Something warm spreads through my chest as I watch her. Aftereverything we’ve put each other through, she still looks at me like I’m her favorite person. And that’s a good fucking thing—because she’s mine.
“Oh,” she says, leaning in to whisper, “and he’s great in bed.”
I laugh, my lips kissing hers before I can even think about it.
When I pull back, I take her hand, weaving our fingers together, and nod toward the stone wall overlooking the water.
She follows without question, letting me steal a few minutes alone with her.
“Did you see Cole dancing with my friend’s daughter?” I ask, spotting him on the dance floor.
Her eyes go wide as she follows my gaze. “I did. I was surprised he took the initiative.”
“I think she asked him,” I say. “He’s way too shy to ask.”
“I don’t know why. He’s such a good-looking kid.”
“I know.” I look back at her. “Can you believe that was us at his age?”
“Yeah… except we were doing a lot more than dancing.”
“Second base,” I say with a smirk.
“Oh, God.” She winces. “That makes me sick when I think about how young Cole is.”
I shrug. “We turned out fine.”
It’s the truth. I haven’t always been able to say that. But we did.
She laughs. “What did you guys end up doing yesterday?”
I grin. “Had brunch. Drank. Got tattoos.”
Her jaw drops. “What? All of you? Even Jeff?”
“Yep. Even Jeff.”
“What did you all get? I want to see.”
“Jensen got Roman’s birthday. Jeff and Kevin got a Greek word that means father. And I got this,” I say, turning toward her. I tug my shirt up just enough for her to see the script along the muscle that cuts across my hip.
She runs her finger beneath the word.
“Kairos,” she says. Her brows scrunch. “I know that’s a Greek word. It’s familiar… something to do with time?”
“Sort of,” I say quietly. “It’s hard to explain, but it means the rightmoment. When something finally becomes what it’s supposed to be.” My eyes lift to hers. “Kind of like with you and me. How we spent twenty years getting it wrong. But really, the timing just wasn’t right.”
Her hand slides up to my chest, her eyes wet and full.
“Dammit. Don’t you dare make me cry right now,” she says, laughing softly. Then she sobers, her gaze steady on mine. “I love it,” she whispers. “And I love you.”
I bring my hand to hers, covering it with mine. Emotion rises fast, tightening my throat, threatening.
But I’m too damn happy to cry.
“I love you, too.”
Maybe it was inevitable that we’d end up here. Not because we were lucky, but because we finally learned how to choose each other.
Jordan calls it fate.
Maybe she’s right.
The kid on the swing set didn’t have a clue what love was.
I do now.
And it’s her. It’s always been her.
“Babe.”
