to any of your adrenaline rushes, but the nurse side of me is telling me this is a horrible idea. I’ve worked in the ER, and I specialize in ortho/neuro, so I know what can happen when bodies hit the ground with major impact and—”
“Trust me,” he whispered, cutting me off. “You’re going to be fine, and you’re going to love every second of it.”
Twenty-Nine
“I literally can’t believe what I’m looking at right now,” Emily said as we shared her pillow, cuddled beneath the comforter on her bed, staring at my phone that I held high above our heads.
I’d been flipping through the pictures of the Napa trip and just arrived at our excursion through the sky.
“I mean, I know your texts said you went skydiving, but I honestly didn’t believe you. I needed proof, and now that I have it, I still can’t believe it.”
I gently slapped her arm with the back of my hand. “You know my unadventurous self wouldn’t lie.”
“Of course you wouldn’t; you don’t even know how. But good God, woman, Caleb has definitely brought out a wild side in you.”
“He’s taking me windsurfing next weekend.”
She knocked on my head like it was a door. “Um, is my best friend somewhere in there because I don’t see her anywhere?”
“I’ve needed this, Em.” I thought about the things I’d learned from my relationship with Caleb, and there was something so prominent every time we took an adventure. “He shows me what I’ve been missing all these years while I’ve been stuck at the hospital.”
“And he’s shown you how to actually start living, something you stopped doing when David died.”
It hurt to nod my head. “You’re right.” I sighed, lowering my cell onto the mattress. “He’s good for me.”
“Yes, he is, and I’ve never said that about anyone you’ve ever dated.”
I took a breath, dreading this moment. I’d rehearsed what I was going to say the whole flight back from California last night. I didn’t know when the right time was to bring it up, and I’d been trying to anticipate how she would react, but I just needed to face it already.
I looked at Emily and said simply, “He asked me to move in with him.”
“I know.”
“What?” I flipped onto my side and faced her. “How?”
“Because Caleb is an extremely intelligent man, and you’re the best girl in the universe, so of course he asked you. He’d be a complete moron if he didn’t.”
I laughed at her craziness. “He asked me in Napa, and I know it’s fast and a whole lot of change, but something about it feels so right.”
“Listen, sweet pea, if the bombing taught us anything, it’s that life can be tragically unpredictable, and at any moment, it can lift us as high as the clouds or blow our asses up. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? You’ll move back in with me? I don’t think that’s so bad.”
“It’s not,” I whispered.
She moved to her side, draping her arm over mine. “Follow love. Follow happiness. That’s the advice I will always give you, and that’s exactly what you’re doing, babe. The speed you take to get there doesn’t matter, only the journey does, and so far, yours has been such a beautiful one.”
Emotion was breaking through my chest, coming out of my eyes. I reached onto her nightstand to grab some tissues, tucking one under my sleeve for backup, keeping the other close to my face.
She wiped the side I wasn’t patting. “I’ll miss these tears, my forever sobber.”
“I can’t help it. When you’re not being sassy, you can be a little on the sappy side, and your words hit me in all the places.” I finished drying and took a few deep breaths. “Also, you won’t need to miss my crying. I’m not giving up the apartment, so when our lease expires in three months, I’m renewing it with you.”
Her brows rose, her neck moving back like I’d hit her. “Have you lost your mind?”
“And I’m going to keep paying for half the utilities. This way, I can come back for girls’ nights and crash here whenever I want to and—”
“Whitney …” Her expression became much more serious, a look that didn’t cross her face very often. “You don’t have to keep paying if you’re not living here. My home will be yours, no matter where it is or whoever else I have living here.” Her gaze didn’t falter at all; it deepened instead. “You lunatic, why would you even consider doing