He shrugged. “Then I would’ve figured out some other way to keep you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Then I expect another proposal—with a ring.”
He grinned and pulled me in for a kiss. “Anything for you, baby.”
Oliver was kept in the hospital for another week and a half, but once it was clear that he was doing well, he was released withorders to follow up with his primary doctor to have stitches removed and to start on a physical therapy plan to ensure he’d regain a full range of motion.
The first thing he wanted to do after being released was eat food that wasn’t prepared in a hospital, so we went to a nice restaurant across town and enjoyed our first good meal in days.
He ordered a medium rare steak with a baked potato and steamed vegetables, and I ordered my usual chicken strips and fries. After the waitress walked away, I looked over at him. “So, when you say you have money, how much are we talking? Like this meal is covered or I’m out of toilet paper; let me wipe my butt with this fist-full of Benjamin’s?”
He looked up at me with a smirk. “Somewhere in between the two?”
“I just mean, are we stuck here, looking for jobs to start from scratch, or do we have some wiggle room?”
“I have enough money put up that we can probably do nothing but travel the country for the next year comfortably. If we wanted to. We should probably start making plans for the future, because eventually the money will run out. I’d preferred to be settled by then, if you know what I mean.”
I pulled my glass of water closer and used the straw to swirl the ice through the water as I thought about it.
“I want warm weather, sunny skies. A small town where everyone knows everyone. Where time moves slow, and people aren’t always in a rush.”
He arched one brow. “It sounds like you want to live with The Brady Bunch.”
I laughed. “Not with them, but next door to them, yes,” I agreed.
He laughed and shook his head.
The funny thing was, I always watched The Brady Bunch as a kid, and even though the show was old and outdated by then, Iwanted to be in their family. I wanted a life like theirs. I wanted to live in a nice house with a mother and a father. I wanted siblings and a dog. I wanted my dad to have some fancy office job where he needed to wear a suit every day. I wanted to come home from school and find my mom in the kitchen, making cookies for an after-school snack, rather than coming home to an empty house and having to make myself microwaved pizza rolls.
I smiled at him. “That’s what I want.”
“What?” he asked, confused.
“I want my life to be like The Brady Bunch.”
His brows knitted together in confusion.
“I don’t mean I want a hundred kids or anything. I just want a normal life. I want a house we pour all of ourselves into, making it a home we can be proud of. I want to open my own bakery. I want children. I want…”
“A normal life,” he finished for me.
I nodded. “Exactly.”
“I want that too,” he said, reaching across the table and taking my hands in his.
“Yeah? You’re not worried that it’ll be boring after living the exciting life of a car thief?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Excitement is overrated. I’m ready to settle down and live a quiet life.”
I smiled. “So, kids?”
He nodded. “Sure, I’m down if you are.”
“And what’s your new career path?”
He shrugged. “The last thing I want is to sit behind a desk all day. I know you want Mr. Brady, but do you think Mrs. Brady could be married to a blue-collar man instead?”
I grinned and nodded. “Yeah, I think so. You know what they say about those blue-collar men…”
