Kristen Ashley - Breathe

“Dad –”

“I just wanted you to know.”

Chace turned into his drive then hit the garage door opener and into the phone he said, “All right, you wanted me to know. I know.”

“All right,” Trane replied quietly. “Your mother and I’ll look forward to Sunday.”

“Great. Later.”

“Have a good evening, Chace.”

“You too,” he returned then disconnected.

He drove into his garage and parked. He was in his new blue Yukon. His old one was parked next to him. When he’d bought the new one, he’d given the old one to Faye and her Cherokee was gracing someone else’s garage. She accepted this without much discussion much like he suspected Sondra did when her ride was phased out and Silas’s new one phased in. Faye didn’t really care what she drove and since he did and his old Yukon was better than her Cherokee, she went with it without giving him any lip.

When the garage door was going down, he leaned forward and rested his forehead on the steering wheel.

“Shit, fuck, shit,” he whispered.

Then he pulled in a breath, got out of his truck, walked through the garage, opened the door, moved into the back hall and was immediately accosted by Apollo.

He bent and scooped up the cat, walked down the hall while avoiding Starbuck who was chasing his feet and saw Faye at the stove, stirring something.

She turned to him and smiled. “Hey honey, how was swimming?”

He stared at her, her gleaming hair, her crystal blue eyes, her cute outfit, her smiling bubblegum lips and felt his gut release.

Then he smiled back and said, “It was good. What’s for dinner?”

Faye

Two weeks later

I swam up from the fog of sleep and I did this because I heard Chace whispering in my ear, “Wake up, baby.”

I blinked, looked at the alarm clock and saw it was early.

It was Sunday.

I didn’t need to get up early anyway, though these days I did to get up with Chace. But Sundays, we both could sleep in.

So I was wondering why he wasn’t doing that.

I shifted and the pile of cats draped over my feet and ankles shifted, Starbuck, with his usual attitude, doing it on an annoyed mew.

“What?” I asked Chace.

“It snowed last night.”

I stared at him.

Then I asked, “So?”

“Come on, baby, get up, wrap up, let’s go drink coffee outside.”

Coffee outside?

Was he fraking nuts?

I didn’t get the chance to ask and had no choice in the matter since he yanked the covers back, grabbed my hand and pulled me out of bed.

I saw he was already wrapped up and he also was sauntering out the door. I considered climbing back into bed but curiosity got the better of me. So I went about brushing my teeth and doing the same, pulling up some leggings under my nightie, one of Chace’s sweatshirts over it and some thick socks on my feet.

I met Chace at the end of the hall and he had two steaming mugs. He gave me one and we wandered out the front door. Chace pulled the rockers up to the railing and we settled into them, both immediately lifting our feet to the railing like we had countless times when we sat out there that summer.

Our breath came out in puffs.

The steam from the hot coffee got steamier.

Mine tasted of hazelnut and went down warm.

The plain was startlingly different with a blanket of snow.

Beautiful.

Peaceful.

Chace didn’t speak.

Still slightly sleepy, I didn’t either. I just sipped my coffee and stared at the snow, the plain, the white covered hills and mountains beyond with their stark breaks of green pine.

“Common miracle,” he muttered and I looked at him.

“Pardon, honey?”

His eyes didn’t leave the plain when he answered, “This. Common miracle. Even common, still miraculous.”

I looked at the plain and the instant I did it settled in me he was right.

It was.

Miraculous.

Not only snowfall on the Rockies but him finding me, me finding him, both of us sitting on our porch, drinking coffee, quiet, content, beauty as far as the eye could see.

Absolutely miraculous.

I pulled in breath and turned my head to look back at Chace, noting his unruly curls resting on the scarf wrapped around his neck.

So of course I had to reach out, grab one and tug.

Then I watched as he grinned into his coffee mug.

Yes.

Absolutely.

Miraculous .

Two and a half months later

“Jesus, Faye, only so much Spam a man can eat.”

We were in the grocery store and we were bickering.

I looked from the cans in my hands to Chace, “It’s nearly Christmas.”

“Yeah. So?” he asked.

“Even Outlaw Al needs something special for Christmas,” I informed him then threw the two cans of Spam to join the four cans already in our cart which were jockeying for position with a variety of other canned meat, beans and cat food that wouldn’t go to Starbuck and Apollo.

“I should have never told you about him,” Chace muttered, hooking a finger in the end of the cart and firmly pulling it down the aisle.

I made no reply since he was wrong and he’d only disagree with me, put my hands to the handle and followed.

“By the way,” he said over his shoulder, “saw the bags.”

My heart clenched.

“What bags?” I asked, hoping he hadn’t found my present stash for him because that would suck fraking huge.

He stopped and thus stopped the cart and me.

“She’s not even a year old.”

I felt my brows draw together and asked, “Who?”

“Ella. You got her, like, seven outfits.”

Well, that was good. He found Ella’s presents. Not his. Also good, since I hadn’t hidden Ella’s presents so this meant he wasn’t snooping (I hoped).

It was my turn to say, “Yeah. So?”

“Darlin’, Lexie already outfits her like she’s an American Princess. You do not need to assist in her endeavors.”

“It’s her first Christmas!” I snapped.

“She’s not gonna remember it.”

“So? I like baby clothes and she’s the only baby I know.”

“Jesus,” he muttered, beginning to move us along.

I followed him noting he was going at a good clip through the canned food section.

Oh well, Outlaw Al was going to eat well all the way into the new year with what I’d already nabbed.

Chace turned the corner and guided us up the aisle, my hand darting out whenever we passed something we needed and tossing it into our cart. Since I was actually paying attention to shopping and my man wasn’t, I ran into the cart when he stopped it and I didn’t notice.

He was staring ahead and I looked around him to see a few people in the aisle, no familiar faces so I looked at the back of his head.

“Chace?”

He turned to me.

“You were standing right where you are now. I was at the end of the aisle.”

I quit breathing.

Oh God. Oh God.

Chace kept talking.

“Near on eight years and I’m finally in this aisle, shoppin’ with you.”

Well, actually, we’d been in this aisle together dozens of times over the past months.

Still.

“Honey,” I whispered.

“Don’t know why folks need diamonds and pearls, fur coats, first class tickets, island adventures when simple shit like this is the best thing you could ever do.”

He was absolutely right.

Kind of.

I licked my lips.

Then I asked, “Is it bad that I wouldn’t mind an island adventure with you?”

He studied me, warmth in his face before he said, “No.”

“And it’s not outlandish to think that perhaps your mother will buy me a fur coat for Christmas,” I noted. “So, um, you’ve given me a diamond, she’s given me pearls and diamonds so that just leaves first class tickets and I’m okay with coach.”