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“Totally new, huh?” Diego says, a thread of tension winding through his voice.
“Yeah,” I say. “We have such a crazy opportunity, Diego. We could go anywhere. We could doanything. We’re young, and we have each other, and that’s not a chance everyone gets. I want to do it all with you. I don’t want to sit around and study in a place where I’ve lived for four years, a place that’s a couple towns away from my parents’ house. I want to experience something.”
I get more excited with each word, but Diego is quiet and still under me. I push myself up again, anxious to see his reaction. He’s watching me calmly, a shadow of a smile on his lips.
“You’re going to run me ragged,” he says. He tucks my hair behind my ear, fingertips grazing the side of my face. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what you should do.”
“And what about you?”
My heart is going way too fast when I should be calming down, riding the cooldown.
Diego sighs. “I’ll miss home,” he says.
My heart skips its next several beats. “Does that mean?”
His smile widens. “Yes, Avery. I told you, you keep breaking down every barrier I think I know. Why stop now? You’re going to drag me around the world, and it’s going to be the most wonderful adventure of my entire life.”
I grin so hard my cheeks hurt. A swell of emotion expands my chest. I’m a balloon about to pop and spray confetti all over this room, but the thought of going on this grand adventure with Diego beside me is beyond my wildest dreams.
“It’s going to be so amazing,” I say. “I promise. I don’t know where we’ll go yet, but it’s going to be so, so amazing. It could be Japan or England or Italy or Brazil or Ireland or … or I don’t even know. There’s so many places out there, and I want to see all of them.”
Diego chuckles and guides me down to his mouth to stop me from rambling on.
“How about we take it one at a time?” he says. “For my sake.”
I kiss him as hard as I can, too hard, but it’s the only way to explain all that’s overflowing out of me. “Yes,” I say. “We can do that. I can be patient.”
There’s no more anchor weighing me down. I’m free to dash off in any direction I choose. The future isn’t easy, but it’s not nearly as overwhelming as it seemed when I moved into this house. With Diego beside me, I’m ready to take it on.
Chapter Thirty
Diego
A year and a half later...
AVERY SQUEEZES MY hand. “It’s going to be fine. Calm down.”
I cannot calm down. I cannot calm down at all.
We’re standing on a mat that says “WELCOME” in huge letters with flowers all around it. Avery doesn’t bother knocking on the door before us. They simply open it, and a wave of noise and laughter and good food smell washes over me, warm as a hug.
Avery pulls me into their parents’ house.
We’ve waited a year and a half for me to meet them. We wanted Avery to graduate so that there couldn’t be any weird questions about the relationship. Avery insisted their parents wouldn’t care, but I couldn’t face Avery’s parentswhile there was any possibility they’d see me as a creep or something. Not a chance.
In the meantime, I’ve dragged Avery out to Wisconsin more than once. Well, not dragged. Avery all but insisted on joining me and meeting my family. They charmed my parents as easily the second and third time as they did on that first coincidental meeting at the university. My siblings were easy marks for their bubbly personality and quick wit as well. It was almost distressing how much my entire family instantly loved Avery.
We went to the farm down the road that makes fudge. We went to my tiny middle/high school. We even went out to the gay bar. Avery experienced my whole world, and they took it in with open arms.
It’s my turn to experience their world.
My hand is so sweaty I feel like it might slip right out of their grasp as they pull me into their parents’ house. A middle-aged women calls out in delight the moment we’re inside. Then it’s like an avalanche of affection. Avery’s sisters pound down the stairs to see them. Their dad insists on sitting us down on the couch and getting us something to drink.
“They can be a lot the first time,” someone sitting in the window seat says.
This has to be Gabriel, Avery’s older brother. He’s dark-haired and dark-eyed, and he sits cuddled up against a silent stone of a man with shaved sides and a blank expression.
“Trent survived it,” Gabriel says, nodding at his boyfriend. “If he can do it, you’ll be fine.”
