“I think you need to go to the doctor. Want me to make you an appointment?”
“Will that make you happy?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Then do it.”
I laugh again. “I like this side of you.”
“You mean you like to get what you want?”
“Yeah.”
“I bet.”
He turns around and puckers his lips. I press a kiss against them.
Just like the first time he kissed me, my knees go weak.I hope it’s this way forever.
“I need to figure out how to get my stuff here from Mom’s,” I say.
He stands and peels off his shirt. “We can go get it or hire a moving truck. How much stuff do you have?”
“Not much.”
“Maybe when Kennedy is out of school for winter break, we can visit your mom and get it.”
I watch as he slips off his pants. “I’d like that.”
Chase tosses his clothes into the hamper, then moves to the dresser. He busies himself organizing his things.
It’s a chore to watch him—my fiancé—in his boxer briefs.He’s my fiancé. What the hell?
It takes everything I have in me not to giggle. I haven’t felt pure joy like this ever in my life. There are lists of things to be done in the back of my mind, but none of them matter. They all feel secondary.
Because I’m marrying the sweetest, kindest, hottest man I’ve ever seen.
Chase Marshall is mine.
Grinning like a loon, I lie on the bed and let my mind wander. For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel like I have to manage my thoughts. It’s okay to think, wonder, and ask questions—because the most important one has been answered.
I wasn’t destined for a life of uncertainty. Despite my pessimistic thoughts, I wouldn’t roam the world looking formeaning for my entire life. I just needed to experience everything I needed to know before finding where I was meant to be.
My experiences have taught me about kindness. I know bullying. I’ve met despair face-to-face and won. I’ve lived alone, traveled alone, and relied on myself to make it. I’ve found success, experienced loss, and had enough relationships to know precisely what I don’t want in a significant other.
It felt like individual strands of something that would never come together. Starts and stops of different lives that never amounted to anything.
But I was wrong.
All those things led me here—to the Marshall family. And every one of the lessons I’ve learned has already come in handy.
Would I fit as well if I didn’t bring my unique set of experiences to the table? Would I know how to love Chase? Would I understand Kennedy?
Probably not. And suddenly, I’m grateful for everything that, until now, I’ve viewed as a failure or dead end. I didn’t have the whole picture yet.
“What are you doing?” I ask him.
“Making you room in the dresser.”
