Page 213 of Smooth Sailing

It was a good call.

“I don’t give a fuck where I am, as long as you’re there.”

Once he said that, I wasn’t sure I’d ever breathe again.

But he was far from done.

“I’ll rent my place, got the investment in it so that’ll always be there for us, and it’ll keep growing. I’ll also have whatever it rents for, which’ll help us out.” He smiled. “But I’m not the kinda guy who can sit around watching Real Housewives. I need something to do. I’ll figure it out. Aces has a home improvement store in north Phoenix, and I bet they’d take me on. I got store experience, practically run Ride, so it won’t be like they won’t get a good man who’ll do them right.”

“Hugger—”

“I don’t know how much you make, but I’ll contribute. Half and half, across the board. I like your crib. It’s the shit. Covered parking. Secure. No yardwork. You don’t wanna make coffee, you go down and get yourself some. We get on to making those two kids, babe, we’re gonna have to have bigger. I’ll carry my load with that too.”

“Hug—”

“It’s hot as fuck here, but I checked, and the weather will be crap from June to September. Four months of twelve, I can work it.”

He had checked.

He’d checked!

He kept going.

“And I like snow, but you got mountains here, not far away, same as Denver. I get a hankerin’, we can drive to it.” He gave me a gentle shake on another smile. “And I’ll do the driving. Just like in Denver, you gotta take a road trip to get to the good kind of snow in the mountains, but here, you never have to live in it, which is all right with me.”

“No, you don’t have to live in it. But, Hugger?—”

“In the end, Denver is a two-hour flight or a one-day drive away. It’s a haul, but you can do it in a day. Ain’t that far. We can go back and be with my family whenever we want.”

I waited to see if he had more to say, and when he didn’t, I tried again.

“This can break couples,” I noted.

“What?”

“You giving up something so huge for me.”

“And what are you giving me?” he asked.

I wasn’t sure of the question.

“I…I don’t know.”

“Brunch in a hip pad with a kickass Wonder Woman painting in it that fortunately didn’t go up in smoke today.”

I wanted to smile at his quip, but with what we were discussing, there was too much at stake, so I didn’t have it in me.

He kept going.

“You can have your cocktails in a weird bar with animated fairies flyin’ around on the walls and drinks served in weird glasses. I could tell that wasn’t for me. But that other bar was the shit. And their fried bologna sandwiches can’t be beat.”

I ran a hand over his shoulder and whispered, “Hugger.”

“You’re all that’s you, babe, and I think I made it clear I want all a’ that.”

Oh, he did that for certain.

“But you’re opening up my world,” he continued rocking mine, “and I never knew I wanted it, but now I know I do. More, my ma would want it for me, and she’d love you’re giving it to me.”

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