Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
When his schedule allows, he rides his bike along my route while I do my runs. He keeps his distance behind me, but he knows I like the company and he likes to know I’m being safe. After we’re done, without fail, we always stop for bagels and coffee.
When my dad had wrist surgery in February, Grant came down to Texas with me and stayed by my side at the hospital the entire time. When I got a bad case of strep and felt like I couldn’t drink, much less eat, for three days straight, Grant nursed me back to health. When we fight, Grant is the apologizer, the one who breathes peace and calm into every situation.
He’s shown me that love is less about the overt acts of passion and more in the daily details: how he always texts me back, never making me wonder about his intentions or his feelings; when he gives me the last bit of ice cream in the pint; his willingness to be a good sport with Sophia, Daphne, and me on our wildest nights out; the way, without fail, he wakes up before me, but instead of going out into the living room, he’ll stay in bed and read quietly beside me or scroll on his phone until I wake up. I asked him about it once and he shrugged and said, “I just like being with you,” as if it was the most simple thing in the world to him.
I’m surprised how easy it is to love Grant. The night we met, when I saw him standing across the room at that random party, I took one look and thought, This guy is trouble. Run for your life.
Now, here he is, bent down on one knee, waiting patiently to marry me.
I smile as the tears keep coming. My first nod is so small it goes unnoticed. When I nod again, it’s harder. Absolutely resolute.
His smile widens and he leaps up to slip the ring on my finger and then envelop me in a bone-crushing hug.
“I love you,” I say, inhaling his familiar scent as I squeeze my eyes closed.
“I love you too.”
How many times can you tell someone you love them before they realize there is only peace so long as they’re by your side, before they realize in the simplest way possible, their mere existence in your life has changed the shape of you forever so that any other heart, any lips, any hand will forever feel wrong. Words don’t feel strong enough at the moment, so I’m left to string a line of kisses across his cheek until our mouths meet and everything I’m feeling gets conveyed in that simple touch.
I love you and I would marry you a million times over.
He laughs, so overcome with happiness and relief. He tilts back and cups my face, flitting his gaze between my eyes, taking me in. I smile and hold my hands over his.
Then his eyebrows furrow. “Do you remember when we went to Luke’s house exactly a year ago today? The night I asked you to be my girlfriend?”
I nod. Of course I remember.
“When we left, you asked me what I told Luke when he and I went off into his office to talk in private. I wouldn’t tell you then…”
Right. In the beginning of our relationship, I often wondered about that conversation, but less so in recent months. Luke and Grant have developed a real friendship. I don’t have to worry whether my brother approves of Grant—he’s told me he does himself—but still, I chuckle thinking about how awkward that night must have been for them both.
I shrug. “I sort of assumed he did a good deal of threatening and that was that. Oh god, was it bad? If he threatened you—”
Grant shakes his head and steps back, taking my hands in his as he explains, “I went there that day with the intention of asking for Luke’s permission to date you, though that’s not exactly how it went.” He clears his throat and adjusts his grip on my hands before he continues, “I told him that even though I’d only known you a few months, even though we weren’t officially dating yet, I already loved you.
“I told him he could approve or not, could argue against us all he wanted, but I would love you anyway. By that point, there was no stopping it. At first, I think he was annoyed. Here I was saying ‘I don’t really care about what you have to say,’ but I told him I was there because if I was going to love you the right way, that meant coming to his doorstep and telling him the truth. I wasn’t going to treat you like a secret. You were never someone I wanted to hide.”