Page 42 of Challenged By the Ex-Military Lumberjack

---

And for now, that's more than enough.

That night, after dinner and after I've checked my work emails and after Eli has chopped enough wood to last through winter, we end up back in his bed.

Not for sex this time, though I wouldn't say no, but just to lie together. To talk. To exist in the same space without needing it to be anything more.

"I talked to Frank today," Eli says, his arm around me, my head on his chest. "While you were in the hardware store looking at paint samples."

"Oh yeah? What about?"

"He asked if you were coming to Murphy's Grill this weekend. Apparently Murphy wants to meet you."

"The whole town wants to meet me, apparently."

"You're a novelty."

"I'm a person who brought bad lasagna to a hermit. That's hardly newsworthy."

"In Blackwater Falls, it is." He's quiet for a second. "Do you want to go? To Murphy's?"

I prop myself up to look at him. "Do you want to go?"

"I'm asking you."

"Eli."

He sighs. "I don't love crowds. But I'll go if you want to."

"We don't have to—"

"I want to," he says, and he sounds like he means it. "I want people to know—" He pauses, searching for words. "I want them to know you're with me. That this is real."

My heart swells. "You do?"

"Yeah."

I kiss him, soft and slow. "Then we'll go. Together."

"Together," he repeats, like he's testing out the word.

And I realize that's what this is. What we're building. Not just a relationship, but a partnership. A togetherness that neither of us expected but both of us need.

I settle back against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

"Hey, Eli?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad I moved here. I'm glad I walked into that hardware store. I'm glad you corrected Frank about the washers."

His chest rumbles with a quiet laugh. "Me too."

"Even though it means your quiet life is over?"

"Maybe I was tired of quiet."

"Liar. You love quiet."

"I love you more."

---