She laughed. “No, but it sounds interesting, doesn’t it? I don’t like to shovel shit, though, so that’s probably out.”
“Probably. What else?”
“I don’t know. But I do know I’m only twenty-five and I’ve got time to figure it out.”
“I forgot I was dating jailbait.” I pretended to push her away.
“Whatever, old man.” She smacked my chest.
“So, there’s something I’ve been thinking about too,” I said.
“What’s that?” She snuggled back in my crook again.
“You.”
“What about me?” I could feel her smile against the skin of my chest.
“Well, there’s that awful temper of yours. And then there’s your hoarding habit—don’t get me started on what I unearthed in your hall closet the other day. And then we have the issue of your cooking—I have to say it’s only slightly better than my mother’s, and I’m worthless in the kitchen too, so we’re kind of screwed. Oh, and of course there’s your habit of rubbing your cheeks like you’re trying to summon a genie—”
“Is this going somewhere?” she asked, raising her head to look at me with narrowed eyes.
I nodded and smiled. “Yup. What I’m trying to say is I love you.”
Her cheeks pinked at my words. “You’ve got a strange way of expressing yourself, big guy.”
I shrugged. “I figured it’s easier to list the things that are so very wrong about you than to list the ones that are so very right—I can’t really count that high.”
“Well, if that wasn’t the most romantic thing ever—you big jerk.” She smacked my chest again and started coming in for a kiss.
“I guess I forgot to add your violent streak to the list. I’ll make a note.”
“You do that.” And her lips met mine.
Epilogue
LANEY
One Month Later
“This was such a great idea, Laney. We should make this a tradition.” Erin linked her arm in mine as we stood enjoying the sunny afternoon on the back porch—oh, excuse me, back deck.
Nate and I had compromised and I agreed to let him build me a deck instead of the screened-in porch he wanted. I told him he could always finish it off eventually, but for right now I was sticking to my guns. He’d spent so much time and money fixing up my house that I had to draw the line somewhere. Of course, he couldn’t make it just any old wood plank deck—he had to add built-in seating and a nook for his kick-ass grill he’d finally brought from Austin.
It was the day after Thanksgiving and I, like any sane person, was avoiding all retail locations. We were hosting an open house of sorts and invited practically everyone we knew to drop by throughout the afternoon to hang out and snack on leftovers—which we supplemented with burgers and brats. Maybe Nate couldn’t cook all that well, but the man could grill. He explained that grilling was a skill that came along with having a penis—and something else about cavemen cooking meat over a fire, a topic which his dad had been strangely enthusiastic about discussing. Not that Erin would allow Riordan to have any of the grilled meats.
After a token protest, Riordan summoned Rocco to the deck. “Come on, Rocco. I’m going to show you how to clean a fish. Then maybe I’ll be allowed to use the grill.” With the unseasonably warm weather, they’d gone fishing on Thanksgiving morning and had a bit of luck. So fish had been added to the menu for the day.
I looked over at Erin and said, “Actually, it was Nate’s idea, but I agree. It feels like more of a holiday when you can spread it out over a couple days. But I’m kind of shocked I got Fiona to come over. I figured she’d be in retail heaven.”
“I heard that.” Fiona approached. “I was up at five o’clock this morning, thank you very much, and I may have even bought a few things for you, my friend—of the sexy variety, if you know what I mean.” She winked.
“Uh, yeah, I think we all know what you mean. And thank you for talking about this in front of my boyfriend’s mother.”
“I was young once too, so don’t worry about me. And besides,” Erin said, squeezing my arm, “Rocco could really use a sibling, don’t you think?”
Danger! Danger! Need immediate rescue from the crazy lady!
As if reading my thoughts, Nate walked up and stole me away from his mother. “Leave her alone, Mom. Go bug Bailey about having babies. I think I saw her flirting with someone inside.”
“Really?” Erin’s eyes lit up and she couldn’t get inside fast enough.
“Thank you.” I hugged Nate back. “Who is Bailey flirting with, just out of curiosity?”
“Nobody. She’s stuffing her face with pie.” He grinned.
I laughed and looked around the yard where our friends and family mingled. My parents were here, having come back to town to celebrate the holiday with us. Rocco was over the moon. They were staying at a hotel, an arrangement that would never be repeated if Erin had anything to say about it. Our families had spent Thanksgiving together and were getting along great. Thankfully both sides had a high tolerance for crazy.
Some of the guys and gals from Nate’s work were here too, and I recognized a few of them, specifically Mark with the cock-sure smile and Doug who, for some reason, was wearing a Hawaiian print shirt for the holiday. I also noticed that Mark hadn’t taken his eyes off Fiona since she walked outside. Oh my.
Nate made his way back to the grill and announced that the food was ready. People wandered over to fix a plate. It didn’t escape my notice that Rocco wasn’t among them. I spied his little head through the treehouse window, along with that of Aiden and one other little girl from their daycare. If that view wasn’t a balm to my soul, I didn’t know what would be.
“Hey, Shortcake.” A male voice sounded behind me. I turned around to see Mark lean back on the deck railing next to Fiona, doing the oh-so-casual arms crossed to show off my big biceps thing—hey, it’s a thing, trust me. He was also giving her that super cocky smile and I almost felt sorry for him. He had no understanding that the phrase “big things come in small packages” was coined with Fiona specifically in mind.
“You talking to me, Meat-head?”
Oooh. This was going to be fun.
Gavin came over, draped his arm around my shoulders, and whispered in my ear, “Excellent. Dinner and a show.” I snorted.
“Hey, I was just trying to say hi. You don’t need to be insulting,” Mark said to Fiona.
“I was just returning the favor. Run along now.” She shooed him away.
Ouch.
Mark’s eyebrows rose. “I was also gonna tell you that the kids’ table is inside, Tinkerbell.”
Not bad.
Fiona’s jaw tightened. “What a coincidence because I was just going to tell you to go eat a bag of dicks.”
Hmm, an odd choice, but it hit its mark anyway.
“Are you always such a bitch to people you just met?” His casual stance was long gone and they were in a face-off.
“Only to complete morons.” Fiona’s mouth curled in distaste.
“What is your problem? Jesus, I don’t need this crap.” Mark stalked into the yard and away from my charming little bestie.
Fiona, completely unfazed, stepped up to the grill and grabbed a plate. “Oooh, are those sausages? I love sausage. Give me a big one, Nate.”
Gavin and I both started snickering, and Nate shot us a death glare.
After we’d all eaten and most of the crowd dispersed, I sat on Nate’s lap—he insisted and I’d learned not to question him on his opinions about my body. I sighed the sigh of a completely contented Laney.
“I love this day.”
He kissed my temple.
“Oh, hey,” Nate said suddenly. “I forgot to tell you. We rented the last space in the Old Oak Ridge property.” The project was wrapping up and they’d already signed rental agreements with a financial planning firm and some tech business but there was still one space left.
I mentally crossed my fingers and turned my face to his. “Oh yeah, what’s it going to be?”
He smiled that smile and I got the dimple. “A doughnut shop.”
“Oh my God! I love you!”
~THE END ~