Page 30 of The Way Home (Pathfinders Lake Romance #5)

Riley

T he warmth of the body next to mine disappeared.

I felt a soft kiss on my open lips and heard a voice talking to me somewhere in the distance.

It was his voice, and the tone had been gentle, nothing that sparked any urgency in me, so I let myself stay, perfectly content and happy, floating in this serene space.

I didn’t have need for any facts or compounds, or anything concrete, my mind quieter than it had been since I could remember. Peace. Peace didn’t come easy to an overactive mind like mine, but right now it enveloped me, and I welcomed it.

The peace I was wrapped in was broken by a clang somewhere outside of my floaty, happy bubble. I blinked my eyes open, trying to adjust to the reality of the environment around me. What I saw made that peace I felt in my sleep return, filling the room and enveloping me all the same.

The corners of my lips tugged up as I watched Jeremy come through the door wearing nothing but an apron. He carried two plates and brought them over, handing one to me.

“What’s this?”

“Dinner in bed. Chicken, salad, and veggies sauteed in… coconut oil .” Jeremy waggled his brows as he produced a fork and a knife from the apron pocket, making me laugh as my cheeks flushed at the visual of him grabbing the jar during our frenzied kitchen sex.

“Since it’s you we’re celebrating, I probably should have been the one to do the cooking.”

Jeremy set his plate on the side table, put his pillow against the headboard, and sat beside me. The apron on his naked, muscled body— in bed —it was everything I didn’t know I needed. Locking this incredibly sexy and endearing image of him away for a rainy day.

“You looked too beautiful to wake. Besides, I don’t mind, I like cooking.” From his other apron pocket, he produced two beer bottles and handed me one.

“You are magical,” I snorted, twisting the cap off.

“Magic is just science you haven’t figured out yet,” Jeremy replied with a wink.

I grinned wide and rolled my eyes, loving the sound of his laugh that came after. “Well, congratulations, Coach Rodriguez. I am so very proud of you.”

He tapped his bottle to mine. “Thank you. I am, too. It’s just so unreal.”

“When do you start?”

“Two weeks. I told them I would need time to move. I guess I hadn’t really thought it out that far, like all the logistics if I got it.

I think a part of me wanted to have a backup plan in case it didn’t pan out.

But it did, and now I have to go pack up my apartment and figure out what to do with everything.

” He looked around the room, eyes growing watery.

“It looks like I’m moving home for good. ”

“How do you feel about that?”

“It feels… wonderful. I always loved the cabin. Some of my best memories are here. Old memories and new ones.” Jeremy’s eyes flicked to mine, and he gave me a smile that warmed me to my soul.

“It was difficult to be here after things ended between us. I never felt like I could settle in. It was why I was so anxious to get out and go away to college. I haven’t had a home for a long time.

Even as a kid. Things were rough, and our house wasn’t the refuge I needed it to be.

When Mom and I moved to Minnesota, we lived in a hotel until she met Javi.

I’ve been bouncing from place to place ever since college and have never felt a connection to an apartment or room I rented.

Yes, this place is nostalgic, and it’s been nice to visit for holidays, but it wasn’t something that was mine.

Now… I feel like I finally found my way home.

I look around this cabin, and I see you in it, and it fills me with this sense of belonging and rightness. ”

Cautious of the plate I was balancing, Jeremy hugged me tight. “It feels right to have you here, too. I can’t say how grateful I am to have you back. You’ll stay, right? You’ll move in with me?”

Funny, getting asked to move into a home we once shared as brothers, only now he was my lover? Partner? Boyfriend? I didn’t know what to call him, none of the words felt big enough. He was my home, not the cabin. Now that we found our path, I couldn’t imagine being without him.

“Yes. Of course. The only thing is… I’m not sure what opportunities there might be for someone with a degree in chemistry. I’d be a terrible house-husband. I’m not very good at cleaning, and grilled cheese is about the extent of my cooking ability.”

Jeremy’s eyes glinted, and he grinned wide. “Wait. Say that again.”

“What? Which part? That I suck at cooking, because I do.”

“Don’t worry about that, I enjoy it. But that’s not what I meant. Before that.”

“I said I would be a terrible house—oh!” My cheeks warmed. It had just come out without even thinking.

“ Husband ,” Jeremy said reverently. “That sounds pretty fucking good to me.”

My heart leapt about in my chest. It was far too soon to be thinking about, and yet, it wasn’t. I’d been hyphenating our names in a notebook that very first summer.

