Page 117 of Trending Hearts
He sold his house. The one with the peeling paint and the broken back step. He never said it outright, but I think letting it go was his way of moving forward, too. Of saying, ‘I don’t have to carry this alone anymore.’
Now he lives here. Not in Jasper’s room. Not on the couch. In my room.
Ourroom.
The same one I painted when I was sixteen. The same one Dad once stood in the doorway of, arms crossed, lecturing me about curfews. The same one I cried in the first night I came back after Dad died.
Sometimes, I still wake up reaching for my phone, like I’m supposed to be checking engagement or answering emails at 5 a.m. Panic hits, and for a second I forget where I am. Then I feel Brooks’ hand on my hip, hear his breathing, and remember I’m not chasing anymore. I’m allowed to just be here. Wanting something that isn’t performance doesn’t make me boring. It just makes me alive.
We’ve been talking about renovating the house. Maybe turning the attic into a little writing space for me. Maybe turning Jasper’s old room into a small nursery for someday. Not now. But someday.
"Do you think your mom would let us repaint the kitchen?" Brooks asks.
I grin. "Only if we keep the cabinets yellow. She says they make the room feel like sunshine."
"She’s not wrong."
"No, she’s not."
We sit in silence for a while, letting the quiet stretch and settle.
"Hey, Brooks?"
"Yeah?"
"I think I’m finally okay." Not because everything’s fixed. Because I finally stopped trying to be.
He doesn’t say anything. Just pulls me closer and presses a kiss to the top of my head.
I think about the first time he held my hand. The first time he kissed me. The first time I left and the second time I did.
And the times I came back.
We don’t talk about the what-ifs anymore. We talk about what is. What’s next. What matters.
And this? This matters.
A porch swing. Two glasses of iced tea. A summer night scented with honeysuckle and pine.
Fireflies blinking. Laughter rising.
And love.
Quiet, real,trending-in-the-right-directionkind of love.
