“Zane!”
His laughter wrapped around me as we moved inside.
“Grams, there’s someone here to see you.” He gave me a little nudge, and I went over to her.
“Hi, Miriam.”
“Oh, Celeste, thank God, dear. I’ve been worried.”
“I’m okay.” I gave her a warm smile. “I brought something for dinner, and I got you a fresh bouquet of flowers.”
“You didn’t need to do that, dear. I’m just happy to see you.”
“I’m happy to see you too, Miriam.” My gaze lifted to Zane, something passing between us.
“What is going on here?” Miriam glanced between us.
Zane came over and pulled me into his arms, standing behind me. “Celeste agreed to be my girl, Grams.”
“Well, about damn time.” Her whole face lit up. “I knew there was something going on between the two of you that first day we saw her at the center. Never seen my boy look at a girl the way he looked at you, dear.”
“Grams,” Zane groaned, dropping his chin to my shoulder. “You don’t need to tell her all my secrets.”
Miriam huffed. “Maybe you’ll be able to talk some sense into him, Celeste. Maybe you’ll be able to make him believe he’s good enough for something better than working at the mill his whole life.”
I glanced up at him, smiling. “I’m sure I can work on it.”
We hadn’t talked about the future yet. This thing between us was too new, too fragile. But there was one thing I was certain about.
Nothing in my life had ever felt more right than standing wrapped in Zane Washington’s arms with his grams beaming up at us.
EPILOGUE
Celeste
“Come back here,”Zane hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me onto the bed.
“Zane! We’re going to be late.”
“We have time.” He trailed hot wet kisses up the side of my neck, grazing my earlobe with his teeth. “Happy Thanksgiving, babe,” he murmured, his hands skating down my stomach to the hem of the Hawks jersey covering my body.
“Zane Thackeray, don’t make me shout for Grams.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” His eyes narrowed.
“Try me, mister.” Untangling myself from his arms, I pressed a soft, lingering kiss on his mouth and climbed off the bed.
“Damn, you look good wearing my number.”
I flashed him a demure smile over my shoulder. “You know, if you consider applying to college, maybe I’ll get to wear your number next year too.”
“Einstein,” he warned, his expression hardening.
I was pushing it, I knew that.
It had barely been a week since he walked into Winter Formal and claimed me in front of the entire junior and senior classes. But I was already thinking about the future.Ourfuture. Columbia wasn’t hours away, but I couldn’t imagine being apart from Zane. At least, we had next year together before we needed to make any big decisions.
I pressed my lips together and pretended to lock them and throw away the key.