ceiling bay windows in the front of the room.

I gasp when it occurs to me. “A library.”

He smiles. “I knew you’d get it instantly.”

“It would be an incredible library. Just like the one you have in your house.”

He nods his head as he looks around the room. “Only this time, we would design it together. A little bit of both of us would be incorporated into it.”

My eyes begin to water. It sounds absolutely perfect. The nights we’ve spent together in his library have been some of the best. It was the perfect place to relieve stress in our lives. Well, minus the bedroom. However, we did that in the library, too.

Even thinking about the time on the ladder makes me blush.

“Do you like it?” he asks, staring intently at me.

I nod my head as the tears begin to spill down my cheeks. “I love it. It’s amazing.”

He takes my face in his hands gently. Wiping away the tears like he has done before.

“You will need to pick out the lounge chair,” he says. “I need a good place to rest my head on you and listen to your voice while you read. And it could be a great place for bedtime stories one day.”

“Oh God,” I laugh as more tears come. “It would be a wonderful place for that.”

“So, me saying things like that don’t freak you out?”

“I’m looking at a home for us to buy together. I think it’s safe to say we’re getting a bit serious.”

“True. I’m sorry this is all out of order from how it normally progresses.”

I laugh. “I don’t care. Nothing about us has been normal from the beginning.”

He smiles. “You mean people don’t pretend to date first like we did before they fall in love?”

“Not that I know of, but I love our story.”

“Me too.” He leans in for a kiss. “You’re the most important thing in my life. I promise I will do whatever I can to make you happy. Our time together in Cleveland will always be where we fell in love, but this new chapter here is where we make our dreams come true.”

“My dreams have already come true. They did the moment I met you.”

His lips crash back down on mine. I bask in the euphoria that his lips provide.

I can’t believe this man is mine. Who knew the disheveled girl I once was would evolve so much into the woman I am today?

The truth is, I owe so much of who I am to everyone who’s ever crossed paths with me. Each piece is a part of me, and I cherish each one, even the painful ones. Because each painful memory was a lesson that turned me into the woman that this man fell in love with. And who can regret that?

THE END

Epilogue

Marcus

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