Page 98 of From Us, Forever

“Guess what?” I gave him a cheeky grin.

His brow rose. “You’re chirpyall of a sudden.”

“Yes, I am.” I set my mug aside and turned toward him, grabbing his hand as I shook him. “Guess!”

His nose scrunched while he shook his head. “No clue,” he said before his eyes widened. “Please don’t tell me you’re pregnant.” Panic clouded his face.

“Jay.” I gave him a hard smack. “I’m on birth control, and yes, as much as I want to have babies, it’s not now.” I paused. “It’s one day—in the future.”

He exhaled, visibly relaxing as he held a hand to his heart. “I don’t think I can handle you being pregnant right now.”

That was weird. I thought he was ready to start a family anytime I wanted. Did he not want that anymore? I let that thought slide, saving it for another day while I shook him harder. “Have you still not guessed?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” he groaned. “Why don’t you just tell me?”

“Well.” I sat up straight, lifting my chin proudly. “You are now looking at author Evelyn May, who finally found an agent to represent her.”

His eyes widened before a beaming smile curved his lips. “You did?”

“Yes.”

“Fucking hell, come here.” He gathered me in his arms, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead. “I’m so fucking proud of you. Congratulations!”

“Thanks.”

“Are you excited?”

“Very.” I nodded, smiling. “I can’t wait to have my book published. But we still need to find a publisher.”

“You will. I know.” His eyes swept over my features. “I can’t wait for all your dreams to come true. You deserve it more than anyone.”

“Thanks,” I said shyly, burying my face in the crook of his neck. “Oh, and something else happened.”

“What?”

“You wouldn’t believe this, but I ran into Liam the other day.”

Lines creased the corners of his eyes. “You mean Marie’s boyfriend from back in the day? You told me he abandoned you.” His eyes narrowed.

I shook my head. “I mean, he did in a way, but I wasn’t his responsibility, Jay. Turned out he was going to propose to her, so he took it a lot harder and lost himself in a way.”

“He still shouldn’t have left you alone,” he grumbled.

“Can’t change the past. It happened. He has a daughter now.” My tone softened even thinking about it, the emotion of it clogged my throat. “He named her Marie.”

“Whoa.” Shock flooded his eyes. “I didn’t expect that.”

“Yeah. It felt like Auntie M was thinking of him anyway,” I said, draping myself back over his chest. Even though they weren’t genetically related, it still felt like a part of her was still living and breathing in this world.

I wasn’t sure what stroked my creativity again, but it was bursting out of me. Maybe it was the fact that I landed an agent or the fact that I was madly in love. I had zero idea, but I welcomed it.

I had already plotted my next story—a brand-new fictional novel that had nothing to do with my own love story. It went through massive plot revisions already as I spent the last couple of days explaining it to Jay while he listened and gave me his input. I even woke him up in the middle of the night like an annoying girlfriend, but my man never complained. I loved sharing my ideas with him. It gave me a sense of satisfaction that I was going the right way.

Now that the plotting was done, I had fully submerged myself in writing it. I probably looked like a freak on steroids, but I didn’t care.

I had officially claimed the library as my writing cave. It was so dark and moody and cozy that it was exactly what I wanted.

“When was the last time you showered?” Jay questioned, watching over me from the threshold.

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