Page 126 of The Invitation
“I love you, Mom.”
She pulls away, her eyes wet with tears. “Honey, you have no idea how much I love you.”
“I have a little idea.” I smile at her, holding her at arm’s length. “We’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.” I hug her again. “Why don’t I call you tomorrow and we can make plans to have dinner?”
“I’d really, really like that.”
She presses a kiss to my cheek. “I have a car picking me up soon, so I’ll see myself out. Enjoy your night.”
“You can stay,” I say, although I hope she declines. I need time alone with Ripley.
Mom chuckles. “I need to go.” She gives Ripley a quick hug, whispering something in his ear that I can’t hear. It makes him laugh. “Goodbye, you two.”
“Bye, Mom.”
Waffles barks at her.
“Goodbye, Ms. Hayes,” Ripley says. “Would you like me to walk you out?”
“You stay here with my daughter, or I’ll snap right back to mean Felicity.”
We all laugh. It feels very, very good.
She goes down the hallway and we don’t say a word until the door closes. Together, we let out a sigh of relief.
I take a step toward Ripley, but he takes one back.
My heart skips a beat.
“I have something I want to ask you before you touch me,” he says, giving me a soft smile. “And it has to be in this orderbecause, if not, it’ll take me far too long to get back to this. Because I’m going to have a hard fucking time letting you go.”
“Hurry then. You’re wasting time.”
He grins. “The last time this was proposed to you, you left the guy who asked, so, I know I’m taking a risk by bringing this up. But I love you, Peaches. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to prove to you that I’m in this for the long haul.For forever. I don’t want there to be a second in your life where you have room to remotely consider that I’m not serious about this. About you. About us.”
I force a swallow, my anticipation growing. I don’t know where he’s going with this. Part of me says to run—but a bigger part of me demands that I stay.
“I did a little renovation to one of the bedrooms downstairs this week,” he says. “I turned one of them into a reading nook. I didn’t know exactly what that was supposed to look like, but it turns out Bianca had tons of ideas.” He rolls his eyes, making me giggle. “I hope you love it.”
“You built a reading nook for me? Here?”
He nods. “Because I hope you’ll consider moving in with me.”
“What?”
My brain hadn’t had the chance to think this far in advance. I didn’t dream of him asking me to move in with him. I’m caught off guard and I don’t know what to say.
“I’m not pressuring you,” he says, “I’ve waited over ten years. I can wait a few more. Theoretically.” He winks. “But, as far as I’m concerned, we both live here. The only reason I’m not asking you to marry me is because I know you’ll say no. But, I hope that one day, you’ll say yes.”
“Ripley.” I blow out a breath, surprised. “I don’t know what to say.”
“The wordyeswould be good.”
I consider his request.Is it too fast? Is it the right choice? Do I want to do this?
Slowly, the answer becomes clear.
This is my dream—the one thing I’ve been too scared to even dream of. But Sutton apparently manifested this for me.How can I say no?
