He reached down, finding my hand, then sliding our fingers together.
He turned them.
Then pressed a kiss to the fourth finger on my left hand.
“I’m going to marry you.”
Yes, yes, he was.
Milo - 3 days
Alley was shrieking in her carrier because she wanted to get out to sit on my lap.
Roe was small-eyeing the cat.
“I’d be mad at her if I didn’t completely understand why she likes you so much,” she grumbled, pulling her blanket up higher.
Roe, it seemed, was the ultimate passenger princess. She settledinfor a ride: no shoes, cozy blanket, seat leaned back. For obvious reasons, she had control of the radio.
And I was pretty sure it didn’t matter how long I lived, the sight of her with her dark hair blowing in the breeze, her hand out the window doing waves in the air, and belting out some love ballad as I drove would forever be one of my favorite memories of her.
Maybe it was simply because she was in my car heading back to my town, to my apartment, the car loaded down with all of her essentials. Which was mostly stuff for Alley and her own clothes and makeup.
“You know what I’m looking forward to?”
“The best pizza in the whole state?” I asked. Sure, I was probably partial. My brother owned a small chain of pizza places. But I stood by my statement.
“Well, that, yes. But also… having a kitchen. A real kitchen.”
“It’s not that great of one,” I admitted. I didn’t want her to get her hopes up too high. Sure, I planned to put her in a fucking mansion. But my apartment was just an apartment. Nothing too special.
“Milo, I didn’t have a range. Or dishwasher.”
“In that case, prepare yourself for the best kitchen you’ve seen in over a year.”
“A kitchen I won’t be cooking in. But I will be happy to sit on the counter and cheer you on while you cook.”
“Sounds good to me. I also have an espresso machine.”
“With a milk frother?”
“Living fucking large,” I agreed.
“Well, in that case, I can make you a mean latte in the morning.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
I was looking forward to all of it: waking up to her in my bed, hearing her singing in the shower, unwinding with her after a long day, house hunting with her, putting a ring on her finger, watching her walk down an aisle toward me, holding our baby in her arms.
All of it.
All in good time.
I wasn’t in a rush.
Now that I found the woman I knew would come around eventually, I wanted to savor all the steps. Life was long. I wanted to soak up every moment of it that involved her.
“Oh, this is pretty,” she said as we drove over the bridge.
