15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

I look in the living room at the cathedral ceilings and the huge
windows overlooking Boston Harbor.
“Lily?” he says from behind me. “You aren’t mad, are you?”
I spin and face him, realizing that he’s been waiting on me to react
for the past several minutes. But I’m completely speechless.
I shake my head and bring my hand up to cover my mouth. “I
don’t think so,” I whisper.
He walks up to me and takes my hands in his, pulling them up
between us. “You don’t think so?” He looks worried and confused.
“Please give me a naked truth, because I’m starting to think maybe I
shouldn’t have done this as a surprise.”
I look down at the hardwood floor. It’s real hardwood. It’s not
laminate. “Okay,” I say, looking back up at him. “I think it’s crazy that
you just went and bought an apartment without me. I feel like that’s
something we should have done together.”
He’s nodding and it looks like he’s about to spit out an apology,
but I’m not finished.
“But my naked truth is that... it’s perfect. I don’t even know what
to say, Ryle. Everything is so clean. I’m scared to move. I might get
something dirty.”
He blows out a rush of air and pulls me to him. “You can get it
dirty, babe. It’s yours. You can get it as dirty as you want.” He kisses the
side of my head and I don’t even say thank you yet. It seems like such
a small response to such a huge gesture.
“When do we move in?”
He shrugs. “Tomorrow? I have the day off. It’s not like we have a
whole lot of stuff. We can spend the next few weeks buying new
furniture.”
I nod, trying to run through tomorrow’s schedule in my head. I
already knew Ryle was off tomorrow, so I didn’t have anything
planned.
I suddenly feel the need to sit down. There aren’t any chairs, but
luckily, the floor is clean. “I need to sit down.”
Ryle helps me to the floor and then he lowers himself in front of
me, still holding my hands.
“Does Allysa know?” I ask him.