I swore as a tear rolled down my cheek. I hoped she was right because, while Tallie had been my first love, I knew she wasn’t the only one anymore. I swore again as I gently put the picture face down on the mantel. There were still family pictures. I had no intention of taking those down. But this wedding portrait was different somehow.
“Go,” I told Violet roughly. She knew me well enough by now to know I didn’t mean anything by it. “Thanks for bringing the dog back.”
“I hope you want your kids back at some point, too,” she said, waving as she jogged out the door.
“Maybe,” I said to her back. “Eventually.”
I found the dog’s food in Bailey’s room, shaking my head at myself for making her think she couldn’t feed the thing in the kitchen. When I picked up the bag, he danced around by my feet, his tongue lolling out and looking all the world like he was smiling up at me.
“I guess you’re kind of cute,” I said, petting his wiry fur. “Be good for a while longer, you little mongrel.”
I watched him eat for a minute, then left to crawl back in bed with Bailey. My mind was in overdrive thinking up the most over-the-top way to tell her I loved her. Because I was more certain than ever that I did. The second I called my brother demanding her little dog back so she wouldn’t miss him, I knew I was gone. And I didn’t want to fight it or pretend it was a mistake. I wanted to keep going, see what happened next. I had a very good feeling it was going to be great.
Maybe a helicopter ride over the city, then dinner at the swankiest restaurant I could get reservations for at such short notice. Maybe I should take her back to where we first met.
All my plans flew out the window when she woke up and smiled at me.
“I love you,” I blurted. The look on her face was priceless and I smoothed her hair behind her ear, tracing my finger down the side of her throat. “I love you, Bailey,” I said in a less crazed fashion but with all the same intensity. I swore softly. “I wanted it to be perfect when I told you,” I admitted.
The way she looked at me, I feared she didn’t feel the same. I tried to adjust my thinking, knowing we had plenty of time. I could be patient.
She pulled herself up to lean on her elbow and put her hand on my shoulder. Her face softened into an incandescent smile. “That was perfect.” She leaned in to kiss me, and I wrapped my arms around her to pull her close. “I love you, too, Will,” she said against my lips.
It felt like a volcano erupted in my heart, with love flowing so fast I couldn’t contain it. I rolled her on top of me, stroking down her body, as I laughed with joy. She joined in with her own happy giggles and straddled me, parting my robe and running her hands down my chest. Then the damn dog barked and scratched outside the bedroom door.
Her eyes widened and she shoved off me. “How did Freddy get back?” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Are the kids back, too?”
“The kids are still at Eli’s. I had Violet drop your dog off, so you wouldn’t miss him.”
Any desire I had to stuff Freddy down the trash chute disappeared when she turned to me with a huge, grateful smile.
“I did miss him,” she admitted. “Thank you.” Her face fell. “But I should probably walk him soon. I’ll put him in my room now so he stops scratching.”
She opened the door a crack and knelt down, letting him jump into her arms and lick her face. For the first time in my entire life I was jealous of a dog, and one that closely resembled a water rat, at that.
“He can come in,” I said, unable to resist seeing her so happy and not wanting her to leave. “I guess I kind of like him after all.” The words nearly stuck in my throat to admit but they were mostly true. He was a pretty good boy.
With another beaming smile, she flung open the door and Freddy bounded in. “I told you life was better with a dog, didn’t I?” she asked.
“Whoa there, I never said that.” I got up to get dressed. “Why don’t we take him for a walk together?”
If she kept smiling at me the way she was doing, I might not make it through the day. I had to learn to adjust to feeling so much happiness. She scrambled out of the room and we met up at the front door a few minutes later. We strolled along the sidewalks as we chatted about inane subjects like our favorite colors and foods, stopping to get coffees, and then weaving through the park. She tossed the little stuffed bird toy she always carried in her bag, and I watched as she played with Freddy. She had so much love in her heart. I could tell the moment I met her, and she took Harrison’s childish fears about Santa Claus seriously.
We decided to head toward Eli’s building, so I could pick up the kids, and my heart swelled even more as she chattered about how much she couldn’t wait to see them. I had to agree with her that yesterday had felt like a week with everything that happened, swinging from terrible to sublime in the course of twenty-four hours. I didn’t want our private bubble to pop, but I knew we had to get back into real life. I was apprehensive about how things would play out, but looking forward to everything as long as Bailey was with me.
We window shopped as we walked more and more slowly the closer we got to Eli’s place. We finally stopped in front of it and looked at each other wistfully.
“You don’t want it to end, either?” I asked.
Her eyes flew wide. “End? Is it ending?”
I hurried to pull her into a hug. “I just meant the morning, Us being alone together.”
She sighed against my chest, then tipped her head back to look at me. “How are we going to do this?” she asked. “You do want to … do this, don’t you?”
“Oh, it’s happening.” I leaned down to give her a reassuring kiss. I pushed her hair aside and ran my finger gently along the edge of her cut. “Listen, why don’t you take the day off and go to the spa at my office? I want to prepare the kids, so they don’t get upset when they see your stitches.”
Her face fell, eyes full of worry. “Okay,” she said. “Tell them I miss them, though.”