Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
I turned to Scottie. “Buddy, what do you think about Carly staying with us permanently? The three of us living together again…but for good this time?”
His response was to jump up from his seat, come over to us, and press the bath icon again on his device.
I patted him on the back. “Well played, my man. Your escape plan not only got you back where you belong, but it finally knocked some sense into me. I have to thank you for getting us back here.”
I planted a kiss on my woman’s lips and said, “I know Brad will always be the love of your life… But I hope you have room for a second.”
Carly wrapped one arm around me and the other around Scottie. “I have room for three.”
EPILOGUE
* * *
CARLY
ONE YEAR LATER
AN INTERESTING ENVELOPE had caught my eye when I’d run out to check the mailbox.
It was from The Trappist Monks of St. Francis and addressed to Josh. Too curious, I ripped it open, and sure enough, inside was one of the A Thank You from the Trappist Monks of St. Francis notepads.
Huh. Interesting.
Speaking of Josh, he’d been out for a very long time this afternoon, and I was anxious for him to come home. He’d said he had some errands to run, but he’d been gone for a couple of hours.
Scottie and I, on the other hand, were having a lazy day in. I sat next to him on the couch as he scrolled through the photos in the album of his iPad. I covered my mouth when he came to some more candid images of a naked Josh in the bathroom. Not only that, he’d decided to put the Andy Warhol filter over them this time.
I immediately took out my phone.
Carly: Your cock has now been immortalized with the Andy Warhol filter.
Josh: Surprised it took this long.
Carly: Should we sell them? ;-)
Josh: I’m thinking we erase them.
Carly: On it! Are you on your way back?
Josh: I just have a few things to take care of. I should be home soon. Why? Are you needing something?
Carly: I’m always needing something from you. ;-) But no, I’m in no rush.
Josh: I’ll be back soon, babe.
“Let me see that for a moment, Scottie.” I reached for his device and began erasing all the photos of Josh’s Warhol-ed dick before they got into the wrong hands. Thankfully, Scottie just switched over to another tablet.
After the problematic pics were gone, I looked through some of his other photos. Scottie took the most bizarre screenshots and had recorded some strange videos. Many of them were simply videos of other videos on his tablets. His favorite thing by far, though, was to take photos of himself or Josh and place filters over them. Thankfully, most of them were G-rated.
I noticed a batch of videos taken during his bedtime routine with Josh, too. Josh read to him a lot in the evenings, and often they would have funny one-sided conversations, man to man. I would peek in sometimes, and it was the most adorable thing. Josh talked to Scottie as if he were going to get a response. He would open up to him about things that might’ve been bothering him and ask Scottie questions. Sometimes, Scottie would make brief eye contact with him.
Stealthy as ever, Scottie had apparently recorded some of these conversations. I pressed play on one such video. I could just see the side of Josh’s body as he spoke to Scottie. Something he said in the middle of their talk caused me to freeze.
“Can I tell you a secret, Scottie? I have a big surprise for Carly on Saturday. She’s not gonna see it coming, and I absolutely can’t wait. You can keep secrets, right? What am I saying? You’re the best freaking secret keeper in the world. That’s one of the things I love about you. I can tell you anything, and I know no one is going to find out.”
Pausing it, I looked at the date of the video; it had been recorded three days ago. That meant the Saturday he was referring to was today. I immediately closed it without listening to anything else because I didn’t want to spoil his surprise. Josh was cooking something up. My mind raced to guess what the surprise might be, trying not to go to the place my heart wanted to.
Is it possible he’s going to ask me to marry him?
Josh and I had spoken about getting married over the past year. But we’d also agreed we didn’t need that formality to validate our relationship. Josh had never seemed particularly set on it, so we’d never come to a firm conclusion.
But a part of me always sort of hoped he’d ask me anyway, even if I didn’t need a piece of paper to feel satisfied. I had everything I needed already. Josh, Scottie, and I had made a true life together here in Woodsboro. Josh continued to work remotely, and he just traveled occasionally to Chicago. And I’d started my own traveling special-event makeup business, servicing most of New Hampshire and other parts of New England. We were also making plans to put an addition on the house so we’d have more space.