“I do. I love you, Lincoln…” she chokes. “I've been in love with you since the night you held my hand after family dinner. Ever since that night, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how much I want ‘pink’ with you.” She swallows. “I guess that's why I’ve been trying to run. Because I knew I couldn't survive having to watch you walk away.”
I close any remaining distance between us. I don’t say anything as I pull her into a tight embrace. It feels symbolic that her packed baggage is laying on the floor at our feet. I might as well drop my own imaginary burdens right alongside hers.
“After everything we’ve been through, Jules, I couldn’t walk away from you if I tried,” I say, leaning back to wipe her tears and rain kisses down on her face.
“You promise?” she asks in a voice so small and vulnerable that it almost breaks me.
“I promise.” Lifting her hand to my mouth, I kiss her knuckles. “In fact, I’m writing a new contract for our marriage. Rule number one will be a ‘no running away’ clause.”
She laughs between her sniffles. “That’s fair.”
I kiss her lips. “I can’t lose you, Troublemaker. I wouldn’t survive it. Please tell me you’ll stay with me.”
“I’ll stay with you,” she cries. “I’ll stay.”
She hugs me, and I hug her so tight. I hug her with everything I’ve got, ready to stand here with her in my arms for all of eternity.
But her phone starts going off eventually. “That’s my alarm to go get Cameron from school.”
“We’ll go together,” I tell her.
I’m not letting either one of my favorite humans out of my sight today.
Jules tightens her hold on me and she sighs contentedly. “So, love is real, huh? Even for big-mouthed, stubborn tough girls like me?”
“Yup. Forwitty…gorgeous… funny…perfecttough girls like you.” I kiss the tip of her nose, stroking my hands down her sides. “And for grumpy, uptight assholes like me.”
51
LINCOLN
“Are you sure about this color, Dad?” Cameron asks skeptically, wrinkling his nose as he picks up a paint brush.
I look over my shoulder at Jules who somehow already has a glob of pink paint in her hair. It looks good on her.
I smile to myself. “More than sure, kiddo.”
Jules grins, wagging her own brush at Cameron. “You better watch it, buddy, or your room is next and we’ll go with hot pink,” she jokes.
My son’s eyes pop open. “No, um, that’s okay! No thanks!” he squeaks and I just laugh.
I was serious when I promised my wife I’d give her pink. In fact, I’d suggested painting the outside of the house in the warm, rosy shade of her choice just to make her happy. Cameron had immediately complained about not wanting to live in a dollhouse.
That’s when Jules suggested a compromise. One pink room—the ensuite to our bedroom. It’s a suggestion we can all live with. So now, the three of us are in the small bathroom, painting it Jules’s favorite color.
Cameron’s gaze swings between Jules and me. “But could we maybe paint my room green sometime? Like a T-rex green?”
My wife gasps. “Oh, I like that. What do you say,Daddy?”
I glare at her despite the instant twitch in my pants. “Let’s do it,” I say to Cameron. “Your room is up next.”
The little boy cheers excitedly, globs of paint dripping from his brush as he jumps up and down.
I just shake my head.
I’ve taken a few days off from work stuff—something I haven’t done in ages. But after the drama of this past week, I needed a break to reset and figure out my next move.
Considering all the uncertainty that looms on the horizon, I’ve been surprisingly calm since the business deal fell through. I’ve always been a man who needs to know what’s ahead, one who needs to know my options. But Jules’s easy-going, let’s-just-see-what-happens nature is starting to rub off on me.We balance each other out.
