Page 185 of Fierce Storm
“Yes. That was the meeting I wouldn’t tell you about. Until a few days ago, this place was unfurnished.”
“Unfurnished? You got a whole house furnished in a few days?”
“I did.” I bounce my eyebrows, and Keeley laughs before her gaze sweeps around the house.
“Can we look around?” she asks softly, her voice holding an element of awe.
“Of course. Let me know if there’s anything you don’t like because we can change whatever we want. I didn’t pick any of it, so you won’t offend me if something isn’t to your taste.”
“We?”
“We what?”
“You said we can change it.”
“Keeley, this place is yours for as long as you want to stay here.”
She mumbles something under her breath, and I swear I hear the word forever but I don’t let myself get caught up in it. I could have been deluding myself. But…
Forever sounds good to me.
We take our time walking through the house, with Keeley seeing it for the first time and me falling in love with it again as I experience it through her eyes. She stops when we find ourselves back at the stairs leading to the second level, and her face scrunches. “Lucky there’s a bedroom downstairs. I might have to stay down here for a while.”
“Nonsense.”
Before she can question me, I grab her crutches and rest them against the wall, then curl my arms under her legs, lifting her in my hold. I jog up the stairs, laughing as she begs me to put her down.
“You can’t carry me up and down the stairs.”
“Wanna bet? How about a lazy million?”
“Oh, sure. Because I’m going to agree to that.”
“That’s how certain I am that I can do this.” I put her down and settle her beside the wall, running down to grab her crutches as she watches me. “We should get you two pairs of these, one for each level.”
“That’s a bit extreme.”
“Maybe.” I shrug as I angle her toward the landing, and more importantly the primary bedroom with another wall of windows facing the water. Just like downstairs.
“Holy shit.” Her jaw drops as she takes herself closer, her crutches making little imprints on the carpeted floor. “That balcony runs the entire length of the house,” she says in wonder.
“It does.”
“And…is that the en suite?”
“Yes.”
“It’s bigger than my bedroom. What’s that empty space for? It seems like a waste.” She points to the other side of the room that remains unfurnished. At least it does now; the interior decorator had put a couch and armchair there. But when I came past yesterday, I asked for them to be removed. “I thought that would be a good place for a yoga mat and TV, to find your zen by the water. There’s a studio in New York that does online classes. My New York assistant was raving about it. I thought you could join their online session when you don’t have time to visit Aliive.”
“You know the name of the studio I go to?”
“ThatI asked your mom about. I told her it’s because I wanted to get you a gift voucher. She thought it was sweet.”
“Instead, you furnished an entire house so you could give me my own studio?”
“Yeah.” I scratch the back of my neck, only now realizing how crazy that sounds. We only just started dating.
Keeley’s silent as her eyes wander the empty space, and I hope to God that she’s picturing it all in her mind, instead of contemplating how the hell she’s going to let me down.
