Page 154 of Chosen Road

Laughter reigned, and I assured Alex, much to my husband’s relief, that I was not pregnant. After watching me give birth to Alex, he was not on board with having any more children.

They stayed later than usual, and by the time they left, both Alex and Yiayia were ready to drop. Shortly after they went to bed, Gus and I slipped between our cool sheets, his body heating the space between us as I rested in his shadow.

“Hi.” I smiled at my husband as I slipped into our bed, and he rolled toward me.

He placed his hand in the space between us, bumped his knees up against mine, and smiled. “Hi.”

Placing my hand over his, I admitted, “This is my favorite part of the day.”

His face softened. “Me, too.”

“Tell me something good,” I said.

“Caden got his broker license and is looking for investment opportunities. He wants me to be his primary realtor. He’s also looking for a partner and asked if we’d be interested.”

My eyebrows arced. “Wow… What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to consider it. We’ll talk about it.” He grinned. “Probably a lot.”

“Tell me something bad,” I prodded.

He thought for a moment. “I’ve got nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

He pulled his hand out and covered mine. “Tell me something good.”

I took a deep breath. “I found a training program targeted toward treating abandonment issues in teens and adults.”

“That’s good, honey. What’s required?”

“A lot of it is online, but there are a few weekend seminars that are mandatory, as well as one week-long intensive.”

“You know I’ll support you however you need. I can even take a few days off and come up with you for part of it if you like. Depending on where it is, Alex and I can have a boys’ vacay while you learn and study.”

The tension I hadn’t noticed in my chest uncoiled. “That would be good.” I took a deep breath. “But I might want to try to do it on my own. At least part of it.”

“Whatever you need,” he assured me, then gave my hand a squeeze. “Tell me something bad.”

I twisted my lips to the side, then huffed out an embarrassed breath. “My plant died.”

His eyes bugged out. “Amber! It was a fucking cactus!”

I laughed and rolled away from him, but he hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me under, caging his big body over mine.

Gus

So, this is happiness.

I slipped my knee between hers and drew it up between her legs, opening her thighs.

Knowing who I am, and the certainty that I am exactly what she needs.

She spread her thighs to make room for my hips and hooked her ankles over the backs of my legs.

I grinned down into my wife’s laughing face. At this moment, no hint of misgiving shadowed the gold in her eyes. It wouldn’t always be like this. It wasn’t even commonplace yet, but these moments happened more and more often.

This is my good thing.

She looped her arms around my neck and smiled up at me.

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