PART 17:

Directly, just one. your dad. He saved my life, but I think maybe I saved his, too. Different kind of saving, but it counts. You saved mine, too, Mattie said matterofactly. I was really sad after mommy died. Daddy was sad, too. Even though he tried to hide it. But you made us less sad. That’s like saving us from sadness.

The adults exchanged looks over her head, both fighting back tears out of the mouths of babes. Well, then,” Ariana said, her voice thick. “I guess we’ve all saved each other. That makes us a pretty good team.” “The best team,” Maddie agreed and went back to her pizza, oblivious to the emotional devastation she’d just inflicted on two fully grown adults who were desperately in love with her and each other, and didn’t quite know how to say it yet.

That night, after Mattie was asleep in her room and Ariana was gathering her things to leave, Caleb stopped her at the door. Move in with us,” he said. Ariana froze. “What? Move in? Not into some new place that’s a compromise between your world and mine. Here, this apartment with me and Maddie. Be part of this.” He gestured around the small space that held all his life.

I know it’s not what you’re used to. I know you have a penthouse with 3,000 square ft and a view and probably a bathroom bigger than my entire bedroom, but this is my home. Our home, and I want you in it, Caleb, I It’s tiny. There’s barely room for two people, let alone three. My closet alone would take up half your space.

So, we get a bigger place together, something that’s ours, not yours or mine. He took her hands. I’m not trying to trap you in poverty or make some point about authentic living. I just want to wake up with you here. Want Maddie to have you at breakfast, not just on weekends. Want to build a life that’s actually shared, not just coordinated.

Ariana’s eyes were bright with tears. I’ve never lived with anyone. Even my longest relationships, I kept my own space, my own escape route. I know. And if you need that, if you need your own place to retreat to when I’m being impossible or Mattie’s being eight, I understand. But Ariana, he stepped closer. Close enough that she had to tilt her head back to maintain eye contact.

I’m not asking you to give up your independence. I’m asking you to share your life with mine. Really share it. The boring mornings and the tough evenings and the middle of the night moments when everything feels impossible. What if I’m terrible at it? What if I don’t know how to be domestic and present and all the things Maddie needs? Then we’ll figure it out together the same way we figured out everything else.

He smiled. You learned to check for monsters. You survived a week of single parenting. You can learn this, too. Ariana laughed through her tears. You make it sound so simple. It’s not simple, but it’s worth it. You’re worth it. This is worth it. She kissed him then, deep and sure and full of promise. When they pulled apart, she was smiling.

Okay. Yes. Let’s find a place together. Something with enough room for Mattiey’s craft supplies and my embarrassing shoe collection and your collection of medical textbooks. You pretend you don’t still read. I don’t pretend anything. I definitely still read them. I know. I see you sneaking them into bed like they’re novels. She grinned.

It’s incredibly nerdy and I find it unreasonably attractive. They started looking for a place the next week. Nothing too flashy. Caleb had his limits, but something bigger than his apartment in a good school district for Maddie with enough space for all of them to breathe. Ariana tried not to steamroll the process with her money and opinions, letting Caleb have equal say, learning that compromise meant sometimes choosing the house with the better yard over the one with the gourmet kitchen because Maddie needed space to play more

than Ariana needed marble countertops. They found it in April. A three-bedroom house in a quiet neighborhood. Nothing fancy, but solid and warm and full of potential. A yard for Maddie. An office space where Ariana could work from home. A garage where Caleb could finally unpack the boxes he’d been living out of since Sarah died.

“It’s perfect,” Maddie declared the first time she saw it, running through the empty rooms with her arms spread wide. This one can be my room, and this one can be for guests, and this one, she peeked into the master bedroom, is big enough for both of you. She said it so casually, so matterof factly, like, of course they’d share a room. Of course, they were a unit now.

Caleb and Ariana looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. When had this become so normal? When had they gone from carefully dating to planning a shared life? Somewhere between the press conference and the pizza nights and the moment Ariana had agreed to check for monsters, they’d crossed a line.

They were a family now, messy and unconventional and still figuring out the details, but family nonetheless. They moved in June, just before Mattiey’s summer break. The actual moving process was chaotic. Ariana had accumulated way too many belongings for someone who claimed to be a minimalist. And Caleb’s boxes revealed a startling number of tactical gear and medical supplies that he might need someday.

Mattie directed everything like a tiny general, declaring where furniture should go and which rooms needed which colors. The first night in the new house, they ordered Chinese takeout and ate it sitting on the floor of the living room because their table hadn’t arrived yet. Maddie fell asleep between them, exhausted from excitement and carrying boxes.

Caleb and Ariana looked at each other over her head. “We did it,” Ariana whispered. “We actually built this.” “Terrifying, isn’t it? Completely,” she smiled. “And perfect. This is perfect.” Caleb reached across their sleeping daughter to take Ariana’s hand. “I love you,” he said. “Simple, honest. the words he’d been too afraid to say because they felt like tempting fate. Ariana’s breath caught.

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