Page 15 of If You Stayed

My confused heartbeat began to slow slightly. I stepped to my left. “Here?”

He walked over, placed his hands against my shoulders, and moved me two more steps to my left. “Here.”

I smiled. “It’s very nice butler’s pantry.”

“Very nice indeed.” He slipped off his suit jacket and placed it over my shoulders. The breeze was chilly for the late-spring night, and he must’ve noticed my slight shiver.

He then rolled up the sleeves on his button-down shirt.That wasn’t surprising. Gabriel always ran hot-blooded. I swore he could go outside in the middle of a blizzard and complain that the snow felt warm.

He brushed a finger against his nose before pointing out into the distance. “Right there will be the primary bedroom with his-and-hers closets.”

“I won’t tell on you if you make my closet alittlebigger than his,” I joked.

He leaned in toward me and whispered, “It’s already bigger.”

“I knew I liked you.”

He smiled, that dimple returning, and my body tingled all over. Gosh, I’d missed his smiles. I didn’t know how much I’d missed them until they returned to me that evening. Gabriel’s smiles were warm and lazy at the same time. As if smiles were just something he so easily crafted. His smiles felt like stable, expected love—so sure and effortless.

Though his proximity did bring me a whirl of emotions. Our closeness only made me want to lean in toward him more. I wanted to feel the warmth that radiated from his mere existence. He seemed so…happy. Confident too. That pleased me, because the last time I saw him, it was the opposite of that. Gabriel had grown into his own happiness. I couldn’t think of a soul who deserved that more.

Who did he share that joy with? Who currently received the ghost of my past love?

“And what about here?” I asked, darting away from him and shaking off the butterflies that had no right to be forming in my gut. I placed my feet against solid ground.

He slid his hands into his pockets and arched an eyebrow. “That’s the family room.”

“And here?” I asked, moving to the right.

“The meditation space.”

“Do you meditate?”

“Every morning before yoga.”

I arched an eyebrow. “You do yoga?”

“It’s good for my body and soul. Without it, I’d probably be as stiff as a board.”

I laughed. “I tried to get Henry into yoga. He said that was a woman’s fluff thing.”

“Henry mentioned the meditation room was for you and your yoga.”

“Yes, it was my only request. He took over the rest of the planning process, but I was determined to have a room just for me.”

“Good for you, Kierra. You deserve that.”

I didn’t know why, but hearing my name roll off his tongue made me want to cry. So I moved again.

“Oh, oh, and here?” I asked, taking large strides across the empty plot of land.

“That is…” His brows knit and he tilted his head as if trying to recall his master plans for the property.

“It’s okay if you don’t know. I know it’s almost impossible to remember it—”

I stopped speaking because he held up a hand. “No, I know this,” he stated. He scrunched up his nose. “The only problem is I think you’re standing in two places at once. Yourleft foot is in the family room, while your right is in the dining hall.”

“I always wanted to be in two places at once.”

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