Page 90 of Laugh

Growling playfully, I pluck the dog from her chest, ignoring her pout. “I’ll get behind you,” I tell her.

“Promises. Promises.” She puts her nose up at me and is actually acting like she’s annoyed as I carry him to his bedroom for the night.

“And that’s one promise I’ll have no problems keeping, happy girl,” I call to her over my shoulder. I can hear her movement as she quickly gets up and follows me.

She helps me get him settled into his kennel, setting one of her old t-shirts from the laundry so he’ll be able to sleep with her scent. We both tell him goodnight and I quickly plug in a night light for him, just in case.

Shutting the door, leaving it barely cracked open, we both stand outside the room, waiting to see if he’ll freak out. After a few minutes of listening to his shuffling around, we hear him plop down and let out a loud sigh, but he doesn’t whine.

“I think we got lucky,” I whisper once I lead her to our bedroom and shut the door, leaving it cracked like I did for the dog.

She giggles and just shakes her head.

“Ahh, there it is,” I groan out, tugging her into my arms.

Settling her hands on my chest, her arms pinned between us, she looks up and tilts her head in curiosity. “Therewhatis?”

Leaning down, I stop just before our lips connect and murmur, “There’s my laugh…”

Epilogue

Life is Good

Happy

~ Four years later ~

“Momma B is doing really good, just so you know. We had her and your dad over for dinner the other night because I hadn’t seen them since the wedding.”

I tear the grass in front of me where I’m sitting cross-legged in front of Marcus’s grave. There’s a fine line I dance between visiting him too much and where I sink into a low point emotionally. I don’t know if I’d call it depression, but I think it just makes mereallysad. Or I don’t visit him enough and I’m riddled with guilt.

Beau and I discussed where my happy medium should be. We’ve discovered that when I come by and fill my friend in on my major life events, I feel a sense of peace that he’s getting to share all these things with me.

“Sooo…” I drag out, yanking out another fistful of green blades. “So, obviously, we got married because I’m pretty sure I’ve been talking about it for the last two years. It was a freakingawesomeparty and let me tell you, the honeymoon? Chef’s kiss my friend.” I can’t help the giggle that bursts out of me when I add, “Sure hope you weren’t watching because no friend should ever see their best friend do some of the things I did that week.”

“The hell are you talking about over there?” Beau calls to me. Looking over my shoulder, I spy my husband leaning against our car with his arms crossed, scowling at me.

“None of your damn business, Captain Christopher Arthur Thor!” I shout back at him.

“For Christ’s sake,” he mumbles out.

I turn around a bit more, leaning back on my hands. “Want me to call you Daddy?”

The way he stands up straight and drops his arms to his sides, his irritation with me for grouping all of his names together fades away. “Are you talking about in a purely platonic way because I’m going to be a daddy? Or you asking in a naughty way? Like for the bedroom?”

Tilting my head, I consider his question. “Does it matter?”

“Not really,” he quickly answers.

I bite my lip and nod seriously. “Good to know. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m having a meeting.”

Waving his hand at me, he leans back into his original position to wait for me. “Carry on, happy girl.”

“Thank you,” I say snootily, then turn back to face Marcus’s headstone. “Anyway…” I drag out, then chuckle when I hear Beau sigh.

“So, yeah. That’s my big news for the visit. Totally pregnant. I’m gonna have a baby and holy shit, incubating a fetus is a lot of work. Seriously, my friend, I don’t know why people think this is the greatest thing to be blessed with, because it freaking sucks.”

I turn my eyes down to study the small swell protruding from the lower part of my stomach and run a hand over the bump. “I’m eighteen weeks and four days along. We had an appointment this morning to find out if it was a boy or girl. I really wanted to tell you first because, well… you’re my best friend.”

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