A Wright Christmas - K.A. Linde Page 0,60

was brilliant to see it through her eyes for the first time.

Isaac insisted on paying for the cab, and then we were all on the sidewalk, looking around at the same dirty streets and iron gate over my building that I’d glared at a week ago when I got home.

“You live here?” Aly asked in confusion.

“Yep. Up there actually,” I said, pointing vaguely toward the seventh floor.

“But where’s your yard?”

I chuckled and opened the gate. “I don’t have a yard. Just an apartment.”

“Okay, but I want a dog. Dogs need a yard.”

My eyes met Isaac’s, and I could see he was trying to hold back his laughter.

“You’re right, Aly. Dogs do need yards, but some people have dogs here in New York, and they walk them to the park.”

She nodded and said, “Ohh!” as if that made perfect sense.

We climbed the six flights of stairs up to my apartment, and I let them inside.

“I know it’s not much,” I began.

But Isaac just waved me off. “I like it. It suits you.”

I looked around the one-bedroom from his perspective. It did suit me. Everything was soft whites and blues with elaborate throw rugs and exposed brick. I loved my tiny apartment even if it had felt less like home this time than any time before it.

“Are we doing cookies now?” Aly asked in excitement, walking around and touching everything.

“Not tonight,” Isaac said. “It’s your bedtime. Let’s get you changed and brush your teeth. I’ll read you a book, and then it’s time to sleep.”

Aly pouted. “I’m not ready for bed.”

“If you don’t get a good night’s sleep, then we can’t make cookies tomorrow. Peyton would be really sad about that.”

I stuck out my bottom lip and nodded along.

“Fine,” she grumbled.

Isaac went to get Aly ready for bed, and I made up the couch with sheets and a pillow for Aly. By the time she was passed out, I’d popped open a bottle of red wine, poured it into two glasses, and gestured for Isaac to follow me into the bedroom.

I took a seat on the windowsill, looking out at the fire escape instead of up at Isaac and whatever was about to happen. I was suddenly nervous. Having him here felt…inexplicably right.

It made no sense. Isaac wasn’t New York in the slightest. He had been born and bred West Texas. He said y’all and drove a pickup truck and worked on construction sites. And somehow, even here in this space, he fit in my world.

“Thank you for letting us stay after I ambushed you,” he said with a laugh.

My eyes flittered back over to him. He took a sip of the wine. He’d discarded his tie at some point, and he stood in slacks and a button-up with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. He didn’t seem nervous. Rather the set of his shoulders and the tilt of his lips and the steady gaze all said that he was confident and prepared for this.

Unlike me.

“I wouldn’t want you staying in a tiny hotel when you could stay in a tiny apartment for free.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I guess I do,” I said, sipping my wine.

“We should probably talk.”

“Probably.” I bit my lip. “Is this where you try to convince me to come back to Lubbock?”

He cocked his head to the side in confusion. Then, he set the wine down on a dresser and came over to stand before me. He held his hand out, and I took it, letting him pull me to my feet.

“Peyton, have I ever given you the impression that you should have to give up your dreams for me?” he asked cautiously.

“No,” I whispered.

“I’d never ask you to leave New York or the ballet,” he confirmed. “But I didn’t agree with you when you left Lubbock so abruptly. I’d been considering how we could make this work, but I didn’t really put it together until you were gone.”

“And what did you decide?”

“That I can’t live without you.”

My breath caught. “Isaac…”

“Not just that, but I don’t want to. We deserve our happiness, Pey, not just our dreams.” He drew me in closer until we were only inches apart. “I’ve figured out how it will work. I’ll come up on the weekends with Aly. You can come down between performances when you have time off.”

“Wait—”

“No, let me finish. And then once I can, I’ll request a transfer to move up to the New York office. It’s smaller, but Wright is everywhere. They’ll find a place for me when they