"I’m only calling you because we want to let you know that it’s done and to know what time you’ll be coming," Shelby hisses back at me, and I look over my shoulder to see Harlow coming down the stairs dressed in one of my shirts.
"Later," I whisper into the phone. "Just be ready." I hang up, putting the phone facedown on the counter. "Morning," I greet, and she walks to me with one eye still closed.
"I called you," she says with a groggy voice. "Like three times." She wraps her arms around my waist. "Who were you on the phone with?"
"My mom," I lie to her and avoid looking at her. "Do you want coffee?"
"Does a bear shit in the woods?" She puts her head back, and I look down at her face and she gives me a shy smile. "I can’t believe it’s already noon."
"Go sit on the couch. I’ll bring you coffee," I say and she walks into the adjoining living room. She was not kidding when she said that her mother would have things delivered the next day. By the time we got back from the cabin the next morning and started unpacking, the truck showed up. Not only that, Olivia had hired people to come and stage the house along with unpack the boxes. I didn’t even know what to think but in a matter of four hours the house looked like it was out of a magazine, and for the first time it felt like a home.
I make the coffee while she gets on the couch and reaches for one of the throw cushions. It’s been a month that we’ve been living with each other, and it’s better than even I could imagine. She started at the clinic two weeks ago, and I was not wrong. She is way better than I will probably ever be. She goes through two patients while I’m still with one. "How did you sleep?" I grab the cups of coffee and walk toward her.
"Better if I woke up with you beside me and not a cold spot." She extends her hand to grab one of the coffee cups from me. She puts both hands on it, and just like every other time, she smells it before she takes a sip. "So good." She puts her legs on mine when I sit next to her. "It’s our first day off." She puts her elbow on the back of the couch, leaning her head on it. "What do you have planned?"
I swallow down and try to be cool, but the whole time, my mouth is suddenly dry, and I feel that I’m going to have word vomit. "I have to go and see something at the cabin. Then we can do whatever you like."
"I’d love to go to the farmers market," she says. "Someone said that the flowers are amazing."
"We can get dressed and go," I say, taking a sip of my coffee. My whole body is one big nerve. When she gets up and walks up the steps, I try to calm myself down.
"I have to shower," she says over her shoulder. "Care to join me?" She wiggles her ass just a touch as she walks up the steps, and she does not have to ask me twice. I leave my hot coffee on the table and run up the stairs two at a time, grabbing her from around her waist and carrying her to the shower.
"Is it hot out?" She sticks her head out of the walk-in closet naked. Her hair is in a white towel on the top of her head. "Is it a shorts or pants kind of day?"
"I think it’s a shorts kind of day," I say, and she nods and goes back into the closet. It takes her thirty minutes to finish getting ready.
I’m texting Shelby when I hear her coming down the stairs and look over at her. She is wearing a pair of green linen shorts tied at the waist with the same-colored belt. Her white spaghetti strap shirt hangs perfectly and is tucked in with three brown buttons. She has never looked more beautiful; it’s crazy, but it’s true. Her hair hangs low over her shoulder, and I push it aside to bend and kiss her shoulder. "Are you ready?" I ask her, and she grabs her phone, and we walk out. I send Shelby a quick text that I’m leaving the house.
The sun is shining high in the sky without a cloud in sight. I open the car door for her, and she’s busy on her phone. "Who are you texting?"
"Everyone," she says, putting on her sunglasses. "And no one is answering me."
"Maybe they are busy." I put the car in drive and make the thirty-minute ride to the cabin. My heart hammers so hard in my chest, I swear she is going to hear it any minute. My hands grip the wheel so tight my knuckles are white.