Page 52 of A Future in the Bay

“I’ll help you,” he said.

“Would you? I want to sew these little black sequins along the edges here. You want to start on some of those?”

“Absolutely. Hand me that black thread?”

For a few minutes, they worked in companionable silence, and then she caught him looking at her with a sweet smile on his face.

“What?” she prompted, laughing a little.

“This,” he said. “You. You’re such a good mom to be doing this. A lot of brides wouldn’t be able to focus on anything besides their wedding the week before.”

She cleared her throat, feeling touched by his words.

“I care about our wedding very much, and I’m so glad we decided to do a bigger wedding instead of a courthouse wedding, but at the end of the day, the thing that matters most to me is my family. In the long run, I care more about Pearl having this costume for her presentation than I do about all the details of our wedding being perfect. Because even if there are some small snafus on the day we get married, it won’t really matter, because at the end of the day I’ll be married to you. That’s enough. That’s all that really matters, so I don’t need to stress about the small stuff.”

He gazed at her, a grin cutting across his handsome face as adoration glinted in his eyes.

“This stuff,” she said, gesturing to the craft supplies lying around her, and to his hands as he stitched along the edge of the costume. “This is what I’m really looking forward to. Every day, for the rest of my life. Us having a life together, and all of the little moments that come with that.”

He swallowed, and there seemed to be something gleaming in his eyes.

“What?” she asked, tucking her hair behind her ear and suddenly feeling a little self-conscious, he was staring at her so hard.

“I just fell more in love with you,” he said, and then laughed breathlessly.

“Oh, sweetheart!” Her heart felt a rush of happiness. It made her love him even more, knowing that he valued her words so much. It meant that he was looking forward to those parts of their marriage as well. “I love you so much.”

“I can’t wait to marry you,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I can’t wait for all those little moments.”

He leaned forward and kissed her again, and she knew she couldn’t wait to marry him either.

Gwen walked down the hallway of Little Clams Elementary School, feeling a thrill of pride. Her muscles ached with tiredness, and there were speckles of colorful paint all up her arms, but her heart felt full.

It was the day before the big Kids’ Fest event at the school, and she and Isaiah had been there together all day, makingfinishing touches on all of the renovations to ensure that everything was perfect.

At the moment, she wasn’t sure where he was, but she was taking one last walk through the elementary school, looking at all of the rooms they’d renovated. It was partly to make sure there weren’t any tasks that they’d missed, but it was mainly because she wanted to take a look at all of their hard work and enjoy how good it looked. Each of the classrooms they’d worked on had been transformed from something functional into something spectacular.

She stepped inside one classroom that she was particularly proud of. That room they had painted with all kinds of colors—red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and purple. Each of the walls was painted with thick stripes of the various colors, and the plan was for teachers to be able to use the stripes as a teaching tool. Olivia had come up with all kinds of ideas for how to use the stripes for learning activities, such as organizing words into categories or arranging events onto a timeline. Gwen smiled at how beautiful the walls looked—the room was like a garden of colors. It didn’t feel like too much, at least not for a children’s classroom—the variety added a sense of energy and excitement to the room that she knew would make the kids eager to learn.

In addition to the colorful walls, that room had some of the new furniture that Isaiah had built, along with one of the new reading nooks. Isaiah had built small lofts in some of the classrooms—structures that were essentially indoor treehouses—and they’d filled them with pillows and crates of books. Those were one of her favorite new additions to the school, and she knew the kids would be absolutely thrilled about them.

She paused by the window, which offered her a fantastic view of the new playground that Isaiah had built. It looked fantastic—colorful and fun, with plenty of structures that would encourage the kids to get exercise while playing games with their friends.

She stood there looking at it for a while, thinking about the man she was starting to date and feeling a surge of admiration for him. When she finally turned around, she jumped a little. Isaiah was standing in the doorway to the classroom, smiling at her. She wasn’t sure how long he’d been there, but he had a look in his eyes like he’d been staring at something.

“What are you looking at?” she asked, smiling at him. “The room looks great, doesn’t it?”

“The room does look great,” he said, smiling and coming toward her. “But I was looking at you.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling herself flush a little. She didn’t know what to say in response.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said. “Not only intelligent, but beautiful. I’m so lucky I get to date you.”

“Beautiful, huh?” she asked, smiling up at him. “Not too inflexible and difficult to be around?”

He leaned forward and kissed her. “Not at all. I like even the most stubborn parts of you.”

She laughed, feeling butterflies of happiness flap around in her chest. As they stepped away from the kiss, she noticed a large brown paper bag in his left hand.

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