I grin. “Yes. Because you were mine way before you even knew it.”

I expect her to call me smug, or to roll her eyes, but she doesn’t. Instead, she presses her nose to my temple and says, “I really was, wasn’t I?”

My answer is to kiss the shit out of her.

When we come back for air, both our chests rising and falling fast, Wren clears her throat, her cheeks tinted pink. “So what did you want to show me?”

“Oh, right, sorry. You’re quite the distraction.”

Now, she rolls her eyes.

God. I’ll marry this woman someday.

Going around Wren, I open my computer back up, then load the program onto it.

“So,” I start, “you know I’ve been working on this new game for a while, right?” Ever since I’ve returned full time to Arcade Games, I’ve dedicated all my time to this project, with a renewed inspiration and energy. It’s like the moment I left the farm and knew that I had the chance of making my dream career my reality without letting anyone down, I was able to jump into it without restraint. It’s been tiresome, but mostly a great time.

“Yes, I know.”

“More specifically, I work on—”

“Backgrounds,” she finishes, a twinkle in her eye. “Contrary to what you might think, I do listen when you speak.”

“Right,” I say, hiding my grin. She’s such a smart-ass sometimes, but most importantly, she’s my smart-ass. “Well, I’ve finished the first draft of the design.”

She gasps, then shakes my shoulders. “Aaron! That’s wonderful! I want to see.”

“Yes, yes, okay.” I laugh. I’ve never seen someone so excited to see one of my projects. Not even my bosses, who’ll make quite a good dime with this if it does well.

After selecting the right file on my laptop, I tell Wren to turn.

The moment her gaze lands on the screen and her eyes fill with tears, I know this is a success.

“Oh, Aaron…”

I follow the same path her gaze does. The snowy trail leading to the forest. The wooden cabin, next to a bigger, but just as rustic, house. The pine trees going on for miles and miles.

“I might have left Evermore on paper, but I realized when I gave Finn the job that I might’ve been even more attached to the place than I thought. After that, I couldn’t think of a design I wanted to work on more.” The game is still based in the Scottish countryside, but I was still able to transform one of the villages to look like Evermore, the game now reminding me of a faraway place and of home, all at once.

“Obviously, there’ll be different buildings and structures for quests added on top of it, but—”