Page 57 of The Next Of Us
“You want to let me in on your dreams?”
“Beach Buns is for sale.”
His eyebrows near shot off his face.“Beach Buns?”
I nodded, my smile widening.“It’s perfect for me.Ticks all my boxes.And they’re not asking a mint for it.”
He grinned at me and teased, “You’re not angling for a return trip to Paris to learn the art of artisan bread-making, are you?”
I rolled my eyes.
He brushed my hair back from my face.His smile faded, exquisite tenderness warming his gaze.“I’d do it for you, you know.”
“I know you would,” I whispered.
Curling his palm around the back of my neck, he pulled me down and pressed his mouth to mine.
My eyes bright with tears, I sniffled.“Sealed with a kiss.”
Laughing, he pushed me up off him and snagged his mug off the coffee table.
Holding it aloft, he said, “A toast.”
“What are we toasting?”Without breaking his gaze, I reached for mine.
His hazel eyes danced.
Drew me into this new adventure as they had from the first day I met him.
Dared me to take his hand.
I smiled and held my mug up to his.
He smiled.
“The next of us.”
22
Epilogue
Nadine:TwoYearsLater
I left the house at 5:00 AM.It had taken a solid six months for me to get used to the new schedule.Now?I couldn’t sleep past six if I tried.
And I had tried.Much to Aaron’s amazement, I was suddenly a morning person.But I wasn’t above an afternoon nap after I closed.
The new house, new to us at least, was half the size of the one in which we raised our children.It still had three bedrooms and boasted a backyard just big enough for a swing set and a kiddie pool, neither of which were needed but we had hope.
Aaron vetoed the condo in short order.He needed space for all his gear.The first and only addition he made to our new home was a large shed in the back to house his snowmobile, skis, snowshoes, kayak, and all the rest of the summer sports paraphernalia he hoarded.
For now, Aaron was bent and determined to get a dog.So far, I’d managed to hold him off as I had significant travel plans.But he might get his wish sooner rather than later because when I mentioned it to Wren, she was all in to take the puppy when we traveled.
The one and only dog she’d ever had was Brooklyn, Audrey’s autism service dog.Losing Brooklyn damn near broke her.Max swore there’d be no more dogs, he couldn’t stand to see her so upset.
She positively giggled when I asked if she could babysit and swore me to secrecy.
Aaron’s schedule was a little more chaotic than mine, but it worked for him, freed him, even.By the time I woke up from my afternoon nap, he was rumbling through the door smelling like sunshine and sweat and testosterone.
