“I know.” Steph smiles shyly, her eyes dancing and shining.
“You have a lot of faith in me.”
“It’s not misplaced.” She brushes her lips along my jawline, and my whole body lights up like a beacon. She leans close to my ears and whispers in the softest tone, “I have this idea for a new pair of socks…”
My hands wrap around her waist. “I love when you talk dirty,” I say huskily and kiss her.
We kiss like there isn’t going to be a tomorrow, but I know there will be. There will be tons of tomorrows, and I’ll do everything I can to make them full of laughter, joy, and of course, not to forget…socks.
EPILOGUE
Stephanie
We got ourselves this cabin.
It’s a nice place, very private. And we have our own small lake, our own stretch of grassy lawn, and our own strip of private beach along the said lake. I guess it’s not really a lake. It’s more like a pond, but it’s still beautiful. We have the best views of the mountains in the distance. And the air is so fresh up here that it almost hurts to breathe it in at first. It’s far from Denver, way out of the city. It takes hours to drive up, and we do have to go down some pretty bumpy gravel roads, but like I said that day on the sidewalk years ago, some of the best things can be found at the end of the roughest road.
I know. A cabin, outside, in the outdoors, where there are bugs, snakes, bears, and leaches, and also weeds in the lake water. I never thought I’d grow to like it, but one look at the place, and I fell in love with it.
Adam had this vision about it. I guess I can call it that. About six months after we’d been dating, he told me he wanted to buy us a cabin. A place that was just ours with a private lake. Something rustic but still modern enough that we could both handle it, something that was our retreat, our special place in the world, and something that reminded us of the camping trip we took together. We both knew, as soon as we saw this place, that it was meant to be ours.
We spend a lot of time out here.
I sold my house a year after we started dating, and Adam sold his own place much sooner. We bought the cabin when we were trying to figure out where to live. We settled on another old character house that needed a ton of work, but that was okay even though it needed a new roof too. We actually did some of the work together and hired contractors for the rest. It turns out that, after everything, Adam always knew how to screw in a lightbulb. He also knew how to tile the kitchen backsplash, install flooring, do some minor plumbing and siding, and landscaping. We technically did a lot of that together. It was a labor of love, believe me. It took a ton of internet tutorials and videos to get us going, and home improvement classes as well as pro tips when we really needed them, but that’s okay. It all worked out.
We also have a beautiful, hundred-year-old house in the city that is filled with our special touches. It also turns out Adam loves garage sales and antique stores as much as I do. A lot of the décor comes from our treasure hunting together, and yeah, we do have a lot of money, but it’s also true how that alone doesn’t make you happy. Doing things together, finding the perfect score, not forgetting where you come from, and figuring out who you actually are, which is always
changing, that’s what makes you happy.
Oh. And love.
Yeah.
That’s made me pretty happy. Adam and love. It is amazing.
When we moved into our house together, after it was finished, we adopted a puppy. He came from a rescue, and he didn’t have so great of a start in life. He’s blind, but he has so much energy and such a will to live that it’s just incredible to watch him.
He loves the cabin too. He loves the fresh air and the yard, which is all his. He loves the grass to roll in, the sand to dig, and the lake to swim in. He does all those things like he’s not even blind. Jamie is honestly one of my biggest inspirations, and I don’t care one bit that he’s a dog. Dogs, cats, all animals—they can be just as inspiring and incredible as people.
I’m down by the lake with Jamie right now. He’s splashing in the water even though it’s first thing in the morning, and it’s mid-September, and the water is getting pretty darn near frigid levels. I let him have his fun while I clutch my knitted sweater around me. My toes are freezing from the wet grass and the cool morning air, but I don’t mind.
“Come on, boy,” I call to Jamie, patting my thigh.
He flies out of the water, up the beach, and onto the grass. He spins a few circles, chasing after his big, wildly wagging tail before he flips onto his back and rolls some of the water off. I’m not sure what kind of dog he is, and the rescue wasn’t sure either. He looks like a mid-size mix of everything. He’s mostly black with a few white spots here and there, and he has the oddest blonde paw. He’s utterly adorable.
When he’s done, we walk up to the cabin together. I let Jamie in through the back door, and he goes right to his food bowl. I fill it obediently since he has me trained by now. I’m convinced it’s just about always that way round.
I know that after he’s finished eating, he’ll curl up on his dog bed and take the hugest nap. I put the coffee on, then walk down the hall into the bedroom.
Adam is just waking up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning. His hair is entirely flat on one side and sticks out at a wild angle on the other. He hasn’t shaved since we got here, which was three days ago. He has nothing on except a set of boxers, and he has sheet creases all over his bare chest. I think he’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been looking at this view going on four years now. In fact, I think I fall a little bit more in love with the said view every single time I take it in.
“I have a surprise for you.” I pull out my sock drawer, which is still mostly empty because I still mostly hate socks, but I have agreed to a few pairs that Adam painstakingly chose for me from the company’s line.
In the drawer, folded up neatly, is my favorite pair of socks in the whole world. It’s a pair of gold socks with blue toes, a picture of a diamond ring, and the writing, will you marry me?
Trust me, for us, it was the most romantic proposal anyone could have ever thought of.
I wore them to the reception when I’d had enough of the fancier heels and had ditched them for a comfortable pair of runners. Adam designed these socks just for me for our wedding. Next to them is another pair of socks.