Page 41 of Accidentally Fudging the Beast
"I'll be back as soon as I can," I promise once I'm dressed. "If you need anything, text me. I don't care if you're half-dead, I'm coming back."
She nods, and when I lean in to kiss her forehead again, she actually melts beneath me. But she doesn't say anything.
And when I close the bedroom door behind me, I can hear her crying through the wall.
It fucking breaks me.
Imake it backa little over an hour later, with a trunk full of groceries and a small box of fudge sweating through my jacket pocket.
Dani is bundled up on the couch, her face buried in a pillow, looking like she went three rounds with Krampus and lost. She peeks up when she hears the door, her eyes rimmed red and her hair stuck to her cheek.
She's beautiful. Even now.
I set the grocery bags on the counter and strip off my gloves, which are still damp from the six-block hike through slush. I almost trip over a fuzzy blanket in the middle of the floor.
"Hey," I say, trying for casual and failing.
She blinks at me, as if she didn't expect to see me again. "You're here."
"Obviously." I unload the bags one by one: crackers, soup cans, Gatorade in every color, a whole chicken, and two boxes of ginger tea. I save the fudge for last, setting it in front of her on the coffee table like it's the Hope Diamond.
She stares at it. Then stares at me. "You're insane," she finally whispers.
"I'm persistent," I correct, kicking off my shoes and joining her on the couch. She's buried under four blankets, but I wedge in next to her, letting her absorb my body heat.
She leans her head on my shoulder. "I thought you were going to spend Christmas with your family."
I nudge her cheek with my nose. "I texted my mom. Told her my girlfriend was dying, and I had to save her." I pause. "She told me to bring you over as soon as you're human again."
Dani makes a face. "I don't think that's happening today."
"Then we'll have our own Christmas," I say, pulling her closer. "You, me, and this entire rotisserie chicken."
She laughs, weak but real. "I'm not sure I'll be able to hold it down."
"Then you'll eat broth," I say, already mentally prepping the chicken. "And when you can stomach more, I'll make you soup. And when you can stomach even more, we'll eat the fudge. I tested it on the way home. No honey."
She's quiet for a second, staring at the little container offudge, then at me.
"You're kind of a sap," she says, voice hoarse.
"Yeah, but I'm your sap." She turns, burrowing her face in my neck. I hold her there, rubbing her back, waiting for the part where she tells me I'm suffocating her or being an idiot. It never comes.
"You really don't have to stay," she whispers instead.
"I want to."
"Why?" She pulls back, searching my face like there's some secret code I haven't given her yet.
I don't hesitate. Not this time.
"Because I love you," I say, my voice clear and firm. "And I'm not letting the woman I love spend Christmas alone. I'd rather be here with you than anywhere else."
She's frozen, mouth open, eyes wide.
I keep going, because fuck it, she needs to hear it. "I realized, on that godforsaken grocery run, that I'm never going to regret saying it too soon, Sunshine. The only thing I'll regret is not saying it often enough because you deserve to hear it every goddamn day. You deserve to have someone to run to, someone who doesn't let you down, and I plan to be that guy. I love you. I don't care if it's crazy, if you're not ready, or if you freak the fuck out about it.I love you."
She's silent for a long time, and then she blinks. "You're not supposed to say that when I'm this gross."
