“What do you mean?”
“For coming to me and showing me what courage is, for reminding me that love had to be earned. For including me tonight like I’m family, like I’m important to you.” He lifted his hands. “For everything, really.” Reaching out, he put his hand over hers. “I love having you back in my life, Jane. I won’t be careless with you, not ever again. I promise you that. I hope you’ll agree to continue to see me.”
“I’ll be leaving soon, but we can stay in touch.”
He gave a sad smile at the reminder she would be gone, and suddenly something seemed off about him, so she turned her hand over and squeezed his. “Grandpa? You feeling okay?”
“Never better.”
She nodded, stared at their entwined hands, then into his eyes. “You’re going in for regular checkups?”
“Yes.”
“And all is okay?” she pressed.
“All is okay.”
“Promise me,” she said.
He looked her right in the eyes and smiled. “I promise. Good night, Jane. Love you. To the moon and back.”
Her eyes filled. That had been her grandma’s favorite saying. She’d whispered it to Jane every single night. “To the moon and back,” she repeated.
He got out of her car. She watched him walk carefully up to his door and vanish inside. She stayed there until the lights came on, then pulled away and headed back to Charlotte’s house.
She let herself in and then stopped short when she realized that she’d just walked right in without worrying about whether to knock or not, like she really did live here.
Like it was home.
It felt right. In fact, everything felt so right that it scared her. How she could be so fierce in her everyday life, but when it came to the personal, to the heart and soul of things, she always second-guessed anything good.
Shaking her head, she went into the kitchen and grabbed a can of cat food from the stash she’d been keeping in the pantry. She prepared a plate for Cat and opened the back door.
The big gray cat strolled in like she owned the place, sat back on her haunches, and gave Jane a haughty look. “Meow.”
Cat-speak for “you’re late.”
“And you’re not supposed to be in the house,” Jane said and set down the plate on the kitchen floor anyway.
Cat sniffed at it, then settled herself in, eating daintily, tail twitching. She took her time finishing, and then without so much as a thank-you, she headed out into the night.
“You’re welcome!” Jane called after her.
The house was quiet. Yawning, she tiptoed down the hall and then stopped short in shock.
Charlotte was painting Jane’s bedroom door. “Meant to finish this and get in bed before you saw it,” she said with a grimace.
Jane shook her head. “What are you doing?”
“Painting.”
“It’s two in the morning.”
“And . . . ?” Charlotte asked.
Jane just looked at the big, curvy letters in blues and greens that spelled out her name. Well, they spelled out J-A-N because the E hadn’t been filled in yet. There were mountains and trees sketched out around her name, also not yet painted.
“The paint’s oil based,” Charlotte said. “More permanent than Sharpie. Just to hammer home the point that this room is yours and only yours. Also, I had to watch YouTube videos on how to draw the mountains and trees, so if that’s not love . . . Oh, and I printed up a billion-year rental agreement for you on your dresser. Sign it.”
A billion-year rental agreement. Clearly, Charlotte had lost her noodles. “But—”
“No. No buts. We’re doing this.” She paused. “You’re not going to freak out, are you?”
“I’m trying,” Jane said slowly. “But I think I’m too tired for a freak-out.” She grabbed a paintbrush and started filling in a tree.
Charlotte just stared at her.
“What?”
“You’re never too tired to freak out when you think you’re putting down roots by accident.”
Jane just kept painting, concentrating very hard on the tree, making sure to fill it in just right.
Charlotte gave a low laugh. “You slept with Levi again. You must really like him. Like really, really like him. As in maybe even love him.”
“I don’t know.” Jane bit her lower lip. “Okay, maybe. But we’re not talking about it. Because if we did talk about it, I’d be putting it out there in the universe for karma to mess it all up somehow. That’s how my life goes, you know. The good stuff isn’t ever real. So yeah . . . not talking about it. Ever.”
“Jane.” Charlotte got to her feet. “You do realize you deserve to be loved just like any other girl.”
Jane couldn’t help it, she hugged Charlotte. “Yeah, and right back at you, babe.” She stepped back and took a closer look at Charlotte and laughed. “You want to tell me why your shirt’s on backwards?”
“Um . . . I dressed in the dark?”
“Uh-huh,” Jane said, fascinated by Charlotte’s sudden blush. “And the love bite on your throat?”
“Shit.” Charlotte slapped a hand right to the spot. With her free hand she jabbed her paintbrush in Jane’s direction. “You know what? I’m pulling a Jane. We’re not talking about it. Ever. Because if we were to talk about it, that would be putting it out there into the universe for karma to mess it up somehow.”
Jane stared at her for a long beat. “Fair. So . . . we’re just going to paint?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Jane dipped her brush into the paint again. “Just tell me it was Mateo.”
Charlotte grinned dopily. “It was Mateo.”
Jane laughed, then stilled at the unmistakable meow right behind her. She turned and found Cat sitting there in the hallway, watching with her sharp gray eyes. “How did you get back inside?”
“I’ve got the basement window cracked open,” Charlotte said.
Cat sauntered closer, all the way to Jane’s door, which she gave a light, half-assed scratch to with her front paw.
“I think she’s knocking,” Charlotte said dryly.
Jane opened her bedroom door.
Cat stared at her for a long beat, then walked inside, head and tail high, as if she owned the place. Then she jumped up on Jane’s bed and made herself at home.
On Jane’s pillow.
Jane felt the last piece of her heart click into place and looked at Charlotte. “So . . . can we add a pet clause on that billion-year lease?”
Chapter 24
A few minutes later, Charlotte crawled into bed, satisfied from Jane’s reaction to her newly painted bedroom door, but also still smiling a little dreamily about how she’d spent the earlier part of the evening.
In Mateo’s bed.
And Mateo’s shower . . .
Then his bed again.
Okay, yes, she’d then sneaked out of said bed and back to her place, but baby steps, right? Besides, he probably hadn’t even realized that she’d left. She plumped up her pillow and told herself to go to sleep. She’d just finally drifted off when she was jerked awake by a knock at the front door. “No,” she said out loud.