Page 140 of Waiting for Acceptance
“I thought you were already in love with me. I didn’t know the violence is what did it for you.” He slaps Shane’s ass and she pretends to be mad, swatting his hand away with a grin on her face.
“Has anyone herenotassaulted someone for their wife?” I ask and everyone laughs.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Sawyer says, making Leah roll her eyes at him as she wraps her arms around his waist.
Leah roll her eyes at him as she wraps her arms around his waist.
Ruby appears from the bathroom with a box in her hands. “Tank kind of takes the cake when it comes to wife-related violence?—”
“Please reword that.” Tank cuts her off, and she corrects herself.
“When it comes to violenceon behalf ofhis wife.”
“Thank you.”
Ruby waves the Sharpie she’s been marking boxes with around and continues, “I thought for sure we were covering up a murder the night he hunted down my ex at the trashy motel one town over.” My eyebrows bounce to my hairline.
“He was an abusive piece of shit that was low-key stalking me for like a year. Then he showed up at work and put his hands on me.” How the fuck does she say that so casually?
“Jesus. I’d hate to be that guy,” I mumble, stacking a few more boxes by the door.
“But look at us now, all happily married, or engaged, to men who would quite literally burn down the world for us, withfriends who are more like family, and an army of babies in the making.” Shane smiles and rubs her stomach at Leah’s words. “Speaking of which…” Leah pulls a piece of paper from her back pocket and the whole room gasps. “We’re adding another one to the baby gang.”
“SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!”
“OH MY GOSH THAT’S AMAZING.”
“Thanks! We just found out for sure yesterday.” Sawyer kisses Leah’s forehead and she smiles up at him.
“Can wepleaseget a dog? I feel left out, dammit.” Tucker’s response has the whole room laughing.
“Congratulations you guys!” Lauren runs over and hugs them both, and I follow to do the same. “You better call me as soon as you feel the slightest contraction so I don’t miss this baby’s birth. You know how I feel about birthdays.” Lauren holds Leah’s stomach, even though she isn’t showing yet. It takes a while to get back to packing, but once Lauren turns the volume up on her music, the whole house gets moving, and within two hours, everything is ready to go to New York or the thrift store. The girls all took turns taking things from the donation boxes, filling bags for themselves of Lauren’s stuff. It’s literally like she has four sisters.
When the house is completely packed we all stand in the kitchen, looking at the empty space while the girls sniffle and fight back their tears.
“One last trip to Spur’s?” Lauren asks.
“Fuck, yes. I’m starving.” Max agrees, immediately. Grabbing Cece from where she’s playing with her blocks on the floor. “I’ll be in the car.” Shane shakes her head, laughing as she grabs the diaper bag from the counter.
“We’ll get a table, apparently. See you guys there.” Everyone gathers their stuff, leaving Lauren and I standing alone in the quiet house. Today was such a fun day, and I do hate that wewon’t get to have days or nights like this regularly with them. But I know as soon as we’re all together again, it’ll be like no time has passed. These aren’t the kind of friends you lose that type of connection with.
“Still sure you want to do this?” I ask, praying she hasn’t changed her mind.
She rests her head on my shoulder. “I’ll always be sure about my life with you, Vince. I’ll miss my friends, but I’ll be fine as long as I have you.” She looks up at me and I take her face in my hands, kissing her softly.
“For as long as you’ll have me, I’m yours, Trouble.”
EPILOGUE
LAUREN
ONE YEAR LATER
I’ve been awake, running my fingers through Fitz’s dark hair, for almost an hour. Staring at my engagement ring as I take in the fact that we’re getting married tomorrow. I know everyone is going to be getting here soon to get ready for bachelorette night, but I’m trying to savor this quiet moment with my future husband while I can. We’ve spent the last year adjusting to our new life in New York, and while I spent the first two months being emotionally unstable at times over being so far away from my friends, Fitz never stopped being the supportive man I fell in love with. I’ve absolutely loved seeing him run the ranch and learning my new role at The Fitzgerald Firm has been just the career change I needed. I quickly noticed that Frank is more like a dad to Fitz than his real father ever has been, and it’s been an honor to work so closely with him this past year. I’ll miss him when he leaves, but luckily he’s assured us he’ll never be too far.
“Please don’t ever stop. This feels so good.” I smile as Fitz wraps his arms tighter around my waist.
“Well, you’ve always spoiled me with foot rubs and played with my hair to put me to sleep, I thought you should know how good it feels.” I kiss the top of his head and he finally sits up, cupping my face and taking my lips in his.
