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“Love you,” she said sleepily.

“Love you too,” I told her because they were always the last words we said to one another every night.

I wasn’t tired yet but I didn’t want to disturb her so I just stared at the ceiling and listened to her breathing become deep and even as she drifted off to sleep.

This had been one hell of a roller coaster year. I’d started out living alone in some shithole with no family and nothing of value in my life.

Then I’d gotten a call that had set me on a path I never would have anticipated. The journey hadn’t been easy. But now on this Christmas night I could marvel over the twists and turns of life that had led me here.

Because here was perfect.

Cassie stirred in her sleep with a soft sigh and I dropped a kiss on her head, hoping her dreams were sweet. She murmured my name and drifted off again while I stroked her skin and felt my own eyelids grow heavy.

Yeah, right here was just perfect.

I didn’t ever want to be anywhere else.