Page 158 of The Future Play

He opens them, then leads me inside the warm, inviting space with old wood floors. There’s a security guard at a small desk who nods to Jamie.

Maybe this is some kind of vacation rental thing?

There’s also a little coffee station with a fancy coffee-espresso maker and a couple of tables with chairs.

Jamie pulls me past them to the elevator, across from which is a door with the number one on it.

We take the elevator up to the third floor and walk past a storage area to a door with the number three on it.

Jamie digs out yet another key, then opens the door, but before he lets me inside, he smiles and kisses my cheek.

I’m not sure what to expect when he pushes the door open. Low lighting, candles, and rose petals? A completely barren space with a blanket on the floor? A space that looks like a stock photo? But what I see is the last thing I was expecting.

I stop in my tracks and spin back to face him, seeing that hopeful hesitant look on his face again.

“What is this?”

“I might’ve stolen my own thunder since I already did this once this year… but this is ours. Our new apartment.”

Tears flood my eyes, and I have to blink them all away as I spin around and take it all in again. Our furniture is here. My favorite pillows and blankets from our apartment back home. Some of them, at least.

“How did you—when did you—are we going to move all this stuff back and forth between hereand back home?”

He laughs at that very specific thought. “No. Because these are all new things. Same couch and pillows and blankets that match as best they can. I tried to recreate our home in Ida back here because I want this to be our home too. You deserve a safe space, and I’m sorry I didn’t give you that.” He blows out a shaky breath. “But until I was here, I didn’t realize how much I needed it too.”

I throw my arms around him. “Thank you. This means… so much,” I choke out.

He runs his fingers through my hair and hugs me tighter. “Do you want to see the rest of it?”

“Yes. Yes, please. Show me everything.”Tell me everything.

Again, he takes my hand. The kitchen and living room are completely open to each other. There’s no specific dining space, but there’s room for a small table at the far end of the living room. The wood colors and rustic feel are similar to the ones at our apartment back home, but not manufactured to be that way—it’s like they grew like this. Everything is seamless, homey, lived-in—in the best ways.

“There are a couple of downsides. There’s only one full bath and the spare room is small, but I don’t care. I’ll pay to put our friends up at a good hotel when they visit.”

“I don’t care. This is perfect. My soul feels happy here.”

“And you haven’t seen the best part yet.”

He opens the door to the spare room, and my eyes light up. Much like the one back home, it’s like my own personal cozy nook. A little smaller, which actually makes me like it even more.

“Come here. There’s something I want to show you.”

I follow him inside and quickly notice the three bulletin boards hanging above the desk.

“Three?”

“You’re always working on multiple things at once. Each thing should have its own space.”

Any residual anger I was holding on to fades.Thisis the boy I fell in love with. Not because of the big things like an apartment,but because of tiny things like knowing I need multiple bulletin boards. The way he sees me.

I stop at the shelf on the other side of my desk where two photo frames and two bears sit—both new.

In one of the frames is a picture of me with my parents and my brothers at Disney World when I was around twelve. In the other is a picture of Jamie and me at Rae and Aaron’s wedding. We’re holding each other close, staring into each other’s eyes as we dance. It was a candid moment the photographer caught, and it’s the physical display of our love. In between the two frames are the bears. One is a cute little tan one with a white shirt on it that says “Ida, NY” with logos of a bunch of businesses on it. It’s something they did for charity earlier this year. The other bear is bigger and is holding a plastic frame of me with the hive mind at the lake house after a water gun fight.

“So you’ll always have the most important people close by, even when they’re not right here.”

I turn to him, already sniffling.

---