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Sure enough, when I get there, he’s not home yet. I sit down on his front step and wait, looking up at the clouds and watching them slowly drift by. After about ten minutes, I hear a car approach, and when I look down from the sky, he’s coming up the driveway.
Henry gets out of his car with a big bouquet of roses in hand. I stand up and give him a curious smile as he strides up to me.
“Hot date tonight?” I ask.
“The hottest,” he says and holds out the flowers to me. “These are for you. I was just at Janie’s, hoping to catch you, but she told me you left a few minutes before I got there. How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. It’s sad, knowing I won’t see Aria every day, but it’s good that I’m not needed anymore.” I dip my nose into the bouquet and take in a deep breath of their sweet fragrance. “Thank you for the roses, Henry.”
“You’re welcome.” He studies me, his eyes dark and focused. “Will you move back in, Celeste?”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
My heart is beating wildly. Out of nervousness, I laugh. “Why? Do you need a nanny again?”
“I needyou, Celeste.”
Now my heart is really going crazy.
“I’m in love with you,” he goes on. “Fully head over heels in love with you. I have been for a long time. I want to marry you, have kids with you, grow old with you. It’s all I want to do. Maybe I shouldn’t say all that, maybe it’s too much to say—but fuck it, I need you to know.”
I have no words. All I can do is close the remaining space between us and kiss him, kiss him,kiss him.
8
HENRY
FIVE YEARS LATER
Ihear the music playing as soon as I walk through my front door. Upbeat, cheerful, and voluminous. With a laugh, I set down my things and walk into the living room to find my wife and my daughter dancing together.
“Is this what you two do all day long?” I scoff, sweeping Annalise up into my arms to swing her around.
Annalise squeals. “Daddy!”
“Hi, sweetheart.” I plant a kiss on her cheek and set her back on her feet. Then I pull Celeste into my arms and start to dance her around the living room. She laughs and smiles up at me with her infinitely pretty eyes.
The song comes to an end and Celeste steps over to lift the needle off the record. As I watch her, my eyes drop to her belly, which is just beginning to show with our second child. It’s been a harder pregnancy for Celeste this time around, but she’s been feeling a lot better lately, and I’m deeply grateful for that.
“Okay, cutie,” Celeste says to our daughter. “We need to get ready to go over to Auntie Janie’s house for dinner.”
“I want to pick out my own outfit!” Annalise says.
“Works for me,” says Celeste with a laugh.
As our daughter rushes off to her bedroom, Celeste and I head to ours to get changed as well. While I’m pulling off my tie and unbuttoning my shirt, I ask Celeste how her day was.
“Oh, full of chaos, as usual,” she says, smiling. “Our daughter is abusy little lady. How was your day, Henry?”
“Numbers, spreadsheets, contracts,” I say. “The usual.”
“Just another day of being the big boss, huh?”
I look over at Celeste and see a familiar glint in her eye. Goddamn, she looks good in her underwear. And I love that she still wears that little gold necklace of hers—especially since, these days, it has more than a few charms on it from me.
With a throbbing cock, I reach for her and pull her toward me, tilting my head to press a loving kiss to her lips.
