Page 109 of Nave
“I guess we can let her decide,” I said.
“Sounds like a plan. You just tell me when. I know some people who always seem to know where there are dogs in need of a home.” He paused, watching me, looking uncharacteristically unsure. “So, what do you think? Are you ready for this step, or do you want more time leaving things how they are?”
“Well, I’m not quite ready yet,” I said, watching his face fall for a split second. “But I think I will be in two weeks.”
His smile threatened to split his face.
“Yeah?”
“Definitely.”
“No doors that you can’t unlock. No cameras,” he assured me.
“Well, maybe a camera out front and out back. You know, for safety.”
“That I can do. I have a lot to protect now,” he said, pulling me into his arms and pressing a sweet kiss to my lips.
Epilogue
Nave - 3 weeks
“Loll?” I called, my voice soft so I didn’t startle her as I walked through the darkened house.
We’d moved in the week before.
It hadn’t been a big affair since neither of us actually owned any furniture of our own.
Lolly had drifted dreamily around the space while I carried in our clothes and Edith’s things, along with a few kitchen supplies we’d picked up so we could at least feed ourselves while we waited for the deliveries of our new furniture.
Only half of it had arrived so far: the whole bedroom set, a couch and loveseat in the living room, and an island for the kitchen. But we were waiting for our dining set, all our end tables and dressers, and the rugs and window treatments.
We weren’t in a rush.
It was nice to slowly settle in and make it our own.
“Loll?” I called again as I saw the light on in the nursery. It was another room without furniture, though that was by design. We were waiting to pick anything out until we knew the gender.
When I moved into the doorway, I found her standing there in her fluffy dog-printed robe that Gracie had bought her when she’d found out about her breaking her wrist. She was staring at the wall, looking at the six paint swatches stuck there.
“What are you doing, babe?”
“Well, I figured that we are going to be seeing this room at two a.m. a lot. I wanted to see what they all looked like at this hour.”
“In that case,” I said, moving back out and coming back with the small table lamp we kept in the hallway, then plugging it in. I flicked off the big light and the lamp offered a golden glow without lighting up the whole room. “I think we will be seeing it in this light, since we wouldn’t want to wake the baby all the way up for a feeding or a change.”
I moved in behind her, wrapping my arms around her.
She had the tiniest of swells in her lower stomach, a hint at the bump to come.
“You’re right,” Lolly said, leaning her head back into me. “That changes everything.”
“Which one are you leaning toward?”
“Actually…”
A little laugh escaped me. She’d been full of “actuallys” lately. She claimed it was because it was the first time in years she’d lived in a home where the walls weren’t made of glass. I figured it was because it was the first time she’d ever been given free rein to decorate any way she wanted.
I honestly didn’t have any strong feelings about design, so I was having fun just learning what lit Lolly up. She was particularly fond of the butter yellow color she’d picked out for the kitchen. Each morning when she was getting a cup of decaf coffee, I would find her smiling at the walls.
