At That Moment He Knew Novels & Stories

He said, “I knew you could do it” My heart fluttered at his words, and I knew there and then that I was in deep shit…

Ruth said. “Yes,” he said. 7 hours this time. Not 14. 7. Which felt both shorter and longer simultaneously because he was more present for every minute of it. Not bracing for the length but inside the length from the beginning. He knew what to do now. Not perfectly. He would never claim perfectly. But he knew her, knew the specific sounds she made and what they meant. Knew when to talk and when to stop. Knew when she needed his hand and when she needed him to simply be in the room.

I sat up, wincing as his come dripped down my thighs. He ran a hand through his hair, his back to me. “I gotta…fuck, I gotta handle something.” I swallowed, my stomach twisting. “Right now?” He turned, his expression unreadable. “Yeah. Now.” And just like that, the moment was gone.

He did understand. He understood completely and the understanding was not comfortable and was not clean and was not the kind of thing he could fold away neatly into a part of himself that he didn’t have to look at. It was just there, present and permanent, the full picture of what it meant to be where he was and with whom. He had chosen this. With full knowledge of what Tim was he had chosen this and he was not going to pretend now that the knowledge was new. He reached over and picked up the notepad from the nightstand.

That made the air shift. His expression tightened slightly. For the first time in a long while— he didn’t speak immediately. And that alone told me everything I needed to know. He knew something. I was getting close

Locked in place. Following. The same way it always did. And this time— He knows for a fact— He didn’t imagine it.

He simply nodded, as if knowing this wasn’t the right moment to say anything more. But deep down, I knew this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

"I'm not going to stop until the neighbors know my name," At that particular moment, I had zero question in my mind that he meant every word that he spoke.

His heartbeat against my cheek, fast and unhappy and present. "I hate this," he said into my hair. "I know," I said. "Me too." When he finally pulled back and looked at me I could see it. The moment behind his eyes where the arguing stopped and the accepting started. He had known before I said a single word. The bond had carried it ahead of me the way it always did. He knew I had already decided.

To this perfect, beautiful, joyous moment. And in that moment, I knew with absolute certainty that we were going to be okay. We had each other, and that was all we would ever need……. THE END