Page 159 of No Rings Attached
SHERI
Welcome home. Monday, 10 am, bring your ideas.
I ended the call and opened my calendar. The recurring 6:00 am - 10:00 pm blocks that had defined me for years stared back, gray bars stacked like prison rungs. I deleted them. My thumb hovered over the “Are you sure?” prompt. I pressedYes. Then created a new event:Ellie. Dinner. No phones—every night, 6-8 pm, repeating forever. I shared it with her and hit send.
Only then did I look up. “I can’t offer you grand speeches,” I said, my voice low. “Just a life I’m reshaping in front of you because you’re it for me. I want to design. I want to go home with you every night and hear your laughter within the walls of our home. I want to be the man who leaves work when the workday is over because there’s something better to go home for.”
Within the brightness of the moonlight, I watched her face change—easing. Like a hand unclenching.
“You quit to prove to me I should stay,” she whispered. “I don’t want a grand gesture you regret tomorrow. Your happiness is my priority, whether it involves me or not.”
I reached for her hands, grateful when she placed her hands on mine. “I should’ve realized a lot sooner that trying to do both jobs would destroy not just us, but me. I was already burning the candle at both ends. It could only have lasted for so long. You didn’t make me choose you over my job. I’m choosing you because it’s what my heart wants.”
She gave me a watery smile.
“I am in love with you, Ellie Remington. Not falling, not maybe. Not when the quarter is over.Now.You are important enough to take center stage in my life.”
Silence stretched between us.
She squeezed my hands and dropped to her knees. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said, and let the fears I still held fall between us. “I’m scared, though, that I don’t know how to slow down for good. I’m scared I’ll mess up and reach for my phone at seven at night out of habit. I’m scared that if I’m not the first in the office and the last to leave, the kid who chose the wrong design will fail again.”
Her hands moved to cup my cheeks. “Then we learn new habits,” she said. “When you reach for your phone, I’ll kiss you. And when I pick up my old pattern—apologizing for existing or being a doormat—you’ll remind me of who I am.”
My throat closed. I nodded. I’d come so close to losing her for good.
“So that calendar alert … every night?”
“Every night, forever,” I said, and meant it.
She took a deep breath and with that sound, I knew we could start over again. “Alright. I’ll hold you to that, Drew Kingsley. I’m so in love with you that walking away felt like I ripped myself in half and left the best parts behind. I never want to feel that way again. I also choose you. I choose to put us first.”
I slid my arms around her waist, holding her tight to me, breathing in the scent of the river, and the fall night air. I kissed her, never wanting to let go.
When we broke apart, her eyes met mine. “One condition.”
“Name it.”
“Our life isn’t going to just revolve around making me happy. You need to be happy, too.”
“Deal,” I said, and stood before pulling her to her feet.
We started back across the bridge, taking our time. The night felt different—it was the same stars, the same river, the same night sky I’d lived under since I was born, but it was brighter, sharper, it felt more like home than it ever had.
My phone buzzed.
“Answer it,” Ellie said, reading the open screen in front of her.
DAD
Proud of you. Your mother, sister, and brothers are, too. Also, Glamma says if you ever try to put work before love again, she’ll stage an intervention with the whole town.
I chuckled.
Ellie snort-laughed. “I believe her.”
“So do I.”
