count on me (l.h)

"if i'm with you, i'm home"

"God, I love this one," Luke declared as he pulled out a canvas from the box. It was one of my favorite paintings—something Jenna had painted in a random art class she took.

"Jenna painted that," I told him through a quiet laugh, knowing I had never told him that, due to the fact he'd never commented on it before.

"You're shitting me," Luke said, in awe. "She paints?"

"Not exactly—this is something she did for a final project in a class she took sophomore year," I told Luke, reaching out to touch the canvas. "She painted five different paintings—all representing different moods. And she also based each one of them on one of us."

"That is crazy—the first time I saw this, I remember liking it because it just felt so much like you." I cocked my head to the side, thinking it was so interesting that he had said such a thing.

"It started off as the painting Jenna was doing of her own energy because, at first, she was just going to focus on different moods from her perspective. But then she got halfway through and realized it wasn't her at all; she had started working on it after the two of us had this really great conversation, and she realized she was focusing on all the things she loved and appreciated about me while making it. So she changed her idea for the project and this one became mine—she named it For the Love of Jo." As I spoke, Luke's smile grew wider. "I think I love it for the story—I never really thought it felt like me... so you saying that makes me really happy."

"For the love of Jo, indeed," Luke said through a breathy laugh as he looked down at the canvas in his hands. "It's very you. And I think it should be a focal point. You could do a whole wall of artwork and your other wall hangings... like that old mirror you have? I feel like you kind of started to do that at your old place, but I think you should really lean into it."

"Then that's exactly what I want to do," I told Luke with a grand smile, feeling pleased that he had given me a suggestion. "It's up to you where that one goes." I handed Luke a pack of nails and a hammer before following behind him.

He chose a place on the wall and I helped him get it straight before he placed it. We worked together to continue adding things to the wall, not stopping until we ran out of things to hang up.

"Oh!" I suddenly remembered something that I had that I wanted to hang up, so I rushed to the corner of the room before rummaging through one of the boxes. I grabbed what I was looking for and brought it over to Luke—it was the memory box he had given me. Not only had I added some stuff to it, but I had spent a night rearranging everything and tacking everything to stay.

"Jos..." Luke spoke quietly as he took it into his hands. He looked down at it with a wide smile on his face, and I moved to his side before looking at it as well. "You really want to hang this in here?"

"For the time being, yes, but it'll eventually make it to the living room once you've moved in," I joked, sending him a wink before standing on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. However, Luke turned in just the nick of time and crashed his lips into mine. I giggled against his lips as we continued to kiss, and I felt him smile against mine. "What's mine is yours... even if it isn't official, I want this place to feel like home to you."

"That's just it, bubs—it doesn't matter where I am. If I'm with you, I'm home."

. . .

"Dad, that looks horrible," I said through a stifled laugh as I watched my dad try and place a throw blanket on the couch in my living room.

"Ouch!" I took the blanket from his hands and tossed the blanket onto the plush cushions before placing a pillow on top.