that okay? I hope you don’t mind that I sort of went through your kitchen a little.”
I can only shake my head.
“Right. Well, I know how to make three things and lucky for me, you have the ingredients to make one of them.”
“What three things?”
“Burritos, veggie stir-fry, and chicken parm with homemade sauce. In case you’re curious, we’re eating the latter.”
“Okay.”
She walks over to me, running her hands up my chest until they’re locked around my neck. “Are you?”
Am I?
“Yes. I’ve never been better.”
It’s the absolute truth and when she reads that in my eyes, she climbs up on her tiptoes and kisses me. She tastes spicy like the sauce she’s making and sweet like the wine she’s drinking and I’m so high on London Canterbury that there is no coming down.
The heart wants what it wants, and mine has never stopped wanting her.
All too soon she pulls back, crinkling her nose. “Go shower, Miles. You smell like gasoline. Then come back down and kiss me some more and then we’ll make the chicken and garlic bread together.”
“Yes ma’am.”
She steps back and I turn to do as instructed when I feel a sharp swat on my ass. I spin back around, my eyes wide as a shocked smile hits me square in the face.
“There it is. Much better. You were getting too serious. And just so you’re not confused, I took what you said to heart when you tucked me into bed earlier and I moved some of my sleeping stuff into your room. I’m judging based on the lube and iPad on your nightstand that you take the side closest to the bathroom, so I went for the other side.”
An embarrassed laugh tumbles out of me, but all London does is wink and then skip back into the kitchen.
“Get a move on, Superhero Miles. I’m getting hungry and this dinner won’t make itself.”
I watch a moment as London kneels down to Betsy, who is barking unhappily at the music. I listen as she tells her that Christmas music is life this time of year, but to make her happy, she’ll put on a Christmas song by Taylor Swift. She does just that and then she gives her a treat from my cabinet, rubbing behind her ears just the way Betsy likes.
I watch London in my home, overwhelmed with the certainty that there is nowhere else she’s meant to be.
Now I just have to get her to agree with me.
Chapter Fourteen
LONDON
I listen as Miles takes the stairs two at a time. His door closes and then the sound of water running through pipes accompanies the music streaming from my phone. My body is jittery and my mind restless. And as if the universe knows I’m a hot second from going postal and hacking his upstairs bathroom door down with an ax and saying, ‘Here’s London,’ the music on my phone cuts out and my FaceTime lights up with Rina’s number.
I dive for it, far less graceful than I should be with a bum knee. My hands grasp my phone, grappling with it as it nearly falls out of my hands and onto the floor. I catch it, hitting accept and staring straight into my friend’s annoyed face.
She blinks at me with wide, pale blue eyes. “You’re not missing. Savannah called me yesterday and said she couldn’t make it for New Year’s because you’re missing.”
I roll my eyes. “Why do you ever listen to either of my sisters?”
“Because she’s an attending in my hospital. Well.” She shrugs. “Former hospital.”
“You can’t really move to Boston.”
She sighs. We’ve had this chat before. “It’s done kittle lips. Boston, you’re my home,” she sings. “Cue all the dun-duns that go in that song. Where are you if you’re not missing?”
I look over my shoulder and when I find that the coast is clear, I say, “I had a small accident.”
Rina’s eyebrows pinch together as she blows some of her long bangs out of her face. “And are you trapped in a hole by the lotion in a basket dude from Silence of the Lambs?”
“No. Why would you ask that?”
“Because you’re being cryptic as hell and looking over your shoulder, London. Because your sister called me yesterday and asked if I knew where you were because you never made it to your parents’ house.”
“I’m fine. I spoke to my father last night.”
“Well, great. No one thought to message me about it. I called your phone like a bazillion times and it went straight to voicemail.”
“Yeah. I