Page 78 of Grouch-ish

“A partridge brought her to me,” I joke.

Nick just stares at me.

“Never mind.” I take our bags right up to my room without further explanation to anyone.

Pear is staying. In my room. With me.

Soon enough, my kids aren’t going to be around for the next few months, returning to their colleges for the next semester. Then it will be summer, and they’ll be home but busy. The time will go by too quickly, and I’ll really be alone when they each graduate from college and move out, carrying on with their lives as they should. So, now is the time to do something for myself.

Pear was it for me.

For the next few hours, the kids get to know Pear a little better and I sense they love her like I do. We eventually order pizza and hang out before Nick asks to go to a friend’s house, and Ellie needs to go to work at an ice-skating rink in the suburbs.

Once they are gone, the house is quiet and Pear stares at me from across my kitchen island, twirling the stem of her wineglass.

“I built this piece. It’s a custom cabinet.” I lean on the sturdy cabinetry, running my hands over the butcher block top.

“It’s beautiful.” Still, her eyes don’t leave me. “Your house is beautiful. And your kids are amazing.” Her cheeks flush before her gaze drops. “But what’s going on here?”

I slowly grin. “I meant what I said. You’re staying.”

“For twelve days?” Her brows lift, questioning me. “Am I a prisoner here?”

I shake my head. “You’re free to leave if you have somewhere you’d rather be. But I want you to know, I want you to stay.”

“Why?” Her eyes widen.

“Because I’ve fallen for you. But maybe fallen isn’t the right word because I feel more like I’m floating when I’m around you. A caged bird set free.” I chuckle at myself and glance down at my beer bottle on the island top. “Corny, I know.”

Then I gaze up at her again. “But those twelve days might have brought me true love.”

“Fireman,” she whispers as she watches me.

I shrug. “And I want twelve more days. Then twelve months, and all the twelves after that.”

Pear blinks as I round the island before I cup the back of her head. I stare into those beautiful eyes that stole my breath the first time I saw her.

“You said you were lonely. And you were right, I was too. Let’s be unlonely together, baby. One plus one equals one, snowflake. You’re my one.”

“You’re my one, too,” she whispers, the sound thick with emotion. Then she’s wrapping her arms around me, tying me tight within her hold like ribbon on a package. I hike up so her legs ribbon around my waist as well.

Setting her on the counter, I stand between her thighs, placing my hands on her hips. God, I love her hips. “Look at me,” I ask and when she pulls back to peer at me with happy tears filling her eyes, I admit even more.

“I love you.” I sigh. “It might seem fast but—”

Her mouth shuts me up. Her kiss erasing any doubts.

She’s my one and I’m hers.

“I love you, too,” she mutters against my lips, a smile on hers before we’re kissing again. Slow sucks. Lingering laps. Tugs and pulls, but never pushing back. Never turning back. We only have time before us.

Slowly, she leans away and rubs her hand over my shoulder. “Tell me what happened with my dad.”

I sigh, tugging her tighter to me and rubbing my nose against hers. “I told Cap I could lose the fire department, but I couldn’t lose you. I told him I wanted to keep you.”

“Keep me?” she grunts, shoving playfully at my shoulder. I only tighten my hold on her hips before slipping my arms around her lower back.

“I figured it might be a little soon to ask him if I could marry you one day.”