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I figured that maybe fixing it up together would make her feel like it was finally something that belonged to her, something that could always be hers.
"The street parties are going to be epic," Bethany declared, bringing in a box.
"That would be so cool. My mom used to tell me about block parties she'd gone to when she was younger, but I've never even seen one," Annie admitted, turning a box around twice to try to figure out where it belonged.
I'd maybe been in too much of a rush to label everything properly.
"Laz is bringing your housewarming gift later," Bethany added, handing Annie a razor knife to open the box.
"Speaking of housewarming presents," another voice joined in. Rey.
Reeve was in tow too, but no one was looking at him. Because everyone was focused on what was in Rey's arms.
"Only you would give someone a puppy for a housewarming present," Bethany told her, shaking her head, but she was smiling as she walked over to pet the wide gray head.
"Some guy on my street - and I know it was him because I'd seen him with the dog before - kicked out his dog when he realized she was pregnant. I found her shaking and crying in the bushes outside of my house."
"People suck," Bethany grumbled as my gaze went to Annie, wondering why she wasn't going over to check out the wiggling Pit bull with bright blue eyes.
"Can we keep him?" she asked, voice tentative, yet there was nothing but hope in her eyes.
"Y-Y-Yep," I agreed.
And there it was.
The joy exploded through her system, radiating out. She let out a squeal as she rushed over toward Rey, pulling the puppy out of her arms, crushing it to her chest as the puppy - excited to be the recipient of such a reaction - licked the hell out of her face.
"Oh, you are the sweetest puppy in the whole wide world, aren't you? Look at those big blue eyes!"
"Mama was part husky. Daddy was clearly a Pit bull. They make beautiful babies," Rey told her, sending Annie that soft smile of hers, the one she gave anyone who loved animals even half as much as she did. "Everyone who saw them wanted one. I made sure I saved this one for you guys. A house isn't a home without something furry or feathered or scaled to love on," she informed us.
"We brought some of the basics," Reeve added, wrapping an arm around Rey's stomach from behind. "Food and dishes and a leash and a toy or two. We figured you had a lot going on and might not be able to get to the store for a few days."
"Don't worry," Lenny said, dragging in my drawer-less dresser. "Once Savvy gets wind of you getting a new puppy, she will be at the door with five-hundred bucks worth of stuff for it."
"Savvy?" Annie mouthed to me, brows furrowing.
I couldn't blame her. This town, these people, they were all so interconnected. It was hard to keep it all sorted in your head sometimes. Especially since she hadn't met some of the outliers yet.
"Savea," Lenny explained. "Peyton's best friend."
"Oh, right," Annie agreed. "She's with Shane Mallick's brother Mark's wife's brother."
"What can we say," Bethany said, nodding, "we have woven a tangled web in this place."
"Oh, thank you for the kisses," Annie said, wiping her wet cheek on her shoulder. "Come on, let's go say hi to Daddy," she said, jiggling the puppy a little as she walked over toward me.
I wouldn't lie.
I liked the sound of that.
The idea of that.
Fatherhood.
Much more than I ever could have anticipated.
But there would be time for that.
Right now, we had a puppy to raise.Annie - 2 yearsMy head was going to explode.
I mean, that was dramatic, but also true.
I couldn't help but wonder if all women felt this way about the whole process.
"Whatever happened to just going down to the courthouse?" I grumbled, pushing the endless invitation examples across the table without even glancing at them. My brain was mush after looking at chairs and tablecloths and centerpieces.
"W-Want the w-whole w-orld t-t-to know y-your'e g-gonna m-marry me."
Whoever would have thought that Cam would be someone who wanted a big, over-the-top, fairy tale wedding? This arms-dealing biker insisting on the whole shebang.
I mean, I couldn't place all the blame on him. Of course I fostered girlhood dreams of puffy ball gowns and white flowers and crystals in my hair and everyone staring and me and people crying and romantic first dates.
But that was the fantasy.
This was the reality.
And the reality was a lot of stress.
The reality was every moment of every single day being about the wedding.
It stole all ideas of romance.
Even so, though, Cam's enthusiasm for it managed to act as a soothing balm over my frazzled nerves.
"Alright, pass them back," I conceded, taking a deep breath, reminding myself that all of this would be worth it in six month's time when I was walking down the aisle in a pretty dress with all the people I had come to care about flanking each side of the aisle, on my way to a forever-after with the man who meant the absolute world to me.