Jeremy patted my leg. “We’ll table that… for now. Move in with me, Ri, and we’ll figure out the rest later, how about that?”

I smiled genuinely. “Yeah. Okay. It’s not like I had any great job aspects back in Oregon anyway.”

Jeremy pumped his fist. “Yes! Holy shit! Today is my new favorite day.”

I chuckled and asked, “Did you have an old favorite day?”

“Yup. The day I kissed a boy in the bathroom of a church.” Lights twinkled in his eyes, making me feel like I was floating in the stars. Jeremy created his own gravity just for us.

“You’re going to spoil me,” I said with wonder laced in my voice.

“Yup. Better get used to it. Now, let’s eat. We gotta replace some of those calories we burned,” Jeremy winked and grabbed his plate off the bedside table.

“Asshole,” I murmured with a tease, feeling deliriously happy.

“Just for you, darling.” Jeremy tapped his bottle to mine once more.

We were going to move in together, which meant I could look forward to more days like this.

Heated love-making, dinner in bed, this beautiful man at my side.

It sounded perfect. With how elated and giddy he made me feel, there was no way I was going to be able to hide this from my mom.

Especially not if I grinned like a fool every time I thought of him.

I thought about it while we ate, playing out the conversation in my head.

She loved me and supported me. Jeremy was confident it would be fine, and I had to believe him.

When we were done with dinner, I got out of bed and found a pair of shorts.

Jeremy watched me and asked, “Where are you going? I thought we could stay in bed.”

“I have to call my mom.”

“Oh. Right. And you can’t talk to her naked even though she’s not going to see you and isn’t even in the same state.” Jeremy pursed his lips trying to stop from laughing.

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Do you want me to talk to her with you? Is an apron clothing enough for that or do I need underwear?”

I huffed a laugh and shook my head. “I appreciate the thought, but I need to talk to her on my own, and I don’t think I can look at you when I do, especially not in that apron.”

Jeremy held the edges of the apron out like a skirt. “What’s wrong with this?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You’re sexy as fuck in it, but I can’t be thinking sexy thoughts when I’m talking to my mom. I think I’m going to sit out front and call her.”

Jeremy grabbed a sweatshirt that was hanging off the side of a dresser and held it out to me. “Then you’d better take a hoodie, too. You don’t want her to hear your nipples get cold.”

“Shut up!” I snorted out a laugh. He was probably right, though. It had been getting cooler in the evenings. I crossed the room and went to take the hoodie from him.

Jeremy held on for a moment, keeping me in place, and when I connected with his gaze, he said, “It’s going to be okay, Ri.”

I breathed out, “I hope so.”

He let go of the hoodie, and I pulled it over my head. Jeremy pushed up on his toes and gave me a quick kiss. “Hey, I love you bigger.”

I sighed, letting his words flow over me and fill in the holes my anxious mind carved out. “I love you bigger, too.”

On the porch, I sat on the steps, with the breeze cooling the heat crawling up my neck. I stared at her contact on my phone, working up the nerve to start the call. I can do this. Jeremy is real. This is happening . I couldn’t hide him, and I didn’t want to.

I hit the phone and pressed it up to my ear, holding my breath as it rang. When it clicked, my heart squeezed in my chest.

“Hi, Riley. How are you? I thought you were going to call me back yesterday. Is everything okay?”

“Hi, Mom. Yes. Everything is good. I… was processing some stuff and needed a little more time.”

“What kind of stuff? What’s going on?” I could hear the concern in her voice.

“Well, I’ve got something to tell you. It’s not bad, I promise. I mean, I hope you won’t see it that way.” I stared at my phone and cursed internally. This wasn’t how I wanted this to go.

“Talk to me, sweetie. What is it?”

I huffed out a breath. “Okay. So… do you remember when we first moved from California, I met someone.”

“I do. I remember you coming home all excited because you met this nice boy at the church lock-in, which you didn’t want to go to, so you’re welcome.”

I chuckled despite the weight of the news I needed to break. “Thank you. Anyway, we dated for a few months.”

“Yeah. What was his name? Something unusual, like a diamond or crystal or something.”

“It was Jem.” I was always careful not to use his nickname around the family after our parents got together, but it was the only name I mentioned to my mom when we’d been dating. My lips tilted up at saying his name again to her now. Yeah, there was no keeping this to myself anymore.

“Right. Jem. It brought me so much joy to see you so happy. But something happened, and you stopped talking about him. I wanted to ask, but I kept hoping you would come to me when you were ready.”