Page 90 of Cocky Choices: Zoe Cocker

He gives me that lopsided smile I happily married, “Kinda but not literally,” then focuses on the paper, reading, “Today I met Zoe Cocker and everything in life began to make sense.” I gasp, and he pauses before continuing, “She has the most beautiful green eyes. They make me feel peaceful when she looks at me. And when she doesn’t, I want her to again. Her smile? Did I mention her smile? My heart stopped beating when I saw her kind smile for the very first time this afternoon and I can think of nothing else, since. The crazy thing is I knew it in an instant what I can’t tell her yet, but will one day — that she is my other half. I will marry Zoe Cocker. And I will read this book to her, a catalogue of all of the times she took my breath away.” Tom looks at me.

I reach out and he lets me take the book. In shock I thumb through pages and pages of love, reading a handful of dated passages:

My beautiful Zoe made an irate customer laugh this afternoon. Mood changed completely just by her sense of humor. She called herself floaty-headed, which was funny because she grounds me.

Amelia got the day off tonight because a date stood her up and hurt her feelings, and Zoe acted as if granting a day off was normal for a boss to do under these circumstances.

Zoe dropped a pen and when I retrieved it for her, she blushed, prettier than any flower she’s ever sold. The T-Shirt she wore was paper thin and I could see how I’d made her feel.

I signed up for college today to be a man who deserves her, who has something to offer, who can afford to carry his weight and then some.

Today, Zoe said she wants to see Rome someday. As soon as I left, I sat in my Jeep, found a savings account online with the highest APR and opened it with Explore The World as the nickname. Let’s see how much I get in there for us!

He takes the book. “You can read them all later.”

To have beenseenfor so long, and loved like he has secretly loved me, moves me to tears. I blink up and whisper. “Tom…”

He pulls me onto his lap. “Rome after Bali?”

I laugh, my shock released through his humor. “You really saved that much?”

“Well, with your parents paying for the honeymoon… since our wedding reception was held at your family’s house.”

I correct him with love in my voice, “Ourfamily’s house.”

He smiles. “No one had to pay for a band. Food was all potluck.”

I laugh, “Flowers were on the bride.”

“And groom,” he corrects me. “We’re partners now. That means your folks just covered chair rentals and as you know, insisted we give them Bali to pay for because of this.”

“True. So…”

“There are more positions than the one we did.”

“You’re not going to tell me about Rome?”

Ralphie jumps down and prances to the sofa as Tom growls, “How ‘bout we try you on top.” He kisses my throat. “Rome wecould do if we were tight about it. Or we go to Bali, save for one more year, then do Rome. We’d have a lot left over, and could roll that over into a trip for the third year.”

My eyes go wide. “A trip every year?”

“Would you regret the memories?”

I breathe, “Never... but what if we have kids?”

Tom kisses my neck, grabs my hips, “Pretty sure you have a million babysitters who’d happily take over.”

“Wehave a million babysitters…the Cockers are your family now, too.”

“You’ll find that in my journal toward the end —Zoe has the best family.”

I cup his face in my hands, “You know what Zoe has?”

He smirks, “What?”

“Zoe has the best husband.”

He stands up, “Let me show you what the best feels like,” holding me on him, wrapped and happily ever after, his.

The End.

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