Page 304 of Falling Backwards
I absorb how wonderful and familiar he is.The beautiful haven that I’ll never tire of calling mine, that isn’t perfect and yet is perfect for me.
What a gift it is that he feels the same way about me.
As I have plenty of times in the last six months, I remark, “I’m so glad we live together.”
“So am I, Green Eyes.”
I know he means it, but I still ask teasingly, “Yeah?Not sick of me still telling you how to load the dishwasher?”
He teases back, “I’m about as sick of it as you are of me still stealing the blanket during the night.”
That cracks us up.Sure, sometimes we do still annoy each other in those ways and in others, but they’re mainly funny to us now because we’ve grown through them.Grown through so much else.
Gosh….This is happiness.
The not-cold November weather makes no sense.We thoughtwedidn’t make sense a little over a year ago when we decided to become a fake couple with our old resentments looming over us, only to learn in no time at all that, actually, Maggie and Luke being together makes aninsaneamount of sense.
Yeah, we used to believe we had each other, and where we stood with each other, figured out.We believed we’d never give each other a second chance because of what happened with the first one.Then life threw us just enough of a curveball to shake us off our guards, and things started changing.They got better.Gotfixed.Got us solidly on the path to the happy ending we’d realized we truly did want—and deserve.
I can’t wait for us to keep walking this path.
Our server comes out with our celebratory drinks.We order our food, then lift our glasses into a clink.
“To us,” I say cheerfully.
“To us, love,” Luke agrees in kind.Then, before we take a sip, “Hey, how pissed would you be if I startled you into spilling your drink?”
I gasp in a deep and serious,‘You better not,’way, but once again, I end up laughing with him.
—
What’s better than an anniversary involving great sex and an awesome lunch?One that also involves getting to go to the Water Rocks.
Well, really, we’ve already gone to our old favorite place at the lake a handful of times in the last year.A couple of them were too chilly and too hot for us to really enjoy the outing, but today is one of those days that the weather will be just right.We’re glad; it feels particularly wonderful to be celebrating a milestone by spending time there.
As we make our way to the spot, we chat about this and that.Luke’s mom has been seeing a nice man for a few months now and it’s going well, according to her call to Luke last night.Our friends are doing fine: nothing much has changed with Paxton, Emma has gotten her own job promotion—I’m so happy for her because it’s the one she wanted last year and was rather cheated out of—and Joy is having to look for new work because the boutique is closing soon, but she’s in good spirits as usual.And I thank Luke again for encouraging me towards the job I left Lucent for.
It’s kind of amazing how much I’ve loved being in accounting again simply because the company I work for is in the business of helping people.When I found the job listing while dropping off a donation to our local children and youth services office, I was instantly drawn to it, but I was also nervous to apply since I’d been unfulfilled with accounting in the past.But Luke championed me in a heartbeat, and he, my friends, and my parents became adamant that I should go for it.And I’m glad I did.As great as being a hostess at Lucent was, my new job makes me happy on a different level.
“You’re welcome,” he says to my thanks, sending me a smile as he reaches for my hand.“You rock.”
“Yourock, babe.”
And the Water Rocks rock.
We sit on a boulder that’s close enough to the tree line to be shaded.The blue sky is fluffy here and there with white and silvery clouds.The breeze is even more pleasant than it was at Lucent; we hum and comment about it, watching how it moves the surface of the lake across the way.
After a few minutes, I reach into my purse and extract a package.
“Want some after-dessert dessert?”I offer Luke.
His eyes light up at the sight of the gummy worms even though we shared some bananas Foster cheesecake at lunch.“Yes, please!”
While we lazily snack on them, we muse about whether a fish would try to eat a gummy worm if it was in the water.We don’t test it out, obviously—don’t want to potentially hurt an animal, don’t want to throw away a gummy worm—but it’s entertaining to think about.
And thinking about it reminds me of a time shortly after I moved in with Luke.He was at work, so I took a relaxing bath while eating gummy worms, and then the package fell off the side of the tub and into the bubbly water.I remind him of it, too, and we laugh.
“I amstillsad about that!”he says.“And it wasn’t even my candy!I wasn’t eventhere!”
