Georgia On My Mind

27

ROME POV

"How did I never realize how fun grocery shopping can be?" I wondered out loud, staring around the gigantic cooler in Costco while Georgia chose produce with Scout's help.

It had been a great week since we finally reconnected the way I hoped we would.

I slept in Georgia's bed every night.  It began as an accident after we passed out the night everything was finally in the open.  Between emotional exhaustion, relief, and general tiredness neither of us could keep awake. She was curled up in my arms and I intended to just shut my eyes while soaking up the moment but sleep came easily.

At about 2 am I woke up and headed to the spare room but she stopped me with a single word.

"Stay..."

It was almost a plea.  I turned and met her golden eyes, vulnerability clear in her gaze without fear.  "You can stay, Rome..."

Sleeping with Georgia in my arms was healing for both of us. She was showing her willingness to trust me again while I respected her boundaries, allowing us to adjust to the new dynamic easily.

I considered asking her to move into the apartment with me but the basement suite was huge and had everything we needed.  We still took Archer a few nights over the past week and more than once Scout woke up early and whined that she missed cuddle time.

Dad and Mariah were happy for us.  We were all finding our footing with this new openness that continued to catch me off guard.  Evenings were spent either playing video games and trying to keep quiet so we didn't wake the kids or in long conversations where we poured out our hearts and shared dreams.

Dad and I had always chatted about life in general but he had no idea how deeply I loved photography and traveling.

Georgia saw that even before she met me.  My girl honed in on what I really wanted to do and supported my dreams. I was excited to keep planning future trips, especially considering the prep she was already doing. She started using DuoLingo to learn Italian while brushing up on French after studying the language in high school. I was fluent in Spanish and started teaching Scout some basics, mostly because it was adorable to hear her yell, "Vamonos!" before we left the house.

Even though Georgia had never been on a plane or seen the ocean, she was excited to start our adventures.

"Gigi?  Can you take Archer for me?  He keeps trying to grab the samples..."  Mariah breezed towards us with my baby brother in tow.  He had a grin on his face that was full of mischief which caused Georgia and me to crack up. 

"Want to take Scout so you can peek at the books on sale?"  Georgia offered, scooping Archer into her arms.

Scout's eyes lit up and she unbuckled the seatbelt of our cart, "Please, Mama! BOOKS!"

"Well, how can I say no to that?" Mariah laughed, reaching for her daughter.

Georgia got Archer settled in our cart then we continued browsing the produce aisle.  She grabbed a bag of sugar snap peas as well as one of baby carrots but seemed to be deep in thought.

I was now more used to this type of quiet from Georgia.  She was so accustomed to being alone and independent that she needed time to process.  I never expected she would just blurt out every single thing that passed through her mind, but my patience gave her more courage to speak up.  The best thing I could do was give her space, knowing she would share once she felt able to put her thoughts into words.

Her heart was open and willing.  So was mine.  We were proving with our actions that this was a relationship worth the effort we made to grow together.