Page 93 of The Mr. Right Checklist

Helps me be the best I can be

Makes me laugh and feel loved

GOOD WITH SPREADSHEETS

EXCELLENT CAREGIVER

Ryan No-Love Grumpy Gus Stoic Sam Aloof Adam Fletcher owns my heart, and no one else will ever come close!

With my heart in my throat, I lift my eyes to hers. “I’m sorry, Des. I shouldn’t have assumed. I was on my way to ask you if you wanted to forget the expiration date and give us a real shot when I heard you talking to Beth, and it knocked the wind out of me. It threw me right back to the end of my marriage, and I figured I had missed the signs like I did back then.”

“Couldn’t you tell it wasn’t true or there had to be more to it by the way I am with you?”

“I didn’t know what to believe. You’ve been saying things like when we break up and talking about when you get married.”

“Because I’m in love with you and I thought you were still against love—”

“You’re in love with me?”

“Yes, you fool, and I had to say those things. I was trying to convince myself that I was going to be okay when our arrangement ended.” Her brows knit, her tone softening. “Or maybe I was hoping you’d say you didn’t want to break up. I don’t know what I was doing.”

I definitely missed those signs. “Then you can understand why I wasn’t sure what to believe.” She nods, and I set the notebook on the patio table and take her hand. “I’m sorry for assuming the worst. I love you, sunshine, and I will never stop trying to be everything you want and need.”

“Don’t you get it? You already are.” She puts her arms around me, smiling in a way that I am now one hundred percent sure means she loves me. “We just need to learn to trust our feelings and talk to each other straight up when we’re scared or something feels off.”

“It may take me some time to get this touchy-feely stuff right. I’ve been out of practice for a decade.”

“Shouldn’t a guy who teaches a Millennial Masculinity class know more about touchy-feely things?”

“How do you know about that class?”

“My best guy friend taught me the importance of due diligence.”

“He sounds like a pretty good guy, even if he’s slow on the uptake.”

“He’s the best guy.” She winds her arms around my neck. “Can we go back to that part about forgetting the expiration date?”

“I’d like nothing more.”

“Does that mean we’re officially a couple, and I can call you mine?”

“I’m partial to Orgasm King, but yours will do.”

As I lower my lips to hers, she says, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Being there to push me back up to the sky.”

It kills me knowing she felt like a falling star again, and I realize that’s how I felt without her, too. Lost and far too alone. I go in for a kiss, and Molly shoves her big head between us.

I groan, and my whirlwind beauty laughs. Like sunshine to a fucking flower, and just like that, I find myself laughing, too.

Chapter Thirty

DESTINY

A hint of impending rain hangs in the air and leaves crunch under my feet. I kick them away from Molly’s favorite spot in the sun in front of Fletch’s fishing cabin, looking for her elk antler. It’s mid-October, and we spent last weekend at the Bernese mountain dog retreat and have been at the cabin ever since. I love it here, with its beautiful foliage and pristine lake. But I could love a desert if Fletch and our pets were with me.