Chapter 45

Sarah

When I wake up, I’m in a different house yet again. I don’t recognize the room, but I know exactly where I am. I’m at Graham’s place, and we’re not fighting. My head aches dully, and I almost regret how much I drank, but if it wasn’t for last night and all the alcohol, I might not have ended up here.

A thrill rushes through me when I think about last night. When I headed out to the bar with Monica, I had no idea that I was heading to my happy ending. I was irritated with Monica for making me go out when I wasn’t in the mood.

Now, I’m grateful that she pushed me. Everything seems to be all right between Graham and me. Except, we didn’t exactly speak about everything that happened. Yes, he’s explained himself before, apologizing and telling me what went wrong. I don’t feel like it’s completely resolved, though. But I know what I feel for him — when he told me last night that he loves me, I said it back, and I meant it.

I sit up, clutching at my head that is suddenly throbbing, and I’m only in my underwear. What happened last night? It takes me a moment to remember, but I do remember. I didn’t blackout from drinking too much. Graham and I were heading for sex, but we ended up falling asleep. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that we didn’t do it. I would like us to talk about everything one last time before we put it all behind us.

The smell of bacon fills the air, and it brings back memories of the cabin. The emotion that rushes in with that is overwhelming, and I get out of bed, pull Graham’s T-shirt over my head, and make my way to the kitchen. Graham is standing at the stove, making bacon in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, and he’s a sight for sore eyes. I watch him for a moment, taking in the sight of him — his muscular body, his mussed-up hair, and the way he’s humming happily to himself.

“Morning,” I say, walking farther into the kitchen. Graham looks up and smiles at me. “That smells fantastic.”

“I was hoping it would get you out of bed. Besides, bacon has good memories for me.”

We smile at each other. It’s not awkward in the least. Everything feels comfortable and warm. It was like this with Graham from the start. I think about the night before again, and I know that what I said to Graham about loving him is still true. I feel like this, even though I’m sober again, even though I’m looking at everything in the light of day.

Graham takes the bacon off the stove, and I notice he made eggs, toast and pancakes. He lays it all out on the table, and we sit down together.

“This is quite a feast,” I say.

Graham nods, helping himself to some toast. “I didn’t know what you would like, so I made something of everything. And all of it is good to cure hangovers.”

I take some pancakes and pour syrup over them. Graham and I eat in silence for a while.

“Before we carry on with this,” I say. “I want to talk to you about something.”

Graham looks at me, and he’s worried.

“Last night, we picked up where we left off. It proves a lot of things to me about how well we fit together and how we feel about each other, but we avoided the topic of what happened. I don’t want to leave it and pretend it didn’t happen. We have to sort it out, so it doesn’t come back and bite us in the ass.”

Graham nods, swallowing the food he was chewing. “I agree with you. What do you still want to talk about? Is there anything you want to ask?”

I think about that for a moment. “No, I think I understand everything now. I just don’t want us to ignore it. I want us to work through it, not around it.”

“And I agree with you. I really am sorry for everything I did. I told you before, if I could change everything, I would. And I’m going to make it up to you, like I said.” He put down his knife and fork. “I found somewhere for you to stay.”

“What? Where?” I ask. He found something fast. I’ve been looking online, and I can’t see anything that’s worth my while.

“I’m sure you know there aren’t a lot of places available right now,” Graham says. “I looked around quite a bit before I found something.”

“Just tell me,” I say.

Graham looks at me, and he seems a little unsure. “Here.” Before I can respond, he carries on. “I’ll live with my sister next door. You’ll have your space, and I won’t charge you a ridiculous amount for rent. One dollar, in fact. That’s how much you’ll have to pay me every month.”

I shake my head. “I’m not going to take your house, Graham.”

“Why not? It’s the least I can do. After all, I did that to you. It only seems fair. And I know you like the location.” He grins.

I keep shaking my head. There’s no way I’m taking his house from him, no way I’m making him move in with his sister so that I can take his house. It’s his fault that I don’t have a home of my own, but surely, I can make a different plan.

“I’ll keep looking,” I say. “I’m sure I can find something if I just keep my eyes open.”

“But there is a perfectly good house for you right here,” Graham says.

I sighed. I’m not going to argue with him, going in circles. If he’s so serious about giving up his home…

“Fine,” I say, and Graham looks taken aback, surprised. “But I’ll only do it on one condition.”

“What’s that?” he asks.

“I will live in your house, if you live here with me.”

Graham looks at me like he’s expecting me tell him I’m joking or something. The words just slipped out, but now that I’ve said them, I like the way it sounds. We were cooped up in the cabin together and that worked perfectly. I’m sure we can make it happen again. Graham can always say no. It’s a condition, not an obligation.

“Are you being serious?” Graham asks. “Are you saying you want to move in with me?”

I shake my head, and he frowns.

“Considering that you just offered me your house, what I’m really doing is asking you to move in with me.”

Graham laughs, and then I’m laughing, too. There’s only so much we can say about what happened before we put it behind us. Now that it’s all over, we’ve apologized, made our peace, and it’s time to move on. Or move in.

I lean over the table and kiss Graham. He grabs my face and kisses me back. When I finally sit back down, I realize I’ve gotten syrup all over his T-shirt that I’m wearing.

“Oh, no,” I laugh.

“I guess you’ll just have to take that off, then,” Graham says with a twinkle in his eye, and I can’t help but blush.