Page 137 of A Spark Of Home

“Yes, but you have to close your eyes, and you can’t open them until I tell you.”

I give him a skeptical look.

“You must promise, otherwise you’re not getting any waffles.”

“What did you do?”

“Something cute. You’ll see.”

I smile up at him. “I promise I won’t open my eyes until you tell me to. But you better not let me trip over anything.”

“Promise.”

I close my eyes, and he moves behind me and gently ushers me forward. I keep my eyes covered with my hands, because I don’t quite trust myself otherwise. I love surprises, but I am also impatient.

When I can sense that we’re on the front porch, I automatically turn to the left where the patio furniture is, assuming that’s where we’ll eat.

“No, keep going, but be careful. The stairs are right there.”

“Where the hell are we going?”

“Patience. You’ll find out in like twenty seconds.”

He tells me where the stairs are and gently guides me down them, then steers me to the left. The grass tickles my feet as we move around the house.

“I would’ve put on shoes if I knew we were going farther than the porch,” I complain.

“You love being barefoot.”

We come to a halt, and I assume we’re behind my house where my little yard now stretches into the back of the property. Turns out the empty plot of land behind my house was part of this property, and his dad had just divided it with a fence because he wanted to add multiple residencies to the same plot of land.

I have a house.

I have a house with a real backyard.

It’s been a year, and I still can’t believe it. So far, we haven’t done much with the backyard other than get rid of the fence and mow down the weeds.

“Are you ready?” Hayden squeezes me around the waist.