Six months later
I tightenJuniper’s scarf around her neck while I wait for Vito to unlock his parents’ house. We’re arriving a little later than planned, and I’m afraid we’re going to miss seeing Benito before he has to get back to the restaurant.
Vito gives me a bright smile as he holds the door open, and I slosh through the front door in my snow boots. I take off little Junie’s boots and jacket and set her on her feet. She’s walking like crazy now, and she can’t stand to be carried except through the ankle-deep snow.
As soon as she’s down, she takes off running and squeals when she almost crashes into Ethan, who is lying on the floor playing with Lucia’s older lab mix.
We decided to wait until summer to get a dog, when house-training won’t mean constantly mopping up snow and slush from the floor. If the way Junie plays with her grandparents’ dogs is any indication, she’s going to absolutely adore having a puppy of her own in a few months.
Vito kicks off his boots and hangs both his coat and mine on hooks by the door while I unlace my boots.
“Benny?” Vito cocks his head at the full house ahead of us. “I thought we’d miss you, man. Sorry we’re late.”
“Baby.” Lucia blows me a kiss but stops to loudly smooch Juniper’s cheeks. Junie laughs and squirms away, preferring to play with her cousins than be loved on by Gramma Lucia.
We have been living together now for well over six months and dating for almost ten months, so we decided it’s simpler to give everyone family names.
As Juniper learns to talk, I thought it would be a lot easier for her to learn to say Gramma than it would be to say Lucia and then later, if Vito and I get married, start calling her by another name.
As much as I love and adore Vito, and I know we’re both in this for the long haul, we’re in no rush to move any faster than this.
He has his own bedroom at our house with blackout curtains so he can sleep when he needs to. His parents have become like the parents I never had and always wanted.
I’m close with Gracie and Chloe, and I’ve even become close to Ryder since I started working with him at the children’s athletics facility he’s opened.
“Hey, hey, there she is.” Ryder swoops past Ethan and Juniper to kiss me on the cheek. “How’d it go?”
I grin and punch him in the shoulder. “Take a wild guess.”
Ryder shrugs. “I don’t know.”
I clap my hands together and cross my arms over my chest, preening at what I’m about to tell him. “Prepare to be amazed. Seventy kids from the Star Falls community are now enrolled in a fully funded adapted sports league.”
“Whoa, whoa. Hold up.” Ryder looks at me with his mouth wide open. “I looked at the numbers on Friday. What the heck happened between then and today?”
Vito comes up alongside me and slings an arm over my shoulder. “My girl went out on some calls.”
I nod. For the last three months, I’ve been working for Ryder’s start-up. It turns out that my interest in finance isn’t totally going to waste. I have quite the knack for fundraising. He asked me a few months ago if I’d have any interest in seeing what the Star Falls business community’s interest would be in sponsoring an adaptive sports league.
Buying specialized equipment like swings and safety gear, not to mention hiring well-trained aides to help run the league, is expensive. Like, made my head swim expensive. But I know there’s money out there for good causes, especially for those businesses that want local PR.
You know I went knocking on Michelle’s door, and sure enough, she opened the checkbook and donated enough to fund an entire year of sports camps and equipment for one child with special needs.
Ryder had a goal of being able to serve fifty kids, but I wanted to blow that number out of the water.
I spent time while Vito was off on Saturday driving to local businesses and pitching sponsors face-to-face. Turns out, small towns are special places. A bunch of the businesses that hadn’t been interested during our phone campaign welcomed me in, listened to my pitch, and opened their checkbooks.
“Holy shit, Eden.” Ryder’s eyes are wide, and he’s yanking his phone from his pocket. “Does Austin know? I have to tell him.”
Lucia comes in from the kitchen, a platter loaded high with homemade meatballs in her arms. “I heard that.”
Ryder grimaces and calls out, “Sorry, Ma.” Grace slips under his arm and tucks a hand in his back pocket.
“Look at you,” Gracie says. “Killing it out there. Keep it up, and Ryder’s going to give you an office.”
“Marry that woman,” Ryder says, pointing at Vito. “Don’t let this one go.”
“I think he’s got me pretty locked down,” I say, giving Ryder a grin.
