Rhys

Six Months Later

It’d been about six months since Lily and I got back together, and it was easily the best six months of my life. Work was still on fire, but now instead of going out to parties or back to an empty studio each night, I came home to the most amazing woman I’d ever known. Lily challenged me and made me laugh, held me accountable, and took care of me.

I was never letting her go again.

I gave up the dinky apartment in her building because we’d basically been living at my studio since we got back together. It took weeks of hounding her, but when she finally told me she wasn’t renewing her lease with Jen? Best day of my fucking life.

The one catch? She wanted us to pick out a place together. Lily said that when a girl moves into a guy’s place, the relationship is unequal. At first, I scoffed. I mean, the closet had more of her clothes than mine, and my fridge was full of shit like chai tea and capers.

When I pointed this out to her, she took her index finger and poked me in the chest.

“See?” she said.

“Hey, ow. Watch those nails, princess,” I teased. “What? What did I do?”

She huffed. “You said my fridge. This is exactly what I meant. This will always be your place. We have to find a new apartment that’s ours.”

“Babe, I told you. I need a place that has studio space.”

“This is New York. Aren’t there tons of studios?”

“Not that easy, babe. It took me four months to find this place.”

“I can wait.”

I eyed her. Her lips got extra pouty when she argued, which was super-hot. I really wanted to kiss her and take her back to the bedroom. Hell, fuck apartments. New York was full of them, right?

I stepped into her and wrapped my hands around her waist. “Okay. We’ll get a new apartment.”

She blinked at me. “What?”

“If it’s that important to you, we’ll find something else. All I care about is that we’re together.”

Her face lit up. “Really?”

I nodded. “Really. Just...can we please make sure it’s not in a lame area? And nothing that requires crossing a bridge. I can’t do that shit.”

She squeezed me tightly. “Don’t worry. I’ll find the perfect place.”

 

Four months and almost thirty showings later, things weren’t looking good. It’s not that Lily wasn’t trying, it’s just…well, inventory wasn’t great. I was secretly sort of okay with it because then I got to stay in my place and still get Lily. But I could tell the search was wearing on her.

Then one night, Lily texted me with excitement.

Lily: I found it!

Me: Yeah?

Lily: Yep! It’s perfect! We can see it tonight. Meet me at home at 7?

I was skeptical, especially since this wasn’t the first perfect place, but I had to show I was at least willing to try, even though I was secretly hoping she’d tire of looking and realize we had a really good fucking place in my building.

Seven rolled around, and Lily got home from work. I could tell she was pumped.

“You ready?” she asked upon entering.

I’d just finished some emails and closed my laptop. “Yep. All set.”

As we made our way to the elevator, I asked her about where we were headed. “So, is it far? Should I call an Uber?”

She looked at me and grinned. “No, I don’t think we need that. It’s not far. I think we can walk.”

I squinted at her. “You sure? It’s, like, forty degrees out. You’ll freeze.”

She only shrugged as we got in the elevator. I pressed ‘G’ for ground floor, and we rode the elevator down. Once the sliding door opened to the lobby, Lily held me back.

“Hang on.” She hit the button for the top floor.

“Babe,” I said, confused. “What are you doing? Did you forget something?”

“Just wait.”

I looked at her, perplexed. Why were we going back up?

A few moments later, the elevator dinged, and we exited to the landing. There was a single door on the floor, and it was open.

Lily took my hand and pulled me with her.

“What are you doing?” I was hesitant to enter someone else’s space.

“Lily,” a familiar voice called. “Is that you?”

Footsteps made their way toward us as we crossed the threshold.

“Lily, Rhys, good to see you.” It was our real estate agent. What was she doing in our building?

I turned to Lily. “What’s going on?”

She grinned. “I think this is the place.”

I blinked at her. “This place is for sale?”

“It’s going on the market tomorrow,” the agent interrupted. “No one’s seen it yet, but the sellers are highly motivated. It’s slightly bigger than your unit, and this one has a larger living area and access to a roof deck because it’s on the top floor.”

I scanned the space. It was almost identical - the same wood floors, huge windows, and soaring ceilings that had made me fall in love with my place. Plenty of space to create art and still live a life with Lily. It would be almost effortless to move here.

“How much?” I asked reluctantly. I knew Manhattan real estate. The words rooftop and deck always came with dollar signs attached.

The realtor smiled and glanced at Lily. “It’s actually highly negotiable. The owners are leaving the country and want to off-load it. I’m confident you’d actually be able to come out ahead if you purchased it and then listed your property.”

“Isn’t that amazing, babe?” Lily asked.

“I’ll give you guys some time alone to look around while I make a phone call,” the realtor said, slipping out the front door.

I walked around the open-plan space and rubbed the back of my neck. Lily came up behind me and slipped under my arm.

“Well, what do you think?”

“I - I don’t know what to say. It’s perfect.”

Lily squealed. “It is, isn’t it? I mean, it’s the same place, same location, except…except it’d be ours. Come on and look at the deck.”

I followed Lily as, once again, she dragged me by the hand. The roof deck was accessed via a door off the living area. Outside, it was freezing, but the noise of the city was dampened from the snow and the height.

“It’s so peaceful,” she said, folding her arms in to warm herself.  “I know how much having your own place matters to you, and I realized I didn’t want to take that away. So I thought maybe this could be a good, you know, compromise.”

I wrapped an arm around her. “Babe, it’s perfect. You’re a freaking genius.”

“Oh, oh, but I saved the best part for last. Look.” She pointed off to the distance. “You see that? It’s Rockefeller Center. And you know what?”

“What?”

“The agent said you can see the tip of the tree during the holidays. Can you believe that?”

My girl and her fascination with Christmas. I pulled her in and kissed her on her head. “It’s perfect. Let’s take it.”