Page 81 of Dream with Me

He unfolds another. This one has my handwriting. “Chase. Reasons why I want you to come home now. Then there’s a bunch of crayon scribbles.” We both chuckle, and then Troy’s face turns serious for a second. “What is this, Shan? What does it mean?”

I lean over and kiss him on the cheek. “Keep reading.” I rest my head on his shoulder and snuggle closer.

The next sheet of paper has a lot more words on it. “Chelsea. Reasons why I want you to come home now: Because I want you to sit in my reading nook and read with me more. I don’t want you to be at your house alone. You and Mommy make heart eyes, so I know you love each other. You don’t burn pancakes,”—he pauses and looks at me. I roll my eyes—“You’re the best dad in the world, and I love you even more than—” He stops, clearly overcome with emotion. He wipes at the side of his face with the back of his hand. “I love you even more than all my books. I want to wake you up instead of Owlie when I need water at night. You’re not grumpy. P.S. Plus, Scrappy misses your socks.” We both chuckle at the last part.

“More than all her books? That’s saying something. Two more,” I whisper. I rest my head on his shoulder.

He unfolds what I know will be Oliver’s since mine is at the bottom. “Oliver. Reasons why I want you to come home now: There are too many girls here. When you come home, there’ll be four men (counting Scrappy), and only three of them. I want to spend more time in our shop together. I love you, and I miss you. I don’t wake up at night when you’re here and so I’m less crabby in the mornings (I get that from Mom).”

“What the hell? These kids are getting nothing for Christmas.”

Troy smiles and looks back at the paper. “You’re... you’re my—” He clears his throat and tilts his head up, looking at the porch ceiling and taking a moment. Then, he prepares to continue reading. “You’re my best friend. Also, girls are gross, so I’ll probably never get married. But in case I do, then the girl will probably want to get kids like you and Mom did. So, I need you to teach me how to be a good dad like you are. Just in case.”

We take a minute, and he wipes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and then picks up the final piece of paper. Tears now stream down my face as well.

“Shannon. Reasons why I want you to come home now: I miss you more every day that we’re apart; I have since the first night you moved out. I love you with every fiber of my being. This isn’t a home without you here. We need you here. I never want to miss a moment of you playing with our kids, casually chatting with them over a breakfast you made, or holding one of them. When you’re not working, I want you lying next to me every night as we drift off to sleep. I want our nightly calls when you’re at the station. I want to meet you for drinks in our kitchen when we get a little time we didn’t anticipate. I’m my best self when you’re around. You, us, our family... that’s my dream. And if our dreams change over time, I want it to be because we dreamed them together. I want you to dream with me forever. Please come home. Come home and dream with me.”

Troy carefully folds each piece of paper and places them in the box, then secures the lid. He scoops me onto his lap and holds me close. We say nothing, clinging to each other.

“I’ve found the perfect use for the box. We’ll store our reasons for always fighting for us in there and when we need a reminder, we can read them again. We can add to them, too. So... what do you say? Will you come home?”

Troy pulls back and looks into my eyes. “I love you so damn much. I love those kids more than I can even express.” He cups the side of my face. “Yes, I want to come home.”

I lean in and kiss him, and our hot tears mix together as they run down our faces.

“You ready to go inside?”

“Yes. One second, though,” I say. I pull out my phone and shoot a simple text to Shyley, shielding my phone from him.

Me: Tell them he said yes!

When I look back at Troy, he’s looking at me like I’m losing my mind. Then, elated cheers and the honking sound of noisemakers—because, yes, my crazy sister brought noisemakers for the kids—can be heard coming from our house.

At first, Troy looks at his watch, noting it’s ten p.m., and shakes his head in confusion. “What the—” He stops himself as understanding spreads across his face. “You texted your sister and told them?”

I grin. “I did. Now let’s go celebrate with our kiddos.” I slide off his lap, and he stands. When we get to the door, I stop and look at him.

“Welcome home, Troy.”

CHAPTER42

SHANNON

“All I’m asking is that you think about it.” I grin while I pour myself—and my husband—a cup of coffee and listen to Lincoln try to convince the group of men to get on board with his latest crazy idea. “There’s seven of us. We divide the rent by all of us and it’s very manageable. We could have a poker table in one room, clear all the furniture out of the living room, and get one of those yard-sized Yahtzee games to play in there...”

I walk over and silently slide the cup of coffee in front of Troy. He looks up, gives me a quick kiss, then returns to the conversation, and I go back to my perch at the island to watch the rest of the show. Shyley and Tillie have joined me now.

Our whole family and some friends—Tillie, Lizzy, Emily, and Fitz—are here for a surprise party that Troy and Tillie planned to celebrate my passing all four of my CPA tests on the first try and the official start of Tillie and my small business. My parents graciously lent their home since ours would have been too small to fit everyone.

“What’s going on there?” Shyley asks, gesturing with her head toward the men. Gathered around my parents’ large kitchen table are Troy, my dad, Lincoln, Ben, Jack, Finn, and our friend and Emily’s partner, Fitz. To their credit, the men listen intently to Lincoln’s impassioned plea as if they would even entertain his crazy idea. They wouldn’t... well, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t.

“Your husband’s a lunatic,” I tell her. “That’s what’s going on. Just listen.”

I watch my hot husband. God, I love the man. I’m sobered whenever it strikes me how close we came to losing this—us,ourdream. Troy grins at Lincoln’s energy.

“Lincoln, I love you, brother, but we are not keeping the house I lived in when I was apart from my family to use as a giant man cave.”

“Not even for the last two months of the lease?” Lincoln tries to negotiate.

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