“Hmm…” I hum, still undecided.I don’t like leaving my baby.
I’ve been struggling with it, even when it’s just for a few minutes. But Shane and I have come to an agreement that we would go on a date night once a month, forcing us away from Stellina a bit and giving us a little time alone. Today will be the first time we won’t have her for the entire night, which is something I’ve been stressing over all week.
“Come on, Angel. This will be good practice for tonight.” He tucks a few loose strands behind my ear.
“Okay, fine.” I place my hands on his chest, pushing lightly as I lean into him.
“Yeah?” He grins.
“Yes! Take me away before I change my mind.” I giggle as he kisses me quickly and lifts me into his arms, carrying me toward the garage as we wave goodbye to Marianne who assures us that she has everything under control.
“Shane, wait! I don’t even have shoes on.” I laugh loudly as he runs us back into the house to collect a pair of heels and returns to his previous path.
He pulls open the passenger door, still holding on to me, then sets me down on the seat. Kneeling before me, he places my feet in each heel, kissing the top of my foot in the process.
Shane still treats me like his greatest prize. He dotes on me every second he’s home. Our love for each other has onlygrown over the year and keeps growing with every day that passes. There’s no place for doubt in our relationship. Shane is a wonderful husband and an extraordinary father. He cherishes his little girl with everything he has.
Shane has always gotten attention from the ladies—he’s a gorgeous man, we won’t hide it—but now that he’s a dad, it has multiplied. He now refuses to be out in public without me, if possible, because they all swarm him the instant he sets foot outside.
They visibly swoon at the sight of him and will come up with any possible excuse to talk to him. It makes him extremely uncomfortable to get all this attention, while I just find it pretty funny. I don’t blame them, though. I still swoon every time I see him, just like I still can’t believe he’s mine.
“Where are we going?” I ask as he pulls out of the garage and drives toward the gates to our property.
“Just something I want to show you.” He takes my hand, kissing the back of it and smiles.
I narrow my eyes at him, trying to read him, but I really have no idea what it could be. Fifteen minutes later, Shane parks the car along the sidewalk in the middle of town. He walks around the car quickly, pulls my door open, and takes my hand to help me out.
He still doesn’t say a word as we walk down the street, hand in hand. It isn’t until we pass a few stores that I recognize where we are exactly. The store I had my heart set out on is only a few doors down. I prepare myself for the heartache as Shane brings us closer to it, preparing myself to see what the place of my dreams will become.
But then he stops walking… right in front of it and stares at it.
I frown with confusion, looking from him to the store. I notice it’s still sitting there empty, no sign up indicating the futurebusiness that is about to take residence. “Shane? What are we doing here?”
He turns to face me, still holding my hand, and reaches inside his pocket. He retrieves a set of keys and places them in my palm. “Happy anniversary, Angel.”
My eyes widen with realization as I look from him to the keys, seconds before they mist over with tears. “What? H-how… how did you know? I… I didn’t tell you about it.” I look deep into his eyes for answers.
He cradles my cheeks and presses his lips to mine. “I saw it saved on your laptop.”
“But how did you know it was this one? I had multiple saved,” I ask when he pulls away.
“I went through your history and noticed you constantly came back to this one, so I called up the number on the ad and bought it for you.” He wipes away my tears with his thumb. “Whatever needs to be done to it, we will do. If you want to tear it down completely and start from scratch, we can do that too. It’s yours, Aubrey. Your bakery.”
“Oh, Shane...”
I throw my arms around my husband, overcome with so much love, joy, and devotion. He’s always been so attentive to me, and I can’t thank him enough for it. I kiss him fiercely as our tongues dance together, here on the middle of the sidewalk as people bypass us and go on with their day, like Shane didn’t just make my world a million times better.
“Can we go inside?” I bounce on my heels as we pull apart.
“Of course.” He grins and does a show of the hand toward the door to let me be the first to open it. “I haven’t seen the inside yet, but we’ll have an inspector come by at some point to assess what needs to be changed and fixed.”
“You bought it blindly!?” My brows rise. “What if you overpaid?”
“Oh, I know I did. But seeing that beautiful smile on your face makes it worth every penny.” He kisses my cheek as I turn the key in the lock and push the door open.
After looking over the wide space, we’ve noticed a few things that will definitely need fixing, mainly the roof with all the water damage to the ceiling. But I don’t care, when all is said and done, this place will be magical.
It will be mine.
