“Who cares about Little Dicky?”
Miller smiled and then shook his head. “I do if it means you can’t live the life you want.”
“I just told you…I don’t mind being in a cage with you. I picked this place because I knew you’d love it. But I knew I’d love it too. I want this life with you. Winter nights curled up in front of the fire with hot chocolate. Spring nights on the back porch looking out at the lake. Summer nights…”
He pressed his lips back to mine. But the kiss was fleeting again. “Have you heard from him at all?”
“My dad?” I shook my head.
“Me either. It’s weird, right? That he hasn’t tried to find either of us?”
“I had a flawless plan.”
“It was a decent plan. But you used your dad’s money.”
“Yeah. It wasn’t traceable though. The guy online said…”
“And how much did you know about that random guy you found online?”
I shrugged. Not much. But he’d gotten me the passports. He’d gotten Miller this house. He’d made sure to have a bank account set up for Miller… I lost my train of thought when I looked down and saw a hole in the knee of the sweatpants. I thought about how the pantry was barely stocked with any food. And Miller had chastised me for not wearing a jacket, but the one he’d been wearing looked like it was threadbare.
I looked over at the Christmas tree. There were lights but no ornaments. And I had no way of knowing, but I bet he cut it down himself from somewhere in the yard. The Christmas magic in the air made me think everything here was perfect. A perfect Christmas scene that I’d walked right into. But was it?
Miller cleared his throat and tried to step back. “I should probably start making some eggs.
I caught his hand. “Have you not been using the money in your account?”
“I don’t want any of that money, Brooklyn.”
“But…it’s yours.”
He laughed. “No, it’s not mine. If anything it’s yours.” He walked over toward the fridge and opened it.
How could he not use that money? I’d gotten it for him. To make sure he could have whatever life he wanted.
I slid off the counter as he cracked some eggs into a very old looking pan. “You don’t think you earned that money for all the shit my dad put you through?”
He didn’t respond.
“My dad clearly doesn’t miss it. He hasn’t come after either of us.”
“I don’t need it,” Miller said.
“What about your online classes?”
“I finished the fall semester. And I’ll pick the classes back up again when I save up some money.”
“But you have the money just sitting there…”
“I’ll save up soon enough. Probably by next fall. The following spring at the latest.”
I didn’t expect to come here and have my first fight with him. But this was ridiculous. The money was for him. I’d gotten it for him. “Saving up what money? You can’t get a job. You need like legal forms for that and stuff.”
“I’m getting paid under the table at a local restaurant.”
“You’re a waiter?” We were on opposite sides of the country doing exactly the same thing. Except he was the one with a fat bank account. He didn’t have to rely on crappy tips and pinching pennies.
“No.” He pulled out the monkey bread right before the timer went off. And then he plated the eggs and handed me one of the plates. “I’m a line cook.”
I was about to laugh. Miller was not a great cook. And yet…the eggs on my plate were perfectly scrambled. They weren’t even a little burnt. I looked back up at Miller. “You’re a cook?”
“Don’t act so surprised. I had a pretty good teacher.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it again. I wasn’t pissed anymore. I was…kind of impressed. Had he been practicing cooking this whole time? I scooped some monkey bread out of the pan and sat down on a stool at the kitchen island. The eggs were delicious. The bread too. “You can cook now.”
He laughed. “I had to learn how to do it on my own eventually. Someone left me to my own devices.”
I lightly shoved his shoulder. “Are you kidding me? I left you with millions of dollars!”
He blinked. “What?”
“Did you not even look at the account?”
“No. Did you just say there were millions of dollars in the account? Millions with an s?”
I laughed. “Yeah.”
“Huh. How about that.” He started to eat.
“That’s all you have to say? Huh? Are you going to use it now?”
“Nah. I have everything I need.”
What? “But…”
“I have everything I need, Brooklyn.” He grabbed my hand on the counter. “Really. Everything I need is right here.”
Me. I was everything he needed.
“Now eat before I start thinking you hate my cooking.”
I laughed and took a bite of monkey bread. It was so much better than last Christmas. I watched him as he took a bite of eggs. Last Christmas had been amazing. But this Christmas? Hands down, it was my favorite yet.
***
We were sitting right in front of the fire, our limbs tangled.
“How old are you?” I asked. “And don’t say ‘older than you.’ You’ve given me that answer before.”
He laughed. “Did I say that?”
“Yes you did. Now answer the question.”
He pushed his hair off his forehead. It was almost like he was nervous to tell me. “I’m 23.”
“Hmm.” Yup, I was right. Miller wasn’t a boy who had no idea what he wanted. He was a man. And 23 wasn’t that much older than me at all. Ever since my mom got sick, I felt like I was aging double time. According to that logic, I was pretty much in my twenties too now. And I wasn’t just some kid confused about what I wanted. I knew I wanted him. “So I guess you were 22 when we first met?”
“Yeah.”
“Your ‘older than you’ response back then was a little pompous then, don’t you think?”
“I just didn’t want you to get any wrong ideas.”
“What kind of wrong ideas?”
“Oh…I don’t know. I didn’t want you to think that you could climb into my bed. Or kiss me. Or anything like that.”
I laughed. “Well, that backfired pretty hard.”
“You’re very persuasive.” He hooked my leg over him.
“Am I?” I sat up so I was straddling him. “That’s good, because I really want to know your first name.”
He laughed, but didn’t tell me what it was.
“So…what is it?”
“Nope.”
“Nope is not a name.” I stared down at him. He’d stopped making eye contact with me. If anything he looked more nervous about this than the age thing. “Why won’t you tell me?”
“Because I like when you call me Miller.”
“I promise I’ll still call you Miller. Honestly, it would be hard to stop calling you that at this point. Just like you have a hard time not calling me kid.”