“The gallantry is cute, darlin’,” Summer laughed as she climbed out. She huddled by the door until he’d opened the house, then ran inside, shivering a little. She had to stop just inside the door, though, and fumble for the light switch. When the light came up she gazed around, a slow smile uncurling across her face. “Victor, this is really nice. Much better than last time.”
He grinned, proud. There were a lot more of his souvenirs from his travels posted on the mantle and sitting on the coffee table in front of the couches. The furniture was dark cherry colour and while the wood gave the furniture an almost antique feeling there was something subtly modern about the house. The lighting only added to that. The high ceilings made it difficult to fully light the rooms and they were forever in a cozy dim setting and were only amplified by a handful of lamps. There were very few pictures scattered around the place. There was one of him from the Institute, taken of him and his friend when they were 12, as well as a few pictures from college.
“Thank you darling,” he said as he made to help her out of her jacket. He hung their jackets up and put his hat on a hook before striding over to the fire place, which was almost perpendicular to the couches. “I’m going to start a fire to help warm this place up, make yourself at home.”
She traced her fingers lightly over the wood, feeling the grain of it under her fingertips, and picked up one of the pictures. “You look so fierce here,” she commented. Glancing up, she looked at the pile of kindling and wood Victor had assembled and flicked her fingers, adding a little spark to it. Then she put the photo down and crossed to loop her arms around his neck. “It’s much simpler if you let me do that,” she murmured, “Victor darling.”