Page 65 of The Rookie
They’re the four best words I’ve heard in a very long time.
“But just so you know ... being with me comes with a big, loud family.”
She laughs. “Yeah. I kinda figured that out.”
“They love you, you know.”
“I love them too,” she says, and I know she means it. “We can spend Christmas snowed in with them?”
“Of course.” I trail my hand along her spine, gently rubbing her back. Now that she’s finally in my arms again, I can’t seem to stop myself from touching her.
“And Thanksgiving?”
“If you like. My mom makes the best sweet potato pie in the entire world. And my brothers fight over who gets to carve the turkey.”
She lifts her head from its resting place on my shoulder and meets my eyes. “Who usually wins?”
“Grandpa Al,” I say with a grin.
“Of course he does. It sounds perfect.”
“It is, but wherever you are will be perfect too. You’re what I want. We can make our own traditions. If you want to have Thanksgiving dinner right here in this apartment, we’ll do exactly that.”
She glances toward her efficiency kitchen with its tiny two-burner stove. “My kitchen sucks.”
I chuckle at her honesty. Her kitchen does leavea lotto be desired. “I’ll build you a better one.”
“My hero,” she says wistfully, grinning at me.
I brush her hair behind her ear. “I tell you I love you, but you’re more excited about me telling you I’ll build you a kitchen.” I raise one eyebrow in her direction.
“Sorry! No. Notmoreexcited, but maybe equally excited? And I love you too. It’s just that I had a lot of good times with your mother in her kitchen. I think I might like a nice kitchen of my own someday. I’ve never had a nice kitchen,” she says quickly, babbling like she does when she’s excited.
I quiet her with another kiss. “It’s yours.”
“I could bake you bread, and scones, and a cake on your birthday ... They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
“You already have my heart.”
We kiss and hold each other on her sofa for a long time. When I finally pull back, I meet her eyes again. “You looked so sad when I first walked in.”
She nods. “I was happy to see you,sohappy. But then I realized that I couldn’t put my arms around you, couldn’t hug you or kiss you or touch you, and that made me so incredibly sad.”
I brush my fingers along her collarbone. “Sweetheart, you can touch me as much as you want.”
This makes her laugh, and it’s the best sound.
“I missed you,” I say, pressing my lips to the top of her head.
You can’t appreciate the sweet if you never have the bitter.
And having Summer back in my arms is the sweetest thing in the world.
24
SUMMER
Two months later
