Page 110 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

Alex grinned. “I think everything about tonight was the best birthday present. Can we do it again some time?”

She glanced over at the jugs. “We might need more candles. I have a present for you.”

Alex yawned. “Can it wait until we wake up?”

“It can’t. Come on.” She leapt off the bed and pulled on her pyjamas. “You have to see this. Please.”

Alex lumbered his way off the edge of the bed and pulled on his jeans, leaving them unfastened. “Only because you said please.”

Zoe ran downstairs ahead of him, waiting for the vibration of his footsteps through the wooden floorboards. “Quick,” she said when he turned the corner. “Okay. Close your eyes.”

She flicked on the light in the small dining area. She’d pushed the table and chairs out of the way. “Open your eyes.”

Alex did, and the moment she saw the recognition of what she’d done in his eyes, she clapped her hands and laughed. “Look at it all. It’s all second hand, well-loved. But the containers over there are all small percussion. Triangles, claves, guiros. Then we have some bigger drum pieces. Djembe, bongo, hand drums. Some were donated by friends. There are a few wind pieces. But I’ve been keeping an eye on local community pages and second-hand instrument sites and charity shops. It’s all my birthday present to you for the centre.”

When she was finished, Alex was exactly where she’d left him, and he looked…shellshocked.

“Are you okay?”

“You did all this for the centre. For me?”

Zoe gripped his wrists. “Is it okay? I mean, I didn’t stop to think if you needed some better way of accounting for it or new stuff. There’s a church in Didsbury that got a new piano and is selling the old one. When I told them what I needed it for, they agreed to donate it if we take it away, so we’ll need—”

His hands snaked around her waist as he kissed her. Not with the heated passion of what had taken place upstairs minutes earlier, but with a tenderness that rocked her to her core.

“Thank you,” he signed when he let her go. “This means everything, Zoe.”

To her surprise, he tugged her to him again, burying his head in her neck. Holding on to her as if he feared floating away. The only thing she could think to do was what he did to her when she was drifting. She wrapped her arms around his so tightly, she could barely keep hold.

How long they stood like that she wasn’t sure.

Neither of them was in any mood to move.

When he finally released her, he looked emotionally exhausted.

“It just dawned on me that we’re going to make it,” he said gruffly.

Zoe placed her palms on his chest. “I know. When I was standing with Ivan, the contractor, talking about where best to put the sinks, I had the same feeling. It’s going to be so perfect.”

Alex gripped her wrist. “The fact you thought I meant the centre makes my point. I mean us, Zoe. You and me.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “Oh,” she said, more softly the second time. “I hope so.” They stood looking at each other for a moment, smiling ridiculously wide grins. “Would like a cup of tea?”

Alex fixed the waistband of his jeans. “Yeah. I think I do.”

“Can I tell you something?” she said as she filled the kettle.

“Anything,” he signed, and she couldn’t help but smile. This is how it would be. Their future would rely on sign more and more, especially with her latest news.

“I don’t think our relationship would have survived if I hadn’t gone back to university.”

The soft smile on his face turned into one of concern. “What do you mean?”

She reached across the counter for his hand. “Please don’t worry. It’s not a bad thing. It’s just…I realised this week that I was trying to pack my life with stuff to fill the hole music had left behind. The assistant work, the tour, even the stupid bet. And for a moment, I worried if you were one of those things. And I suppose that if I hadn’t gone back to music, I would have still felt miserable. And there was a chance I would have assumed that one of the things I was doing was the thing making me miserable and got rid of it. I’m not explaining it very well. But do you understand what I mean?”

Alex stepped around the counter and took her hand. “I think so. I guess we can only be happy when we truly heal ourselves.”

“I think somewhere in the quest to be perfect, I’d forgotten how good simply being is. How much joy I get from simply creating music. And being at the centre reinforced it for me. As I stood thinking about where I’m going to get thirty chairs from, I realised that I don’t want the centre to be something I help set up and move on from, I want it to be something I do, be a part of my purpose. So, I’d like to hand in my resume for consideration as one of the staff. Part-time, obviously, because hopefully there will be performances I’ll be away for. But I’d like to contribute more to the centre in the long term.”

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