Roses

Chapter 32

Zoey

"Don't think I don't know what's going on between you and my son," Abraham mutters, raising an eyebrow.

Two weeks have passed since Adam's work trip and I think I can easily call them the best two weeks of my life. He is just the best boyfriend ever. Period.

The days he can manage work from home, he comes over to have breakfast with me and then we drive back to his house. He spends most of his time in his office, but never fails to mention that I can walk in whenever. He has taken me out several times, each place and activity picked thoughtfully. And as if those things weren't enough, he also encourages me to write every chance he gets.

My book is almost halfway done and I feel ecstatic. A story has never flowed so easily out of me before. And I think it's because of him.

Every time I finish a chapter he's the first person to read it and he just knows when to offer his thoughts and when to simply ask for the next one.

My life has been going so well actually, that I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Well?" He presses.

"We weren't trying to hide anything," I mutter back, even as I hide my face behind the book I'm reading. It's the intriguing black hardcover Adam bought me on our bookstore date. I had never heard of the author so I Googled about her but the internet came up empty.

"But you didn't tell me anything either," he goes on from the other side of the book in front of me. He's not wrong. Adam and I have been tiptoeing around our relationship.

I'm pretty sure everyone in this house already knows what's going on with how we look at each other but we technically don't do anything romantic like hold hands or kiss when others are around.

He would probably love it. He isn't subtle about his feelings for me. Every time he comes across a set of my clothes, he puts them in his closet in a childish attempt to move my things here. When I told him I've been wanting to take up walking as a habit but have been lacking consistency, he bought a treadmill and put it in his basement with the rest of his workout equipment. He's definitely turning his home into my home and advertently dropping hints he wants me to move in with him.

But for my sake, he's keeping mum about us. To people he has known for far longer than he has known me.

"Because it's too soon to tell." But something tells me I'm about to change my mind very soon.

I lower the book to sneak a glance at him and he pins me down with a look that unnerves me.

"He's in love with you, Zoey. You're it for him," he says slowly. Surprisingly, these words don't scare me anymore. Perhaps because I have started feeling the same way about him too.

"He's," I start in a voice so low I'm not even sure he can hear me, "it for me too." The way his eyes soften lets me know he heard me just fine. It's crazy this is the first time I'm admitting this truth. And it's to Adam's father, no less!

"I'm so glad to hear it," he whispers like he was afraid I didn't reciprocate his son's feelings. "Does he know?" He asks softly.

It is uncanny that he can catch on to so many things about me. He seems to understand my reluctance towards falling in love really well.

I shake my head and add, "I was afraid."

"But you're not anymore?" The hope bleeding out of his voice is infectious and it makes me smile.

"No. I'm ready to let his love in," I quote Rosa and he smiles back as if he has an inkling of what I'm trying to convey.

"You should tell him. You're probably the only one capable of doing what I should have done long ago." He stares off into space and for a second I think he won't elaborate. "Make him happy."