Page 129 of The Wrong Side Of Us

I shoved him with my hand, and he chuckled. My drawing of whatever five-legged creature was on display in his studio as one of the masterpieces. He was fucking proud of it or simply enjoyed my torture. Either way, he wouldn’t let me take it down, and the one time I had, he chased me down until I gave it back.

“C’mon, I have something to show you.”

“Fine,” he agreed. “But when we’re done. We’re coming back upstairs and—”

“And you’ll give me my gift,” I interrupted. “I’ll make sure of it.”

He carried me downstairs, careful to not fall. It had been a few months since we bought the house, and he had a room downstairs as a studio. He opened the door to it, the smell of paint invading my senses.

I hope it’s dried by now.

“So what’s the surprise?” Nathan asked, leaning back on his desk, arms crossing over his chest.

I went to the back of the studio, looking at my masterpiece. I picked up the drawings and the frame behind them, holding them tight against my chest. The excitement I felt intensified by the second, and I took a deep breath, trying to steady my heart. The drawings looked like a child drew them, but I knew Nathan would love them.

“I know I’m not much of an artist, but I wanted to give you a little surprise.”

He smiled warmly. “It’s your birthday, baby. You didn’t need to do anything for me.”

“I know, but I wanted to. You deserve it.”

I handed him the first drawing, and he snickered, shaking his head as he chuckled quietly. “Stick figures, Evie?”

I shrugged, laughing also at the drawing. It was a stick figure couple, painted a simply as I could. The only reason he could tell it was us was because I made sure that the curly hair on the girl was noticeable and the guy had gray eyes…and I made sure to write our names.

“This is great.” He grinned; I could tell he meant it.

Giddy, I handed him the next painting. His gaze filled with love when he saw the drawing, this time there was a house behind us, symbolizing our new home and our little Lily standing with us. “Beautiful.”

I knew then that this was the perfect way to tell him.

“It’s like a timeline of our relationship, isn’t it?” he asked, his loving eyes meeting mine. He pressed a kiss at the tip of my nose. “It’s lovely, Evie. Thank you.”

“I’m not done yet,” I said, holding up the next drawing.

He furrowed his eyebrows when he saw the same stick figures drawn but this time with a little four-legged friend next to it.

“Is this…is that a dog? Why is there a dog next to us? We don’t have a dog.”

I ran a finger down his chest, grinning. “Remember last week, when I was kind of…moody?”

“Yeah, PMSing?”

Right. “Well, after work, I was still feeling quite sad, so I went to the shelter before I picked up Lily from your parents and, well, I found a cute little doggy that you would absolutely love!” I squealed.

Nathan’s eyes widened. “You got a dog? Without telling me?”

“No.” I grinned. “But I’m very tempted to do so.”

He reached up, pinching my cheek softly. “You are insane.”

“You ready for the next one?” I asked.

He nodded, and I waited patiently for his reaction, his eyes roaming the paper carefully until they fell on the little figure standing between Lily and the pup.

“That looks like a small child.” His forehead creased in confusion as he tried to understand what it meant.

Finally, I handed him the picture frame.

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