Calling Me Home by Louise Bay Read Free Book Online Page B

Understandably, Fiona was no longer so enthusiastic about my participation in the triathlon, but I’d enjoyed the endorphins that almost daily cardio gave me. I also had to make sure I could keep giving Ashleigh what she needed in bed. Sex had been incredible from the beginning, and it kept getting better, and no less frequent.
    “Right about what?”
    “About Emma. And how it was obvious she wasn’t right for you because you didn’t want to marry her.”
    “Oh, about that.” Jake had been convinced that when I found the right woman, my thoughts about marriage would change. I grinned. “Yeah, I’ll give you that. You were right.”
    “So, you bought a ring yet?” We turned left; the tube was up ahead. I could probably walk home from where we were just as quickly.
    “Mate, I’m going to scare her off if I start talking about marriage. She’s still a little wary of my change of heart. I think she saw it as something that should have been a gradual process. I guess that’s how it was for her. But for me? I just suddenly woke up and bam, I’m in love with her. I want to have nineteen kids with her, like yesterday. I’d marry her tomorrow if it were up to me. I just don’t want to freak her out. She keeps telling me that it’s only been a few weeks. It just doesn’t feel like that for me. So I’m trying to be patient”
    Jake was grinning at me. “Yup. You got it bad. It was exactly like that for me.”
    “I just don’t know how long I can hold myself back from talking about our future. We’ve lost so much time already—I want to get on with things. She seems happy to stay where we are for now.” We’d exchanged I love yous, so we weren’t standing still, yet I felt way out ahead in terms of where we were in our relationship. I was constantly checking over my shoulder to make sure she was behind me. I wanted her to let go and just roll with it. Get caught up in it as I had.
    “Have you spoken to her about it?”
    “No. Telling Haven was a huge deal for her. She’s happier now that’s done, and so part of me doesn’t want to push. But I’m ready for what’s next. I guess I’ll just have to learn some patience.”
    “And what is next?” Jake asked.
    It was as if I were on an obstacle course, and I’d just successfully conquered telling our family and saying I love you, and now I’d rounded a corner to find moving in together.
    “I want her to live with me. Of course I want her to marry me, but I appreciate that might be too much of a jump.”
    Jake chuckled. “Maybe living together would be a good interim step. She might be more enthusiastic than you think. When Haven finally understood that we were both in it together forever, she didn’t resist at all.”
    Perhaps Ashleigh was ready. I could start dropping hints about moving in now Haven was on board. Ashleigh could rent her place out, which would help her financially. We were spending every night together anyway. It was nearly Christmas, and we could use the time over the holidays to move her stuff in before she got down to her studies in the New Year. The timing was good. It all made sense. If I convinced her of the practicality of the move, perhaps she’d be distracted from what it meant for our relationship.
    I hesitated at the entrance to the tube. “You not going home?” Jake asked.
    “I think I’m going to walk, actually.” I wanted to think things through, formulate my approach.
    He nodded and headed back to Haven. Jake was a good guy. I’d always thought he was a little weak for marrying my sister so quickly after they’d met. I’d felt sorry for him. Before Ashleigh, I’d presumed he’d done it to comfort Haven, to keep her happy. Now I understood that if he felt for Haven half of what I felt for Ashleigh, there just wasn’t an alternative if he wanted to be happy. I wanted to bind myself to Ashleigh in every way that I could.
    I began to jog home, running through the counter arguments Ashleigh might make if I