Chris’s voice filled the SUV as the miles disappeared beneath my tires.
“…and then he had the nerve to tell me I should’ve bought the cheaper drill in the first place.”
I laughed. “To be fair, you probably should’ve.”
“Oh, wow. So that’s whose side you’re on.”
“I didn’t say that.”
I smiled to myself as I merged onto the county road.
Chris had always been easy to talk to. We could spend an hour discussing absolutely nothing, filling silence with inside jokes and half-finished thoughts that only made sense to us. Somewhere along the way, those conversations had become the strongest part of our relationship.
Maybe because there wasn’t much else left to hold onto.
“I really think this could be good for us,” I said.
“For you,” he corrected gently.
“No.” I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “For us.”
He was quiet for a second.
Neither of us said what we were both thinking.
The stack of bills tucked into the kitchen drawer because pretending they didn’t exist was easier than opening them.
This job wasn’t just another opportunity.
“…Hey,” Chris said, his voice brightening. “When you’re done, let’s grab burgers tonight.”
His words settled somewhere deep inside me.
Not because they were profound.
I turned onto the street, mature trees framed each home.
“There it is,” I said into the phone.
The house sat farther back than I expected, tucked beneath mature cottonwoods that swayed lazily in the afternoon breeze. It wasn’t extravagant. It was lived in. Comfortable.
Before I even shifted into park, I saw him.
He was unloading equipment from the back of a utility trailer, sleeves rolled to his forearms, lifting each piece with the practiced rhythm of someone who’d done everything himself for a very long time.
Not because he was breathtaking.
Because he looked… Real.
There wasn’t a suit jacket now.
Just worn boots, faded jeans, and a man building something with his own two hands.
Something in my chest tightened?
“Everything okay?” Chris asked.
I hadn’t realized I’d stopped talking.
“Yeah,” I answered quickly.
I reached for the door handle.
“I’ll call you later.”
“I love you.” He said
At almost the exact same moment, he looked up.
Our eyes met across the driveway.
Not the polite smile he’d given me across a coffee shop table.
This one reached his eyes.
He wiped his hands on a rag tucked into his back pocket before walking toward my jeep.
And for reasons I wouldn’t understand until much later…
I suddenly wished I’d taken one last look in the mirror
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