“So this is Binx.”

“Isn’t he pretty?”

I hold my hand out for the cat to rub against. “He’s fat.”

Nora playfully swats at me. “He might hear you! You’ll hurt his feelings.”

I laugh. “I can’t even make fun of you because I’ve said the same about Charlie.” We’re in Nora’s bed and just got done having make-up sex. I’m pretty sure her roommates came home halfway through, but we didn’t let that stop us. The door was closed and it’s not like they’d care anyway.

“Was he in here the whole time?”

“Probably. He’s pretty quiet and likes to sleep under my bed.” Nora snuggles closer, head resting on my chest. She’s exactly where she’s supposed to be. “What happened?” she asks gently. “After I left.”

“I missed you like crazy, went for a run, and worked. I was fighting with myself the whole time. Out of all the fights I’ve been in, the ones with myself are the hardest.”

“You know your own moves.”

“Yeah, and every time I thought I had it figured out, something else would come up.”

“How’d you win?”

I smile. She’s right. I did win this one. “I was up until four-thirty working on the fucking cover. I let Charlie out and looked up at the stars. It hit me: you were right. I passed out, woke up around eleven and left.

“So you weren’t ignoring my calls?”

“No. I’d already made it an hour and a half before I realized I didn’t have my phone. Or wallet. Luckily I had cash in the glovebox or I wouldn’t have been able to get gas.” I kiss her forehead. “I had to get to you.”

“I was so scared you were pushing me away again.”

“Never again.” I brush her hair back. “I promise.”

“I believe you.” She pushes herself up and the blankets fall off her breasts. “I have something kind of exciting to tell you.”

“Really?” Street lights outside illuminate her face. We’re three stories up and the noise from the street below filters in through her open window.

“I got another job offer.” She bites her lip, smiling. “At Young Construction in Dale Hollow.”

* * *

“Guys, this is Jack. Jack, this is Liam and Becca.”

“Hi.” Becca smiles. “I feel like I should hate you. Just a little.”

“That’s fair,” I say. I’m sitting on the couch with Nora. She ordered me a pizza and now is introducing me to her friends.

“But Nora is happy again, so you get a pass.” Becca looks at Nora. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Nora smiles. “It is.”

“Good. We are going to go out for drinks. You two are welcome to join us.”

“I think we’re good staying here.”

“That’s what I thought. I guess I’ll see you in the morning?”

“I’ll still be here,” I answer. “It was nice to meet you guys.” I pick up another slice of pizza once Liam and Becca leave. “Your friends are nice.”

“They are.” Nora rests her head on my shoulder. “Do you need to use my phone to call and have someone take care of Charlie?”

“I talked to my dad a few hours ago when I got pulled over, I told him to go get Charlie. But I do want to check on him.”

Nora laughs and moves Binx away from the pizza box for the third time. He’s worse than Charlie with trying to steal food.

“What do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” I answer. “When are you coming back to Dale Hollow?”

“As soon as I can. I need to talk to my boss at the coffee shop and figure out what to do here. Becca and I pay monthly, so we don’t have to worry about a contract or anything, but I can’t leave her with my portion of the rent.”

“Right. It sucks being an adult sometimes, doesn’t it?”

“It really does. I want to go home with you tonight. I miss the cabin.”

“I do too,” I admit. “Though it is nice seeing how you lived before.”

“It’s nothing fancy, but it worked.”

“It’s very you. I like it.” I finish my pizza, wipe off my hands, and take a drink of water. “When you do come back, where are you going to live?”

“I don’t know. I want to live with you and part of me thinks it’s too soon to move in together but at the same time I’ve loved you since I was sixteen. Do the years apart count against us?”

“I don’t know either. Maybe…maybe we should stop doing what we think we should do and do what we want this time around.”

“I like that idea.” She stretches out, yawning. “Are you tired?”

“Yeah. I can tell you are.”

“I’m exhausted. I didn’t sleep well last night, and well, you always wear me out.” She smirks. “You didn’t bring the cock ring, did you?”

I laugh. “I left my phone and wallet but brought the cock ring.”

“Priorities, Jack.” She laughs too. We put the leftover pizza in the fridge, take a shower, and get into Nora’s bed.

“I love you, Nora.”

“I love you too, Jack.”

* * *

“Hello, random customer I do not know.” Nora smiles, leaning over the counter for a quick kiss. It’s ten AM and after waking up at five-thirty with Nora—then falling back asleep for another two hours—I had breakfast with Becca, which wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be. She’s a good friend to Nora, and that’s what matters in the end. I hung around the apartment for a while, staying in Nora’s room watching Netflix on her laptop.

“Hey, babe. Did you talk to your boss?”

“Yes,” she says, and I can already tell she got good news by the way her eyes light up. “He can take me off the schedule by the end of the week. I already called Karen and told her I accept her offer.”

