Page 72 of Bones

My first instinct was to argue and jump right into working with them, but deep down, I knew my head wasn’t in the game, and I wouldn’t be any help to either of them. I also liked the idea of checking in on Elsie, so I did as Big said and left them to it.

As I started out into the hall, I thought about Elsie and the shit day she’d had. I figured she could use a break from the crazy, too, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed a few drinks and a bag of her favorite chips. Once I had everything I thought we’d need, I made my way down to Elsie’s room. My hands were full, so I had to knock with the tip of my boot.

It took her a minute, but eventually, the door eased open and Elsie appeared with a surprised look on her face. “Whoa. What’s all this?”

“Grab your coat. I have something I wanna show you.”

“My coat?” Her brows furrowed. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Elsie, get it and come on.”

“Okay, okay. I’m getting it.” She reached behind the door and grabbed her coat. As she slipped it on, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

I handed her the bag of chips, then started down the hall. When we reached the roof access, I reached up and pulled the cable for the stairs. Once I had them down and in position, I started up the first step and said, “Come on.”

To my surprise, Elsie didn’t argue and followed me up to the roof.

When she reached the top, I took her hand and led her over to my secret spot. It wasn’t anything special. It was just a couple of old chairs that were lit up by a strand of old Christmas lights, but it was quiet, and I knew no one would disturb us. When I plugged in the lights, a bright smile swept across Elsie’s face. “This is so cool.”

“I thought you might like it.”

“I love it.” As she sat down in one of the chairs, she admitted, “I had no idea this was even up here.”

“Most folks don’t. That’s why I like it up here.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she tilted her head back and looked up at the stars. “Beautiful.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I was talking about the stars.”

“And I was talking about you.” I tilted my head back and rested it on the back of the chair. “Don’t know how you do it.”

“Do what?”

“Take a shit day and make it better without even trying.”

“You do the exact same thing for me.” She let out a sigh. “Today was awful. I just wanted to go to class and get what I needed for my project, and then Ben comes along and suddenly I’m wondering if I’m gonna get out of there alive.”

“Really hate you had to go through that.”

“I only have myself to blame.” She looked over at me with puppy dog eyes. “But don’t worry. Next time, I’ll listen and do whatever you tell me to.”

“You mean that?”

“Well, yeah. Of course, I do.”

“Then, move in with me.”

I knew it was fast. We’d only been dating for a couple of weeks, but I’d known for years that she was the one. I watched as her eyes widened and her mouth fell open, and when her nose wrinkled, I knew she was about to argue. “Move in with you? Seriously? We just started dating, and now, you want to live together?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.”

“You don’t think that’s rushing it a bit?”

“No.”

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