“I want you to forget that other apartment you have in mind and forget your other roommate,” Phil continued. “I want you to move in here…with me.”
I felt my heart burst with joy, and I was so busy imagining it all happen that I forgot to answer Phil. Then I felt his hand on my leg.
“Megan?” he asked, interrupting my thoughts. “What do you think? Is that something you can imagine doing with me?”
“Are you serious?”
“I know it’s early in our relationship to be doing this,” he said. “We haven’t really been together that long. And we only just got back together, but—”
“Of course, I want to live here with you!” I cried, interrupting him. “I would absolutely love to live here with you!”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely.” I nodded. “I’ll have to make a few calls and change my plans around, but—”
“When can you move in?” he asked excitedly.
“I have Brent’s apartment till the end of the month,” I said. “So only a couple more weeks.”
“Forget end of the month,” Phil said impatiently. “Just move your stuff in here now… We don’t have to wait anymore. Not for anyone or anything.”
He was right. I didn’t have to wait to be with Phil. We were jumping into this headfirst, and it felt great. And just like that…my life felt complete.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Phil
Six Months Later
“Here you go,” Megan said, passing Marta the invitation that she’d stashed away in her bag.
Marta accepted the invitation curiously, and then her eyes lit up. “Wait, don’t tell me this is an invitation to your wedding?” she asked, looking between the two of us.
“Whoa, calm down,” Megan said immediately before I could say a word. “It’s not… Phil and I aren’t engaged. It’s not what you think.”
Marta frowned and opened up the small ivory card. “Housewarming,” she read.
“Technically, it’s an apartment warming,” I said.
Megan nodded. “But it’s a really beautiful apartment. It’s got this large open plan kitchen, modern architecture, and three bedrooms. Which is two more rooms than we actually need, but we got such an amazing deal on it that we couldn’t let it pass.”
“You’ve been looking for a new apartment for a while, though,” Marta pointed out.
“We wouldn’t have found something quite this nice if it weren’t for my amazing boyfriend and his heroism,” Megan said, looking at me with obvious pride in her eyes.
“Do tell,” Marta said. “Sounds like quite the story.”
“Come on, Megan,” I said, shaking my head at her. “Must we tell every single person we meet this story?”
She laughed. “Yes, we must. Just another day on the job for Phil,” I said. “Long story short, the landlord of this particular apartment complex was one of the two people that Phil pulled out of a burning wreck two months ago. The second person was his teenage daughter…and he was so grateful that when he became aware that Phil and I were looking for a new apartment, he offered to let us buy outright at a steal of a price.”
“Buy outright?” Marta said, in amazement.
“We still had to take out a loan from the bank,” I said. “But between our two salaries, we should be able to pay it back in five years.”
“Wow… lucky you.” Marta nodded. “Who knew saving lives could be so rewarding?”
Megan and I laughed. Marta had become a quick favorite with me. She may have been decade older than Megan and me, but she still had a youthful spirit that made her easy to talk to and fun to hang out with. Megan met her for lunch or dinner once every month outside of work, and whenever I could, I joined them.