Page 117 of That Girl
I moved Connor and me into our new house a week ago. Aurora hasn’t seen it yet, and it never occurred to me when I first saw it, but I bought this house for us. It’s a four-thousand-square-foot updated Colonial with a wrap-around porch that sits on two acres of land. It has a master and a guest suite downstairs. Connor is in the guest suite so I can be close to him. When he gets older, he can switch rooms and take one of the other rooms upstairs if he wants.
The house is nowhere near the size and luxury of the Montgomery mansion, but it has good bones and will be a great place to raise a family. I want Aurora to fall in love with it as much I did when I saw it.
Pictures of our life within these walls have been playing through my mind lately. I want to sit out on the back porch swing with Aurora while we watch Connor play in the yard with the dog we’ll adopt from the animal shelter. I want to dance with Aurora under the stars at night. I want to make love to her in our bed, the one we’ll pick out together that will replace the one I brought from Charlotte. I want to walk into the kitchen and watch her dance to the music she loves to play while she cooks. I want Connor to grow up with her as his mother and fill this house with many more children. I want to call her my wife and be by her side for the rest of our lives.
The oven timer dings, and I grab the potholder.
“Daddy! Is Rora here yet?” Connor calls from his room.
He took a short nap when we got home from Butch’s party and woke up a little while ago. I helped him take a quick shower to wash the day’s dirt and sweat off him and told him to pick out some clothes since Aurora would be having dinner with us tonight—and if everything goes to plan, she won’t be leaving afterward.
When Aurora and I ventured back outside after our intense conversation in her bedroom, we kept our distance from one another for the rest of the party. Every so often our eyes would meet, and a heated electricity would spark across the lawn that separated us.
She said she loved me. She said she never stopped. Oh, how those words filled me with immeasurable joy. I got my woman back. I got the love of my life back. She said yes to giving us another try. I will never give her reason to doubt my love for her again. I willneverleave her again.
“Hey, bud. Don’t forget to brush your teeth,” I remind Connor. He ate a lot of cake today. That’s probably why he crashed so hard when we got home.
I set the baked chicken on the granite countertop and give the pan holding the sauteed green beans and roasted almond slices a good shake before turning the burner off. As soon as I test the readiness of the saffron rice, the doorbell rings.
Connor comes careening down the hallway, sliding across the wood floor on his socks. “I got it!” he yelps out when he crashes into the front door, managing to pull it open before landing on his butt. He bursts out laughing as does Aurora when she looks down at him.
“I guess I need to start calling you Crash Helmet Connor.”
“Hi!” he greets her brightly. “Do you like our new house?”
“I’ll need you to give me a proper tour before I make my decision. The front and the outside look very nice,” she tells him, then looks over at me.
The happiness in her aqua eyes jolts me in a way that makes my heart start pounding against my chest in a hard gallop.
I pick Connor up by his armpits and ruffle the curls on his head. Holding out my hand to Aurora, she takes it, and I twine our fingers together. “Please come in. And welcome to our new abode.”
Her hand in mine is making my skin tingle and it’s all I can do to stop myself from leaning over and claiming her gloss-coated lips.
“Oh, wow. This is beautiful!” she exclaims when she sees the interior.
I painted all the walls with neutral colors and replaced all of my furniture with more rustic pieces. The woman at the furniture store said my choices were rustic chic, whatever the hell that means. All I know is that I picked out each piece with Aurora in mind. Her favorite colors are dusty blues and muted grays, so I made sure those colors were everywhere, from the curtains to the throw pillow to the bedroom walls and duvet cover.
“This is so nice,” she says, giving my hand a squeeze. “What do you think, little man? How do you like your new house?”
Connor yanks at her other hand. “Come see my room. It’s the best!”
“Why don’t you go on, bud, and let me get Aurora settled in first. You can show her the new picture you drew the other day.”
“He is so freaking adorable,” Aurora states, a goofy grin creasing her mouth as she watches him shuffle across the floor on his way to his new bedroom.
I give her hand a solid tug to bring her to me. “Hey, sunshine.” I press a small kiss to her pert nose, and she smiles.
“Hey, back.” Her hands slide up my chest and around my neck. “Dinner smells good.” She lays her cheek against my chest.
“Baked chicken with garlic whole beans and saffron rice.”
“If it’s as good as your spaghetti and meatballs, I can’t wait.”
We’re swaying side to side in our own private dance to music only we can hear. What do poets call it? Heartsong?
“Do you feel it, Jackson?”
I nod against her hair. “It feels stronger than before. I don’t know if it’s because we are older and more mature. All I do know is it’s more powerful than before.”
