It might be a cliché, but there really is no place like home.

After my parents passed, I was already making the big money, a professional football salary as a twenty-two-year-old who had no strings and no responsibilities. I’d had enough sense back then, thank God, to know that my parents would want my brother and I to keep the house we grew up in. So, I continued to pay the mortgage until it was paid off, and we came back to visit as often as we could.

Dylan, my brother, lived at our childhood home in the suburbs of Rhode Island in the summers, his technical engineering job allowing him to work from almost anywhere he pleased.

And since it was a bye week, I’d decided to bring Demi up here, show her what cold weather really looked like.

“Snow!” She said it with childlike wonder, as if she’d never seen it before.

“Yes, that’s this wet, white stuff that is making it so hard to drive. It comes from the sky,” I joke while trying to steer my truck over the wet highway, my tires skidding with each jerk of the wheel.

Demi scoffs. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Pax. We just never get snow in Charlotte, it’s been years since I’ve even had to wear a down coat.”

Of course, she’d dragged me to the mall the minute I’d invited her to come up here on my weekend off. One thing I had learned about Demi was that she loved an ensemble, and I can’t say it wasn’t fun watching her pick one. We’d argued about whether or not she’d need a full parka and ski mask; I told her she was going to the Northeast, not the North Pole. She’d delighted in picking out a new pair of Ugg boots, a North Face jacket, and gloves that allowed her to still use her smartphone. She’d been plugged into it the entire drive, and I realized that for her, work never really stopped.

My gift, one of many that I planned to surprise her with this weekend, had been a cream colored winter hat with a puffy pom-pom on top. Demi had squealed when she opened it, clapping at the cuteness.

“Tell me about the hat again?” she asked now, touching the fuzzy ball at the top.

I glanced at her, admiring her stunning profile and then turning my eyes back to the road. “It’s from this brand called Love Your Melon, fifty percent of their hats and apparel bought goes toward fighting pediatric cancer.”

Demi sighs. “I love that, thank you for getting it for me. You know how special that fight is to me.”

I reach over, squeezing her knee. “I do. Now remind me again why we decided to road trip this?”

“Because road trips are fun, and I planned activities, and now we’re almost there. Don’t tell me you didn’t have fun at the aquarium in Baltimore, or that those sandwiches at Harold’s Deli weren’t to die for.”

Okay, she was right … those sandwiches were fucking delicious. She’d convinced me, when we had first discussed making the trip to Rhode Island, that we should drive it instead of fly. Apparently, my beautiful CEO was not a fan of airplanes, and I was just big enough of a sap to give into her wishes. Plus, she made it sound like fun. And it had been, but it was a lot of driving and my back was starting to hurt and my ass had fallen asleep forty miles ago.

“But this last leg is sooo long, I need something to occupy me. And if you play one more Dave Matthews song, I’m going to scream.” Her love for the chilled-out rocker was a tad annoying.

“Fine, what would you like to listen to?” she huffs, and I smile because we sound like an old married couple.

Which is already what I intend for us to be.

“Read me something. Sports trivia, yeah, that’ll keep me awake and aware.”

Demi laughs. “You just want to impress me with your vast knowledge of men who play with balls.”

“I’ll show you how to play with balls.” I wink and raise my eyebrows in her direction.

For the next hour and a half, Demi reads me sports trivia, of which I ace every question. But I was right, it keeps me alert, and I pull off the highway and onto the streets of Wickford with a contented sigh.

We wind our way through the town, and I point out some of my favorite landmarks to Demi. The high school field where I first fell in love with football. The library that my mother used to volunteer at. The Applebee’s that my friends and I used to loiter around at every Friday night, trying to look cool and get half-price appetizers.

And then we finally pull into the driveway of my childhood home.

“Home sweet home.” I unbuckle, leaning over to taste Demi’s lips. “I’ve been waiting to do that this entire car ride.”

She smiles, and we begin to unpack, emptying the car of trash and I grab our bags out of the back. I shuffle through my keys and land on the right one, unlocking the front door and breathing in the smell of my parents. Even five years later, it still lingers in every fiber of the house.

I stop on the front mat, just letting the feeling of home sink into my bones. It’s bittersweet, being here. Without them, but also remembering every good memory we had here.

Demi walks in and stands beside me, and then notices the gift sitting directly in front of us.

“What is this?” Demi points to the picture in its frame, a bow on the corner.

I set our bags down and send a silent thanks to Dylan for delivering this here so she could see it right when we walked in.

“Take a look.” I start to unzip my jacket and shrug out of it, moving to the hall closet. My mom would have yelled if I didn’t hang up my coat right away.

Demi walks to the bench in the hall, the same one that has been there since I was a little boy. She bends down, reading the words on the piece of art. It is a midnight blue background in a whitewashed frame, with a large circle in the middle made up of a formation of stars.

“Oh my God … Pax …” Her hand moves to her mouth when she realizes what it is.

“It is the exact formation of stars in the night sky on the day that I walked into your office a few months ago. I found it through a company who makes these for any date you have in mind. I wanted to commemorate it, the first time I saw you again and knew what I’d been struggling through all those years for. And you said to me that first week, that all of the children you worked with reminded you of stars who might lose their shine here on earth, but they were watching us from above. I like to think that all those burnt out stars in the sky that day led me straight to you.”

She turns to me, tears falling down her cheeks. “This is the most amazing thing anyone has ever given me. Pax …”

Demi moves swiftly toward me, and I catch her, molding our bodies together. “I love you. I mean it.”

“I love you, too,” she mumbles into my sweater. Pulling back, she laughs. “You’ve made me a mess. I’m all emotional now.”

“Would you believe that I was half-hoping I could get you to cry? But only good tears?” I kissed her wet cheeks.

“Yes, I would believe that. Your charm outdoes itself again.” She rolls her eyes.

“Come on, let’s get you out of that jacket. And maybe those clothes.” My blood heats, because I’ve been cooped up in a car for too long and need to stretch my legs. Or my body. Preferably on hers.

“Isn’t your brother going to be here soon?” She anxiously looks around.

“Probably, but who cares? He should know not to cockblock.”

And with that, I pick her up and sling her over my shoulder, heading for the stairs and up to my childhood bedroom.

“Paxton!” She slaps at my butt, but I hear her laugh.

Yeah, she’s definitely not going to care if my brother walks in on us mid-horizontal hula.