I didn’t know how, but I knew this was all going to be all right.

She pulled back, her hands still on my shoulders. “Now, can we forget all this serious talk for a minute and order a pizza and some peanut butter cookies and get lost in reruns?”

“You read my mind.”

Thirty

“To our first official night together at your new place,” Caleb said, clinking his beer against my glass of wine while we sat on the large sectional in the living room.

“I’ll definitely cheers to that.”

He’d opened the sliding glass door, letting in the breeze, hints of fall already thick in the air. He’d also put on the gas fireplace, setting a mood, and I tucked the blanket around our legs and cuddled into his side.

“I love it here,” I said, resting my head on his arm.

I hadn’t waited the three months to move into Caleb’s. Instead, I’d used the little time off I had over the last few weeks to slowly transfer my clothes and cosmetics, leaving everything else for Emily. Now, there were tiny reminders of me all over the condo, like my purse sitting on the barstool in the kitchen, a small section of his closet filled with my clothes, my products in the shower and more on a tray by the sink. Caleb had even offered to redecorate, change the black decor to a color less masculine. Maybe when I gave up my lease next year, I would agree to that, but for the time being, I just wanted to get used to calling this space home.

Just this afternoon, while Caleb had been at the office, I’d finished bringing over the rest of my things. When he finally arrived, there was dinner waiting, a whole spread of sushi from a restaurant he loved down the street. I even made a centerpiece for the table out of flowers I’d bought at the bodega. From our text exchange earlier, I had known it had been a rough day for him at work, so I just wanted him to feel happy when he walked in and to celebrate what we considered my true move-in date. And even though he had been somewhat quiet over dinner, I thought I’d accomplished that goal.

While the wind carried the many sounds of the city into the room, his arm slipped across my shoulders, pulling me in even closer. “Did you see Emily today?”

“She was just getting home as I was packing up the last of my stuff. We got to hang for a few minutes.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Maybe we should have her over this weekend. I suppose it’s my turn to cook for her.”

“I’ll text her later. I know she would love that.”