I stuck a finger out. “One more minute, sir.”
Noah laughed. “Or five.”
This moment was better than a hug, or holding hands over a console, or even when we’d kissed in a back bedroom at the rehearsal dinner. It was the culmination of so many good things and the start of a lifetime more.
At least until Noah’s brothers showed up. They hollered out the windows of the Chilivan and honked the horn. We were so getting kicked off of this car lot.
Epilogue – Noah
Dan came strolling up after work holding a gigantic birdcage draped in an old graying cloth that might have once been used to catch paint drips. There were a bunch of holes chewed in it, likely by whatever was lurking underneath. Something fluttered and chirped from inside.
“Who’s this?” I asked.
“Nitro.”
“You are such a softie.”
Dan shrugged. “He’s a bit annoying. But someone had to take him home.”
“THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID,” the bird squawked.
Dan winced. “And he has a potty mouth, thanks to some previous owners.”
“Clearly.” I lifted the corner of the cloth to take a peek, since it was obviously not doing Nitro any good. A cloth as thin as a sheet out in broad daylight was not about to convince an intelligent bird it was night time.
Nitro was smaller than I’d thought he’d be, with a green body and a yellow head. “What kind of bird is this?”
“An Amazon parrot.” Dan flexed his arm and groaned. “I hope Sadie and Jenny hurry. This cage is way too heavy.”
“Do you want me to hold it?”
“Nah, I’m good.” Dan adjusted his grip and leaned around a crowd of people to see if the girls were coming.
These days, we weren’t waiting on each other all that often. Jenny and I usually drove in early together, as we were both on salary, and/or stayed later, grabbing dinner on the way home.
But ending our carpool completely wasn’t something any of us were ready for, even if we were down to only Monday carpool with an occasional Wednesday when it worked out.
“There they are.” I watched Jenny and Sadie walk in step with the rest of the after-work crowd. They were laughing about something, their hands flying animatedly.
Jenny had seriously considered leaving Connecting Hearts. She’d even interviewed with other companies and received some generous offers. When she’d asked for my advice, I was hesitant to give it. I loved her too much to ever want to sway her in a direction she might not otherwise go. Jenny wisely reminded me that she was perfectly willing to disagree with me. Kind of like when I asked if we should try Karaoke, and she said I could do that with my next wife.
My body warmed up at the memory. I’d told her there would be no next wife, I was perfectly happy with the one I was about to get, and then she’d put her hands on her hips and asked me to prove it. And then we made out on her couch until Sadie got home, took one look at us, and snapped us both with elastic hair ties from around her wrist. She seemed to have a never ending supply of those.
Jenny had just laughed.
She was the best person I’d ever known, and better than I deserved. Somehow, she managed to soften Sadie and bring out the best in her. And in return, sometimes Jenny took parts of Sadie’s take-no-prisoners attitude with her when she needed it.
The advice Jenny finally coaxed out of me was that she might want to see if Connecting Hearts would counter her best offer before she left.
And counter they did. They were smart enough to see what they were about to lose. A fearless Jenny Baker was a force for good.
“YOUR MOM,” Nitro squawked, pulling me from my thoughts. He whistled and dropped a few other words I hoped I was hearing incorrectly. Yeah, there was no way Dan’s wife was signing off on this. “Does Kim know about the bird?”
“Not yet.” Dan glanced down at the cage. “But the kids will love him. And it’s only for a few weeks until his new owners drive down to get him. They live in Las Vegas.”
“Even then.”
“But—”
