Page 89 of Quietly Falling
“You’re sure?” I ask, unable to keep the smile from my face.
“Completely.”
“And then what?”
“And then I marry you,” he says, brushing the hair back from my face, “and we have a bunch of kids and dogs and we visit your family so our kids can grow up with their cousins like you did. We give them the things you had, the things I never dared to wish for, and we do it until we’re old and gray so I can love you until my last breath.”
“Yes,” I whisper through the tears streaming down my face because what other response is there? “Yes, to a lifetime with you, Bodhi Maxwell.”
“And all the days after.”
Easter Egg Hunt to Take Place on Greene Farm!
By Arden James
A massive egg hunt is in the works and it’s one event you won’t want to miss! Once you’ve collected your fill, make sure you stop by and see the animals, shop the local vendors, and grab a bite to eat from Boots on Bar and Grill…
“You look happy,”Rhea says, a twinkle in her eye as I nearly float around the bakery the following Monday.
“I am. And not justthishappy,” I tell her gesturing around the Poppy Seed because this place has always made me happy, “all of ithappy,” I tell her as I place the paper back on the counter. Bodhi and I had stuffed almost five hundred eggs for the hunt, the bags taking up part of Holland’s room, but there would be a couple thousand by the time the event happened.
“The fruit basket was unnecessary,” she says with a wry grin, but I lift a shoulder and let it drop, mimicking her expression. We’d been a little loopy filling out the order online.
“You guys made it happen.”
“You just needed a little push and really, it worked out better than we could have imagined.”
“Hence the fruit basket.”
“Fine. What’s next for you two?”
“We put an offer on the house we saw yesterday.”
“That’s amazing!” She beams, moving around the counter to wrap me in a hug.
“You don’t think it’s too soon?”
“I think that life is too short to do things in the order society deems appropriate.”
“And?”
“And I can’t think of two people more deserving of love and happiness than you two. It’s okay to jump in with both feet into something you never saw coming.”
“That’s exactly what it is.” I nod, acutely aware that Bodhi is my wildcard, the guy I secretly wanted but never thought I’d have.
The one that had changed my life in a single weekend.
“I told you; the quiet ones are worth it.”
Actions speak louder than words.
Rhea was right, her words from before the trip coming back to me in a flash.
“He’s everything.” I laugh when she does a little dance and hugs me again, and it feels sogoodto celebrate this new chapter with her. My boss and friend—the woman who’d also become my family after all these years. “And I think it’s fair to say you have like a million babysitting nights to cash in on.”
“We’ll wait for you to get settled.” She winks as the oven dings and we’re pulled back to reality, one that’s somehow better every time I turn around.
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