“Do you want me to order a cake?” Sutton asks.
“No, I think I have his dessert covered.”
“Eww, Lainey! TMI!” Sutton blocks her ears with her hands dramatically while Jess and Kendra cackle.
“OhmyGOD!Sutton!That’s NOT what I meant.” I can feel my cheeks flaming. “I just meant that I was planning onmaking dessertfor the party. I want to make my apple pie.”
“Thank you, Jesus.” Sutton is now folding her hands in prayer and looking up at the ceiling. I toss a decorative pillow at her and she giggles.
“I know that Matt will be happy about the pie. I heard all about the one you dropped off that time at the fire station, and how Remington refused to share it,” Jess tells the girls, and I smile remembering that day, that pie, and that first kiss that changed my entire life.
“He tried his best not to let anyone get that pie, but Eli managed to steal a bite.” I laugh.
“Ugh,of course he did,” Kendra huffs under her breath.
Smiling at her phone, Sutton hits a new song and says, “Get ready for this one, girls!” We collectively look at her wiggling her phone toward us, then all cheer and abandon packing when Ed Sheeran starts to sing “Shivers.” Kendra grabs Jess, comically trying to spin a much taller Jess in her arms, and they swerve around the boxes nearly tripping, making us laugh even harder. I never knew female friendships could be so sincere or so fun. Moments like this make me eternally grateful for these women.
A knock at my door has me dancing over more boxes and swinging it wide to find the grinning faces of three very handsome firefighters. Remington, Matt, and Eli are here to help.
Remington pulls me into his arms and kisses me as they all crowd into my apartment. It suddenly feels very small in here with these massive men, all the boxes, and my friends squeezed together. I also realize that I probably opened my apartment door for Remington for one of the last times. It’s a bittersweet thought, but also one that makes me so excited for our next chapter—one that we are writing together.
“Sounds like a party in here, ladies,” Eli says as he bends to kiss Sutton on the cheek.
“Hang on!” she exclaims. “I have one for you guys.” Sutton is trying to hold back a slightly maniacal grin as she types. Seconds later she turns up the volume and Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” is overwhelming the limited space.
“Oh, hell yeahhh, you know this is our song, Sut.” Elienthusiastically starts dancing and gyrating his hips. Before the chorus hits, he is on my coffee table, stripping off his shirt and whips it across the room. Kendra yelps as it hits her in the face and tosses a scowl back up at Eli. The rest of us are not even dancing, we are all stuck in a trance watching our own personal Eli–Magic Mike moment and cracking up.
Remington wraps his arms around me from behind, and my whole body vibrates with his laughter watching his best friend’s wild antics. The best view in the room, however, is not Eli’s ripped body, as impressive as it is. Nope, it’s Sutton. Head thrown back, hand on her large belly, and laughing so hard there is a happy tear trailing down her face.
This right here is the power and freedom in a family you choose for yourself. It’s a place to feel safety, comfort, and allows you to ride out your highs and lows. I hug Remington’s arms tighter around my middle and sigh when he softly kisses the top of my head.
I might be moving into his house today, but I know thatRemingtonis truly my home.
38
Remington
Iam finally so close to finishing Lainey’s journal. Every shift I have at the fire station I pull it out and work on it when we have downtime. The guys have all gotten used to seeing me with my drawing stuff and are respectful about giving me space and privacy, not lingering over my shoulder. I appreciate them not razzing me about this and also not trying to peek at what I’m doing. If I was drawing for myself that would be one thing, but this is Lainey’s, and it is staying just between us.
Flipping to the next page, I frown at what I see. There is a quote, which the journal has a lot of. Song lyrics are also common, and once in a while she will write a thought about her day or something random.
“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”
Nobody will ever love me like Harry Burns ... I am always givenempty promises and not worth sticking around for. No relationship I have ever been in has made me think a forever wasactuallypossible. I can’t even write down my biggest dream here, probably will jinx myself even though I don’t see it coming true anyways.
Things feel off with Brett lately, so there is no way I would ever tell him what I really want. Maybe things will get better after my birthday. New year, new possibilities? Maybe?
Thingsdefinitelychanged after her birthday, that’s for sure. That idiot ruined his chance with the most perfect person on the planet, and I got to meet the woman of my dreams.
Lainey is wrong, however.Iwant a forever with her and have known it for a long time. I hope she knows that she can trust me, that I love her unconditionally, and that I am not going anywhere. Having her move in with me and officially being able to call my houseour houseis great. We’re even having a housewarming party tomorrow, the day before my own birthday.
Reading over what she wrote again makes me wonder what dream she was talking about. What is she afraid to even write down in her most sacred space? I want to give her the world, including the confidence in our relationship to know that no matter what her dreams are I will love and support her through them all.
Knowing this is the last page in the journal and I will be able to give it to her soon, I can see exactly what I want the final drawing to be. Hopefully I can finish it before we get a call or I need to get some sleep.
The housewarming party isnotin fact a housewarming party. My sneaky woman pulled off the ultimate surprise along with the help of my sister, Jess, and Kendra and threw me a birthday party. I have never been big on my birthday. Cora always made me feel like I should not be excited about my own birthday, but of course made a huge deal out of her own. It very much sucked all the fun out of my own day, so I gave up on it a long time ago. At most I would grab a beer with some of the guys, but this? It was incredible.
All of our friends—minus the guys on shift—my parents, sister, and Lainey yelled “Surprise!” to me as I walked back in the door from an urgent grocery run that Lainey sent me on for some last-minute things for the simple housewarming party she planned to have “for us” with just a few friends. I have no idea how they got everyone here and things set up so fast; I was gone less than half an hour.
