Page 83 of As Long As You'll Have Me
“Which reminds me, I found you a new person to go and see if you’re still up for talking about things with a professional. A man this time,” she jokes, looking up at me with a smirk. While I’d managed to get out of going to see her for therapy, I know in my gut I should probably work through some of the shit I’ve been carrying with me.
“Yeah, probably wouldn’t hurt.” I sigh.
“Probably not. I’ll text you his contact details so you can reach out in the new year.” She picks up the gift bag before we walk towards my truck. As we go, I finally take in her outfit and stand up a little taller when I notice her shirt. It’s the Firehouse Nine T-shirt I’d put on her the last time I saw her. Her hair is pulled back behind her head and tied up with a red ribbon that matches the lettering on the shirt. Under the navy blue T-shirt, she has on a white long sleeved shirt with dancing Christmas trees and ribbons on it. She squeezes my hand twice, bringing my attention back to her eyes where I find her smirking at me.
“You’re staring,” she hums, bumping my shoulder as we reach my truck.
“I like your outfit.”
“Thanks, I thought my shirt was fitting seeing as how this toy donation is because of the firehouse,” she replies, pulling the shirt away from her body.
I can’t stop myself from looping an arm around her waist and pulling her into me. Her hands land on my center, the gift bag fumbling between us. The closeness of us causes her glasses to fog up momentarily.
“I like seeing you in my clothes,” I say possessively, lingering dangerously close to her lips.
“I like wearing your clothes,” she says back, pulling her lips into a tight smirk.
“Including the clothes I fucked you in last week,” I state, raising an eyebrow at her.
She rolls her eyes and smacks me playfully on the chest. “Oh stop it. I washed it before putting it on again!”
“I wouldn’t tell anyone if you didn’t,” I say against her lips before kissing her against my truck. Her back hits the door and I lean into her, bracing a hand against the window. When I pull away, she studies me for a beat.
“We should probably get going or else we’ll be late.”
“But what if I want to stand here and kiss you all night?”
“Then I won’t be able to give Nolan the gift I got him,” she says, lifting the bag up a little higher.
I tip my chin up to peer inside the bag but she snatches it away before I get a good look.
“No peeking!”
“No peeking? But it’s not my gift,” I scoff, opening the passenger side door for her. She sets the bag on the floor and climbs in, turning to look at me while she buckles herself in.
“Well I said no peeking so you don’t get to see what it is until Nolan opens it,” she replies with an air to her voice.
“Whatever you say, beautiful. Whatever you say.” Ismile and close her door for her. Walking around the truck, I hop in and strap myself in before glancing at her. She’s smiling back at me like she always is which makes my cheeks inflate.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Ready.” She does a little shimmy in her seat and looks forward, eyes set on the road. I chuckle a few times and reach across to set my hand on her thigh. Looking at it, she smiles softly before taking it in her own and resting it on the top of her leg. Then, I start the truck and take us to Fresh Start.
“We can’t thankyou enough for doing this year after year. The kids are always so excited to come down on Christmas Day and see something with their name on it,” Patti thanks me again for the fourth time in the last two hours.
Everyone is standing around the dining room frosting premade sugar cookies and decorating them with red and green sprinkles. Hanna is on the opposite end of the table with some of the younger kids, helping them hold their knives and trying to get them to not lick their fingers every five seconds. Everytime I look over at her she seems to feel my eyes on her and glances up, smiling at me from across the way.
“She has a good heart, that one. I can tell,” Patti says under her breath. When I glance at her, I notice she’s looking over at Hanna too.
“Yeah, she does.”She also has mine.
“We couldn’t tell the last time you were here if you two were a couple or not. Now I don’t think there’s much roomto question that,” my elderly companion says with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
One of the other kids comes up and asks Patti a question which she quickly and kindly answers before sending them off. The corners of her eyes wrinkle when she glances back at me with a smirk.
“Well if you must know”—I sigh, trying to bite back a smile—“We’re seeing one another, yeah.”
“Seeing one another orseeingone another?” she asks bluntly.
