“I vote that first, pool table next and then ping pong. Along the back wall. That is, after you put in a downstairs bathroom, maybe a sauna and also a hot tub,” I added extras as they came to me.
He lost his fight with his smile and ordered softly, “Come here, Sweet Pea.”
I walked to him and he folded me in his arms.
I tipped my head back just in time for his mouth to touch mine.
When he lifted his head he whispered, “All right, they can come into the light.”
“Thanks, baby,” I whispered back. “But they already are, aren’t they?”
His brows drew together. “Come again?”
“That chair, rug, table and lamp,” I replied. “That’s from your life with them.”
His arms got tight, super tight and I held him close as he battled then he relaxed and nodded.
“Her parents were nightmares so she pretty much grew up with her grandparents. Those are from their house. They were movin’ to Florida when we were startin’ out so they gave them to us and Simone liked havin’ them around so even when we started gettin’ our own shit, she never got rid of them. When she was nursing Sophie, she always sat in that chair and if I was feedin’ her, I always took my girl and did it in that chair. We didn’t live in Denver, we lived in South Carolina but when they died, I got out of the Army first chance I could get and moved back to Denver. Before that, I sold everything, everything from our life, except that chair and everything around it.”
I closed my eyes, planted my face in his chest and sighed.
Well, I guess if he was going to keep something, he picked the right things. The things Simone treasured and the things that surrounded him with memories of his wife and himself nurturing their baby daughter.
God.
“I can’t imagine carrying the weight of your loss, baby,” I whispered into his chest and his hand came to the back of my neck and gave it a squeeze.
“Hope to Christ you never do,” he whispered back.
I nodded. I hoped so too.
His hand left my neck and came to my chin, lifting it up. I opened my eyes and his knuckles swept down my cheek.
I really liked it when he did that.
“Speakin’ of that, Sweet Pea, you got a call to make.”
I sighed again. Then I nodded.
“One thing,” he stated when I started to pull away.
I stopped and tipped my head to the side.
He grinned and decreed, “We’re startin’ with the hot tub.”
I pressed my chest deep into his and grinned back.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Drowning
“Babe, seriously?”
I jumped and whirled to see Hawk standing in the bathroom door looking hot wearing a dark gray suit and deep red shirt opened at the collar.
“Jeez, Cabe, you scared the crap out of me.”
His eyes shifted the length of me then came back to mine.