Perfect Love Story (Love 1)

Eric

I wipe the tear from my eye as I fold the letter and put it back in its envelope when I feel him behind me. My strength. “Hi,” I say softly as I feel his arms go around me. I lean back into him and move to the side. Laying my head on his shoulder, I feel him rest his chin on my shoulder.

“You read it?” he asks, looking down at the letter in my hand.

“I did,” I answer, looking at the water.

“You okay?” The way he asks makes me love him even more. For not asking what it contained, but instead, if I was okay. Me.

“More than okay.” Turning my head, I kiss his cheek. He turns his face, looking into my eyes, and leans forward to kiss my lips. “I love you,” I whisper, turning to look at the water for a couple of more minutes. I get up, putting my hand out to him. “Let’s get me moved out of here.” He takes my hand, getting up.

“I think we should have a special sleepover party tonight.” He holds my hand as we walk up to the house.

“Is that so, and what type of party is this?”

“Well, I think it should be whip cream, chocolate sauce, and definitely naked.” He pulls me to him while I throw my head back and laugh.

“I think we sort of had this party last month. Do you remember Mila asking why you had chocolate syrup in your room by the bed?”

He laughs now. “That was your fault. You wore me out, and I couldn’t walk.”

I push away from him. “I was sticky the whole day.”

We open the back door to the porch, walking into the house. “Happy get out of my house day,” Crystal yells from the kitchen. We both laugh, walking through my room, or what will be her room as soon as we walk out.

Crystal decided she isn’t leaving this house, so she renewed the lease. “Good morning.” I look into the kitchen, seeing her drinking coffee standing there. “Are you going to help us move?”

“Will that make you get out of the house faster?” she asks while I nod my yes with a smile. “Then let’s get this shit in the car.”

“What time is your roommate moving in?” I hide my smile as she turns and glares at me.

“I can’t believe you sold him your share of the lease.” Her eyes narrow.

“What did you expect me to do? His house just burned to the ground.”

“If Gabe pissed off someone enough that they torched his house, explain to me why it’s safe for him to live with me?” she asks, and I shrug my shoulders.

“I wanted to help a friend out.”

“Well, next time you get that feeling, call me, and I’ll talk you out of it.” She points at me. “He gets under my skin,” she tells me.

“He definitely is under something,” I murmur.

Walking to the stack of boxes, she picks one up and follows Jensen out. I think of her and Gabe, and I hope at the end of all this, they haven’t killed each other.

I look around the room, wandering to the fireplace when I notice Crystal put up new pictures. There is one of us two and another of the three of us.

I grab the matches on the mantel, taking a match out and strike it. Grabbing the letter out of my back pocket, I light it on fire. I see the red flames start to eat up the white envelope, the flames burning orange. I set it down in the fireplace and watch the letter turn to ash.

I turn around, walking to the pile of boxes. When I pick up a box and make my way out to my future, I have a spring in my step and a smile on my face.

Epilogue One

Jensen

Six months later . . .

“Dude, you need to chill the fuck out. You’re going to wear a hole in the rug,” Brody says.

“What if she says no?” I look at him, my heart hammering in my chest.

“She isn’t going to say no.” Brody gets up. “She’s put up with you for this long, so it’s safe to say she is in for the long haul. Plus, she looks at you like you hang the moon. She sighs when you kiss her, and she is genuinely happy to see you each time.” He walks out of my office.

I walk to my desk, opening the drawer and taking out the brown leather ring case. “Here goes nothing.” I put it in my pocket and make my way home.

I walk into the house, and the smell of dinner fills the air. Making my way into the room, I see something that still gets me every single time. Hailey and Mila together. The routine is that Hailey picks Mila up from school, then they do homework together till dinnertime. Then Mila fills Hailey in about everything, and we mean everything, about her day at school.