Things are falling into place. Again. How they should be. This time I won’t let them fall apart.

“That’s great.”

“Stephanie and Doug are going to be so happy when I tell them.”

“You haven’t yet?”

“No, I wanted to get all the details first. It’s more fun that way.”

I smile. “Yeah, it is.” I order a coffee and sit at a table by the window, waiting for Nora to go on break. She said she takes it around ten, but the exact time varies depending on how busy they are at the time.

Once she’s able to leave, we go outside. Before Nora eats lunch, she calls Stephanie, putting the call on speaker so I can share in the excitement.

“Hey, honey,” Stephanie says when she answers. “I was just about to call you.”

“My psychic powers are working again.” Nora holds the phone between us.

“Must be, because the Amazon box is gone. They know we’re onto them. Weird, isn’t it? It’s been there for months then disappears days after we investigate.”

Nora meets my eyes and beams. “We’ll have to check it out next week when I move back home.”

A couple seconds tick by. “What?”

“I’m coming back to Dale Hollow. Karen Young offered me a job.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

I can’t quite understand what Stephanie says next, she’s so excited. Nora tells her the details about the job and says she’ll call later when she’s done with work. She hangs up, trading her phone for the salad she packed this morning.

“You have to leave today, don’t you?” she asks me.

“Yeah. I have to work.”

Nora nudges me with her elbow. “And you’re worried about Charlie, right?”

“Just a little. We’re not apart very often, you know.”

She laughs and takes a bite of her salad. “Do you think he’ll get along with Binx?”

Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. “They’ll get used to each other. So, can I take that to mean you’re moving in with me?”

“It’s what I want. I’ve loved you for so long I don’t want to waste any more time.”

“I don’t either. This week is going to go by slow.”

“Oh, I know.” She mixes up her salad. “I’m off tomorrow, then work the rest of the week. I’ll try to get most of my packing down way ahead of time. What should I do with my furniture?”

“What’s yours and what’s Becca’s?”

“Most is mine and came from Mimi’s house. I don’t want to take the couch and TV stand if she’s going to stay though.”

“No, I wouldn’t want you to either.”

“I still have a unit full of her stuff in storage.”

“In L.A.?”

She shakes her head. “Here. I went through it all and got rid of a lot of it around the same time Becca and I moved in here. Mimi liked traditional-style, so a lot of the bigger items don’t look dated and can be used for years.”

“Bring whatever you want. The second you move in, it’s your house too and it needs to feel like it. And we both know I’m not good at decorating.”

“You do need help.” She smiles. “I’m already excited for Christmas. The place has to look gorgeous with snow.”

“It does. You might not like it as much when you’re driving to work in the morning. You’ll have to take the Jeep.”

“Oh, right. My little car doesn’t like snow.”

I laugh. I’ve been planning on getting a new Jeep in the next year or two. Instead of trading in my old one, maybe we can trade in Nora’s instead. She’ll be my wife by that time anyway, I’m sure of it.

“You’re lucky you get to work from home.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “The road is one of the last to get plowed.”

She untwists the cap on her bottle of water. “Maybe it’s because it hasn’t happened yet, but I like the thought of getting snowed in with you.”

I smirk. “We won’t be bored.”

“Not at all.”

The rest of Nora’s break goes by too fast, and I walk her back in and kiss her goodbye. I spend an hour and a half walking around, trying to kill time until Nora gets off work. I end up back at the apartment, planning to sketch out some concepts until Nora’s shift ends.

Becca is home and opens the door when I knock. Nora gave me her key in case no one was there, which was what I was hoping for.

“Hey,” she says, stepping aside to let me in. “Did you guys sneak off for a quickie during her break?”

“I wish.” I start to head into Nora’s room to find paper and a pen.

“She’s moving back home, isn’t she?”

I turn. “Yeah. She told you she got a job offer, right?”

“She did. Does she know when she’s leaving?”

“As soon as she can.”

“Oh.” Becca sighs.

“She wants to talk to you about it later. I know she’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss her too.” She goes into the little kitchen and shakes a bottle of nail polish. “But I’m glad she’s going home. I’ve sat back and watched her deny her feelings for you for over four years. She puts on a strong front and is able to fool almost everyone, including herself. I think we both know her well enough to know even the strongest fronts can’t be held forever.”

“There’s nothing I’ll ever regret more than those four years without her.”

Becca gives me a sympathetic look. “She said you were trying to look out for her, so don’t beat yourself up too much.” She tries to open the bottle of nail polish but can’t get the lid to turn. I take it from her and twist it open.

“Thanks,” she says. “You make her happy. You always have. Back in high school, when Mimi…” She trails off, becoming emotional. “If you could make her happy then, you can make her happy anytime.”

“It took me a while to figure it out, but yeah. I can. And I will.”