Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
And we sleep.
Starla exits the shower three days after Roja’s demise and ties her robe around her waist.
“Don’t tie it that tight,” I mutter. “Only gonna take it off.”
She grins at me. “Alright, Timeo. I’m ready.” She nods.
“Ready?”
“To leave. To go back to see Eden and Sergio and my dogs.” She sits on the edge of the bed. “To go back to normal life again.”
“Yep. But first, I have a surprise for you.”
I pull up the picture of the house. It’s small but adorable with two rocking chairs on a wraparound porch, a clothesline in the back, and a wooden swing set.
“Oh that’s beautiful.”
“And it’s ours.”
She stares, her mouth agape.
“I was nervous about you going back to the apartment…and I want a place big enough for all of us. It’s south of Boston, on the South Shore and not far from the ocean. There’s a private beach in the back and—”
“I love it. Oh it’s so us.”
She’s still flipping through pictures of the house when I reach for a small box on the bedside table and hand it to her.
“What’s this?” she asks in a whisper.
I get on one knee. “You weren’t going to live in sin in that house, were you?”
She groans. “Too soon. Too soon to make jokes like that for crying out loud. My God! But no.” Her eyes shining, she curls her fingers in a “gimme” gesture. “Well?”
I grin at her. “Marry me, Starla. I love you. I want to marry you as soon as we can and start the rest of our lives together.” My throat gets strangely tingly in an unfamiliar way. I go on, my voice husky. “You’re my best friend and I want to spend forever with you.”
“Yes,” she breathes, nodding her head. Her eyes shine like stars in the night sky, twinkling and bright. “Yes. And we’ll live in this house where I’ll record my videos—”
She waits for me to respond but I only narrow my eyes at her.
“Kidding. This is the final post,” she says. “It’s…somehow lost its appeal now.”
I slide the ring onto her finger. She takes a short video and narrates it.
“He came back to me, my friends. And we decided that we’re making happily ever after our reality. I’m taking a short break and returning with new content shortly. But in the meantime, friends, hold onto your dreams and remember: happiness is only a heartbeat away.”
“Aww,” I say, as she posts her last video and powers down her phone. “No wedding shots?”
“Wedding shots?” she asks, as if I just asked her to take her vows while doing a headstand. “Nope. I say we skip the big wedding. We come back to Boston already married after we find an Elvis in a white suit in Vegas or something.”
“You want to elope?”
“Oh fuck yes,” she says, flinging her arms out. “I do not want anything big and exciting and loud.” She sighs. I gather her in my arms and hold her close. “All I want is you, Timeo. All I’ve ever wanted was you. Let’s…keep one more secret for a little while?”
I kiss her full on the lips and bend her backward until she squeals. “One more secret. Our secret.”
EPILOGUE
Starla
“I just wish the dogs were here.”
I had full visions of my pups wearing bows and carrying our rings to us at the altar, but the logistics of taking two golden retrievers from Boston to the West Coast was a bit much.”
“Well, I got them presents.”
I grin. “You did?”
“Yup. Two one-way tickets to Obedience school,” he says, his eyes twinkling at me in the mirror as he adjusts his tie.
“Timeo!”
He grins. “I got them chips for tracking and high end collars that will keep them near us. I don’t ever want anyone using them as leverage against us again.
“Oh, I love that.”
Timeo will be a good daddy. We’re not ready to go there yet, but we both want to and will when the time is right.
I would love a wedding reception that included my dogs. Anyone that wouldn’t might not understand what it's like to be unconditionally loved by a furball who licks your face as if you are a walking deity when you walk in the door. I love my girls, and when I finally got them back, I spent a few days doing nothing but cuddling, kissing them, taking them for long walks, and lavishing them with treats. They were no worse for the wear, thankfully. It's strange thing that people will hurt others, it takes special kind of person to hurt an animal.
We left my pups happily content with Eden and Sergio, and their growing brood of children. They get all the attention they want, and we get to tie the knot.
I suspect Eden knew something was up when we announced our trip to Vegas and took no one but one guard, Mercedes. But they left it alone.