He knew; he always did. Rolling to the side, he cuddled me against his chest. Before long, his hands tangled in my hair. Playing with it had been one of his favorite things, and I was glad I hadn’t gotten it hacked off in a fit of grief.
“So now to the important stuff?” he asked.
“Yeah. This might be presumptuous but I didn’t book a room for tonight.”
Rob’s eyes widened. “What did you plan to do if I passed on getting back together?”
“Go back to the airport. If you don’t want me here, there’s no reason to stick around.”
“I do. But...can you?”
I knew what he was asking. “New situations—and change—don’t freak me out as much as they did. Because...I’ve been seeing someone. Professionally. If I move, I’ll ask for a referral so I don’t backslide.”
I was a little afraid that he’d think less of me for therapy, like it was self-indulgent, so the silence was awkward until his troubled look deepened into a frown. “If?”
That was when I realized he was focused on the uncertainty, not my mental issues. “Well, I can’t just assume you want to move in together again. Maybe you have reservations—”
“Fuck that,” Rob said. “I want you in my life and in my bed, full-time. I want my damn dog back. So let’s figure out how to get this done.”
“Wow.”
“What?”
“I was afraid this would be...harder.”
“Why would I be a pain in the ass over something I want so bad?”
He made a compelling point. Lying in his arms, I thought about the logistics. “School isn’t a problem. As long as I turn in my work, they won’t know if I move. Any hard-copy correspondence, my mom can scan and email to me.” That bothered me a little, though. “I guess it’s a little unethical to pay the in-state tuition rate after I leave—”
“It takes a while to establish residency,” Rob cut in. “So don’t worry about that.”
“What about the house? I’m living with Avery now. Are you thinking of selling it?”
He kissed the tip of my nose. “I missed the way you think about things.”
“What does that even mean?”
“You’re such a planner. It’s awesome to watch you work.”
“Yeah?” It felt a little odd to be complimented for my overactive brain, but Rob gave every impression of sincerity.
“Definitely. And no, I won’t sell it. That house is where I’ve been the happiest. I haven’t given up the idea that we’ll live there together again someday.”
Love swelled in my chest, so sweet and immense that my body could hardly contain it. “Who knows? We’ll probably be here for a while.” Once I couldn’t have coped with a big city, but I was stronger now. Anywhere Rob was, that was where I needed to be.
“Probably,” he agreed.
“Once you make your fortune, you can fund your furniture business properly. How are you handling that, by the way?”
“The studio hooked me up with a local carpenter. He let me use his workspace in return for some screen time on my channel, and I finished up the last of my orders a while back. Now the store’s closed while I see how Hot Property does.”
“I’m glad you’re not flipping the house,” I admitted.
“Maybe Avery would like to find a roommate and stay put? Cost of living is higher here, so it’ll be tough to swing an apartment and the mortgage, too.”
“But you’re a big-time TV star,” I teased. “Don’t they pay you the big bucks?”
He laughed. “It’s more than I made in construction, but for us to find a decent place that allows pets, our rent will be at least fifteen hundred, plus we have two cars to park, and that’s more expensive than you’d expect.”
“Wow.” Until I graduated, I’d probably have a hard time finding a job that let me easily cover half of that.
“Stop scowling. Like before, I’ll cover rent if you get utilities and food.”
“Okay. But you don’t want to stay here?”
“Hell, no. I just didn’t care enough to look for anything else before. This is a furnished unit, and I’m on a month-to-month plan, because when I first got here, I didn’t know if things would work out. But now that you’re here, we’ll find an apartment together.”
“Feels kind of like you were waiting for me.”
He smiled, his eyes warm and bright as a summer sky. “I was.”
“You know I’m only here for the weekend, right? I have to wrap things up, I can’t just take off with two pairs of panties for an international move.”
“Your practicality is killing my dreams.” But he was obviously joking. “Of course I do. You have to give notice, talk to Avery, get Happy. Lots to organize, so you should enjoy it.”
“I’m already happy,” I said.
“Funny. But I’m still glad to hear it. I’m not making you feel trapped?”
Ouch. I wished I hadn’t said so much of that shit, but maybe we’d still be clinging to each other in codependent dysfunction if I hadn’t. “You never did. As I already told you, I was lying. Should I apologize again? I’ll do a knee-grovel if you want.”
“When I get you on your knees, it won’t be to talk about how sorry you are.”
Damn. Even though we just had amazing sex, I was...interested. “So how much have I disrupted your weekend? Do you have appearances or interviews, anything that—”
“There’s nothing going on. I work out, sometimes I have lunch with Annette. That’s about it. So far, they’ve kept me too busy to meet a ton of people.”
Annette.
“She’s married,” he added, probably in response to my look. “And her husband thinks the stories about us are hilarious.”
“Oh. I wasn’t worried or anything. You’re in bed naked with me.”
He produced a mock-astonished expression. “How did that happen?”
A stray thought occurred to me then, and I had to know, though it was kind of a non sequitur. “I was wondering...why did you send the binders? Without a note or anything.”
“Sad, you’re supposed to be the clever one. Obviously, it was Lauren bait.”
“You expected me to call or something? Ask about them?”
“I was hoping. But you went one better. Look how well it worked.” Rob seemed really smug as he kissed my temple.