Page 55 of Hate To Love You

We worked hard at it, and we worked at us. Now this place isn’t just a cool mushroom surrounded by one of the country’s most beautiful natural settings. Now this place feels like home.

“Cannonball!” I just happen to be good at these now. And I also happen to love swimming.

I leap off the side of the deep end, tuck my legs under, and make an epic amount of splash as I plunge under the surface.

I have goggles on because that’s the other thing I love. I love opening my eyes underwater. So I watch as Apollo cuts from one end of the pool toward me. He’s such a freaking good swimmer. It’s like watching the natural channel down here, but instead of a dolphin or a whale, it’s him.

My favorite mammal.

I make myself laugh underwater and have to surface before I inhale some of it up my nose. It burns, especially when it also goes down my throat.

Apollo surfaces to the top near me. “What’s so funny?” He wipes water out of his lovely caramel chocolate eyes. Anyone who says they would not like to eat their significant other up…well, I just don’t understand the sentiment. I want to taste him at all times.

I swim over, and he extends an arm and pulls me in. He’s so good at keeping us both balanced that I just float right into him. He tastes like salty pool water when he kisses me, but he’s also spicy and manly. I would say if there were a cologne made up of just Apollo’s natural scent, I’d want to bathe in it daily, but lucky for me, I don’t have to. I have the real thing, smelling like heaven, the woods, the fresh mountain air, the salty pool, and the loveliest man in the world, right here.

Bitty Kitty suddenly appears at the pool’s edge. She makes her little skunk noises and watches us. We swim over together, and she backs up, uncertain about the salty water streaming off us. With a huff, she walks over to one of the pool chairs and curls up under it in a little skunk ball.

Apollo guides my face back to him and kisses me soundly. He makes my entire body warm in the cool pool water.

We’ve been dating for over a year. I’m only ever going to need this man, but the life he built out here is glorious too. It’s still his. Maybe when we get married for real, I’ll let him put my name on the title. I couldn’t accept it back then because it wasn’t right. I never wanted him to feel like he had to give it all to me to pay for something in the past. I know he didn’t do it for that reason, and I know he didn’t feel that way, but I always want him to know that he himself is enough.

I wasn’t very kind to him when we first met, and I wasn’t considerate. It took me forever to make up my mind and know myself. But he’s never made me feel like I had to pay for any of that, either.

Apollo makes this place a fantasy. He makes this place beautiful. Him. Without him, it would just be a mushroom house in the forest. Still pretty and cool, but empty and lonely. We’re not making up for lost time here together, and it’s never felt like we’re still paying for regrets or apologizing to each other.

“I think I should pull you out of this pool, carry you straight to the shower, then take you to bed.”

“Ooh, I like it.” Middle of the afternoon sexy time is a good time. I have classes in the evenings that I have to be online for. They start at seven and go until ten, but I often have work to do after, or I’m so exhausted that all I can do is fall into bed.

I finally got to see Apollo’s room. Now it’s our room. His room isn’t any one theme. It’s just all the things he likes: antiques, cats, classic cars, and skunks. There are so many skunk things in there. You’d be surprised what you can buy in skunk form. His bed? It’s the best one in the house. Yup, you guessed it. It’s a giant skunk, complete with a big bushy tail sticking out. The bed makes up most of the body where the back would be, the tail is the headboard, and the face is the footboard. It’s quite ingenious. He had to special order it, and what a special order it is. It would have been so fun putting it together.

I keep all the creepy dolls in their own room now because it’s the room I use for crafting. We converted one of the bedrooms into a crafting room slash office. It means I get to stare at their encouraging and awesomely creepy faces when I’m online at night. And when Apollo is working, he also gets to stare at them. He’s never complained. He even sometimes has suggestions for what doll I should make next.

My dad’s company has really taken off with Apollo’s help. Even Dad and John have reached a tentative truce, and they don’t actively hate each other anymore. They might not be friends, but they’re civil to each other. I hope that, with time, we can get them back to being kind to each other and friendly. I know they’re never going to be best friends again, but being just some sort of friends would be nice.

Mom and Will love New York, but they visit us out here a few times a year, and we’ve gone there twice. I love the city, and it’s a great place to visit, but I can’t see myself living there. I video chat with both my mom and dad so regularly that I don’t feel like I’m any less close to them than if I were living right next door.

Mom did show my doll to her clients, and I had a ton of orders within a few weeks. She had to start telling people to get on my waitlist, which they did. I’ve been cranking out dolls, but not at a pace that would make it not fun for me. It’s just a hobby. It’s never going to be my job.

I’m just taking general classes right now until I decide what I want to focus on. Apollo says I’ll fall in love with something if I keep sampling everything. I think he’s right. So far, I’ve really enjoyed my history classes, but I’ve also surprised myself by loving economics. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll do a business major with a minor in history.

“I like it too.” He pushes himself out of the pool, treating me to a full display of delicious Apollo muscles, tanned skin, and general god-like manliness.

I push up, too, completely unselfconscious in my bathing suit that shows all my scars. Apollo doesn’t care about them. I mean, he does, but only in the way that we both sometimes see them and think about how short life can be. There’s no time for regrets or bitterness because that’s just wasted time. It’s so much more rewarding to make up, work hard for our friendships, and fall head over heels in love.

He wasn’t joking about sweeping me up. He picks me right up, soaking wet, and kisses me like he’s never going to come up for air. He’s a swimmer, so he can hold his breath for a looooong time, lucky for me.

Bitty Kitty comes running after us when we start walking, and I watch her over Apollo’s shoulder, laughing at her sweetness as she comes tumbling in. She heads straight to her bed in the kitchen and curls up again. She’ll be tearing through the house in a few hours, no doubt.

Apollo carries me straight to our room before he catches himself. “I’ve forgotten our shower, it seems.”

“I’m all salty,” I tell him.

“You were salty when I first met you again, too, and I liked you just fine.”

I thump his shoulder lightly. “I’m physically salty now. But if you’re into that, then…”

“I’m into that. I’m always into you.” He carries me into our room, and I laugh as soon as I see the big skunk bed waiting for us. “I love you, Patience. Salty or not salty, you’re always going to be perfect in my eyes.”

“I love you, Apollo. God of everything. God of my heart.”

I haven’t said it before. Not the I love you, but the god of my heart part. It was too cheesy to even consider at first, but you know what? The smile that breaks through—brighter and better than any sunrise over the mountains or any of the crazy sunsets out here—makes a little cheese more than worth it.

The End.