Page 57 of Falling for You

I smack him lightly across the chest and he puts his hands up. “Red, you are too much. No need to pout sweetheart. I have this figured out.”

His cocky grin makes me want to smack him more. “What exactly do you have figured out? The commute time between Atlanta and Savannah? It’s like 4 hours.”

He shakes his head and chokes with laughter again. “Nope, I think our commute time to each other will be about 15 minutes, if you’re sure you can handle that.”

I sit up and the sheet that had been covering me falls to my waist. “What do you mean? What did you do Sawyer?”

He sits up and tugs on one of my red curls. “Now, you didn’t really think you would get away from me that easily, did you? I talked to Frank and Frank put a call in to a buddy of his that owns a shop in Savannah. I’m going to take online business classes and work at his shop during the day. I’m coming with you, Red. Even have a little apartment above the shop. Between the money my grandparents left me, and my salary, I might be able to afford my own shop in a few years.”

I smack him again, even though I’m grinning now. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

“I just got everything worked out, and my plan was to tell you this weekend.”

He kisses me gently and looks into my eyes with a twinkle in his dark eyes. “Did you really think I could stay away from you? You’re mine, Red. This is just our beginning.”

As I kiss him back and lay back down in his arms, I can’t help but think of all the romance novels I’ve read and the movies I’ve watched. I think of the endings where everything goes to black and the couple walks off to their happily ever after. I know our story will be full of bumps and crazy twists and turns, but I can’t help but chuckle. I can’t wait to see what this journey with Sawyer will be like. And I hope it never has an ending.

Epilogue

At the end of the day, you just want to be surrounded by the people you love. Mothers, fathers, boyfriends, girlfriends, wives and husbands…every relationship we have is a story of love. I will choose one of those stories over a story of hate any day. -Ronnie

Ronnie

“You idiot, you don’t have to carry all of my stuff at one time. We can make more than one trip, you know?” I stand in front of my new dorm hall with my hands on my hips as Sawyer passes by me with so many boxes he can’t see in front of him.

“Tell your dad. He’s got more than me.”

I can’t help but laugh as my dad comes out from behind the car with so much stuff that I can barely see his shoes beneath the pile of boxes. When he gets close to me, he booms in a loud voice, “Sawyer and I aren’t wimps honey. You’re talking to two ex-football players here. We’ve got muscles right, Sawyer?”

I can hear the amusement in Sawyer’s voice when he replies. “Yes sir, lots and lots of muscles. We’re all good, Ronnie.”

I laugh as they try to lug all the boxes up the stairs to the front door of the building. “What floor are you on again, honey?”

I can’t contain my grin as I say back, “Fourth floor, Dad. Should give you lots of time to build up more muscles carrying all that.”

“No need to get cheeky, girl. Your dad may be old, but I’m still in good shape.” Right then, the box on the top of the pile he’s carrying starts to tumble and clothes go flying.

“Oh my God.” All I can do is cover my face as all of my wardrobe scatters on the steps below.

“Looks like y’all could use some help here.” The deep even tones of Dax’s voice have never been more welcome.

“Dude, you have the best timing. Can you help these two guys get this stuff up to my room? They’re trying to show off by taking everything in one trip.” I bend down to pick up some of my clothes and huff when one of my shirts blows down the sidewalk.

“No problem, Ronnie.” He handily takes a box from Dad and a box from Sawyer and sprints up the stairs. Dad watches after him and mumbles to himself. “I could have made it.”

By the time we get to my new dorm room, every one of us is sweaty and out of energy except Dax. He’s still talking a mile a minute.

“Room 411. Here we are.” The door is open and it looks my roommate has already been here. Her bed is already neat and tidy and the book shelf is full of books.

“Nice room,” Dax says. “The guys’ dorms are much smaller. I can’t wait for you to come visit. Did you get the meal plan? I got the meal plan and…” Dax stops talking suddenly and I hear a couple of boxes fall. I turn around and see my dad and Sawyer gently putting down their boxes. Dax has dropped his with a thump and is staring at the door of the dorm room like he’s seen a ghost.

I glance at Sawyer and he just shrugs his shoulders. When Lily walks through the doorway, I gasp. When we talked at graduation, she said she was going to school up north, to a seminary school her dad wanted her to go to.

“Lily, what are you doing here? I thought you left for New Hampshire a couple of weeks ago.” Dax’s tone has changed from breezy to tense in a heartbeat.

Lily smiles shyly and pushes a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “I know. I had a talk with my dad, and I finally convinced him I wanted to stay down South. He’s not happy about it, but mom backed me up so here I am.” She shrugs her shoulders lightly, and I have a feeling from her tense smile that there were probably many arguments to get her here.

“I’m so glad to see you girl. Now I have another girl to hang out with. Maybe between you and my new roomie, I’ll have some people to go out with.” I can’t keep the excitement out of my voice. I’m so excited to know a girl here. Sam headed off to New York a couple of weeks before I left. She was more than ready to tell our small town goodbye.

---