Need Me (Mess with Me 3)

“It’s never too early for a heartwarming tale about a small-town baker!”

He doesn’t respond as I eagerly click the movie and snuggle up next to him. As the opening music plays over a montage of a woman walking through the snow and smiling up at a bakery sign, I grab a throw blanket and get comfortable.

An hour later, I nod off for the third time. When my chin hits my chest again, I jerk up.

Vin is still wide awake. He watches me wipe the drool off my chin with a smirk.

“I was going to let you tell me on your own but I can’t take this any longer.”

“What?”

“Your test results. They must have been bad or you would have told me. Is that why you’ve been acting so strangely all day?”

Stunned, I can only nod.

“And I can only guess that you figured being extremely weird would make me get annoyed and leave you so you wouldn’t have to tell me.”

Tears gather at the edge of my lids. “Operation Wifey was clearly a failure.”

Vin immediately pulls me into his embrace, burying his face in my hair. “You crazy woman. Haven’t you figured it out by now? I’m in love with you. Being weird isn’t going to get rid of me.”

As usual, his understanding fills me with gratitude and wonder. He holds me for a little longer, giving me time to wipe away my tears with the edge of the blanket.

Since I’m in no shape to explain anything, I pull up the voicemail from Dr. Rose and let him listen to it.

“Your test is tomorrow?”

I nod. “Yeah. She scheduled a bunch of tests for Monday afternoon. That was as soon as she could get me in.”

“Okay. So we’re going for testing tomorrow.”

When he sees the look on my face, his eyes narrow and he gets that dark, intense look I love.

“We are going for testing tomorrow.”

“I feel so bad about taking you away from work. It’s right in the middle of the day.”

He shakes his head. “Ariana, I can take off from work. Especially for something important. You are important.”

Suddenly he tilts his head. “Is this why you work part-time through an agency? So you don’t have to worry about needing time off for tests and appointments?”

I nod. “I was in college when I first got diagnosed. I had to finish my degree part-time. I like the agency. They’ve been really great and I have the flexibility to study for the RN exam. It’s hard to make plans when you aren’t sure what’s going to happen. Every scan, I worried the cancer would be back. Why?”

“Nothing. A lot of things are starting to make sense now, that’s all.”

I rest my head against his chest feeling relieved and also a little shy. But I can’t deny that I’m so glad he knows now.

No matter what happens next, I’m not alone.

“You really think you have me all figured out now.”

Vin smiles and picks up the remote. “Not quite. But I’m definitely going to get you back by making you watch the rest of this boring movie.”

I try to grab the remote and shriek with laughter when he tickles my ribs.

“Take your punishment, Ari. You are going to watch this woman make her magical Christmas cupcakes!”

In the end, we did finish watching the Christmas movie only because Vin enjoyed making fun of almost every single scene.