Total pages in book: 16
Estimated words: 15180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15180 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 76(@200wpm)___ 61(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
I’d finally gotten my happily ever after.
Pope
I laid a blanket on the ground, helped Mia down, and then took my place beside her. For ten minutes we just lay there, staring up at the stars, listening to the sounds of the night around us.
Crickets chirping. An owl hooting. There was the occasional sound of the leaves rustling as the wind picked up, of a car driving in the distance. It was a reminder that there was a world right outside of our little bubble.
It was perfection, and all I kept thinking was how I was the luckiest bastard in the world to finally have the one woman I loved in my arms, and my life. I knew she’d always be mine, and that was now my reality.
I wasn’t worried about what people might say, how their confusion might be twisted into judgment. I’d been in her life for so long that I was seen as family to them, but it made no difference. I loved her and she loved me. We could face anything together as long as we were at each other’s sides.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sky this clear before, the stars this bright.” Her voice was soft.
I had my arm around her shoulder so she was slightly propped up, her body turned a little bit toward me and her hand resting on my waist. The ground was hard and uncomfortable, but having Mia pressed up against me, all I felt was happiness, pleasure. I could’ve been lying on fucking knives and I wouldn’t have felt a damn thing but her body pressed against mine.
“What are you thinking about?” I said softly, wanting nothing more than to hear her voice, that melodic tone that calmed me but also inflamed me all in the same breath.
She was silent for a moment, the tips of her fingers running over the edge of my T-shirt, lightly moving against the small swatch of skin exposed from the material riding up.
“I’m just thinking about how much time we’ve wasted, and how I’m glad that we finally found our way to each other.”
I tightened my arm around her shoulders and brought Mia impossibly closer. “Me too, baby. Me too.” I stared at the stars, wondering how Jonathan would feel if he were here, if he’d approve of me being with Mia.
“I know he would.”
I shifted so I could look at her. I hadn’t realized I’d said those words out loud.
“I think he’d be happy for us, that he’d want us both to be happy, especially if that meant being with each other.”
“Yeah, I think he’d be happy for us too.”
We sat there for another twenty minutes, neither of us speaking, but nothing needed to be said. The silence was comforting.
I could’ve stayed there forever, just holding her, remembering all the times we’d been together, the lost moments where I could’ve told her how I felt, held her just like this. But I couldn’t go in the past. I could only focus on the future, and that was making sure I made Mia happy, that she never wanted for anything, and that I never took this for granted.
And I never would.
She was right; we’d wasted too much time already. But we had all the time in the world.
We had forever.
Together.
Epilogue
Pope
Five years later
I opened the front door, immediately tossed my keys into the little ceramic bowl on the entryway table, and realized I heard ... nothing.
Not the sound of Mia in the kitchen, not the sounds of Dina running around. I didn’t even hear the click and clack of dog nails from Ruby as she hauled ass toward me.
I closed the front door and just stood there for a moment listening.
“Mia? Dina?” Usually when I got home from work, Mia was close by and our three-year-old daughter, Dina, came rushing toward me to give me the biggest bear hug imaginable.
But no one was around.
As panic started to settle in, the protective instinct in me rose up. I first checked the kitchen. Then I checked the living room. I hauled ass upstairs but didn’t see anyone there. Only place left to look was the backyard.
The closer I got to the deck door, the more relief settled in when I heard Dina laughing and Ruby barking playfully. I opened the door and stepped outside, the sound of sizzling meat on the grill, the scent of it cooking, surrounding me.
Mia sat on a lounge chair with her legs kicked up, her feet crossed at the ankles, and her little red painted toes moving back and forth as she hummed softly to whatever she was listening to through her earbuds. But I could see one wasn’t in, a motherly act she did so that she could hear Dina.
For a moment, I just stood there and watched her, happiness settling in me, contentment filling every inch of my body. The neighbors had the sprinkler going, the rhythmic sound telling me summer had come full force.