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Jess’s moans and cries of pleasure begin to lessen, our chests heaving with the excitement and exertion. I carefully slide out of her and remove the condom, knotting it and dropping it in the trash can by the couch. Then I gather a sleepy-eyed Jess into my arms and sweep her hair away from her sweaty face, kissing her forehead.
I feel at peace with her snuggling into my chest, my fingers tracing down her damp skin, but I know we have to have a conversation about our situation. I just don’t want to ruin this moment. Jess being Jess, of course, she speaks first.
“So what now?”
I shift so I can look down at her, the eyes that were sated and sleepy a moment ago are now wide and alert, full of questions. This is it—I can either laugh this off as a sexy encounter brought on by a happy coincidence, or I can tell her the truth. I can come clean and tell her exactly how I feel.
Slowly, I press my fingers under her chin and tilt her head up so she can see and hear me clearly.
“I’ve been falling in love with you since the first time I met you,” I whisper in a growly voice, hoping to god she feels the same.
“But I don’t understand,” she whispers. “You only just met me, as TeacherGal, I mean.”
I laugh and shake my head. “No baby, you don’t get it. I’ve been falling in love with Principal Vega since she smashed into me with that damn sticky cinnamon roll, but I’ve also been falling in love with TeacherGal since our first conversation. I just can’t believe how lucky I am that they both turned out to be the same person.” I take a deep breath. “I love you, Jess. All parts of you—the no-nonsense principal who busts my balls every day, the sweet sensitive woman I talk to online and the sexy goddess who lies next to me now. I love all of you.”
Shit, I’ve never felt more exposed and vulnerable as I do now, waiting for her to reply. Is it too much? Have I played my hand too soon?
But as her eyes fill with tears and a look so serene and happy lights up her beautiful face, I know she feels the same. So I gather her into my arms and we make love again, gasping declarations of love echo through my sun-filled apartment as we explore each other with hungry desperation.
Epilogue
2 years later
Jessica
“Girl, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Stay in bed and don’t move a muscle unless it’s to cuddle your beautiful baby girl,” Connie grumbles as she fusses around me, plumping my pillows and checking that I have a fresh glass of water.
“Yes, Mom,” I giggle, looking down at the sleeping newborn in my arms, her perfect bow lips making a sucking motion that makes me ache inside with pure love.
Connie rolls her eyes and plants a kiss on my forehead. “Now stay put. Tate will be back from the store at any minute and if he finds you out of bed, he’ll give me hell.”
I smile at my best friend as she leaves the room, no doubt to cook more meals to go in our already-packed freezer. She’s been a godsend these last few months while I’ve been laid up on enforced bed rest with preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.
Gazing at my daughter, I think about my relationship with Tate and how it’s been the complete opposite to my shitshow of a first marriage. When we finally came up for air that first morning, we both deleted our Curve Connection accounts and spent the day at the beach, playing in the surf and laughing like a couple of giddy teens.
Obviously, we kept our relationship under-wraps at work, but when I started making Tate’s coffee for him, I got a very knowing look from Mrs. Cook. That old woman knew exactly what was going on.
Once his work at the school was finished, Tate returned to San Francisco to break the news to his brother that he’d be moving permanently to Crescent Bay. This went down like a shit sandwich, however after much negotiation, they came to an arrangement that meant Tate only had to be in San Francisco two days a week and could work the rest of the time remotely from our home.
Tate let his short term lease end on the apartment upstairs and moved in with me, but a few months later we bought the whole building. We turned the ground floor into our work space—an office for each of us, a small bathroom and a kitchenette—then we turned the upstairs apartment into our living space, extending into the attic to create a beautiful master suite with even more stunning views of my beloved Pacific.
We married on the beach a year after we met, neither of us wanting to wait. Our closest friends and Tate’s family witnessed our union, but as we walked back up the beach, I was overcome by emotion to see all the faculty and students from my school lining the path, throwing flowers and rice.
A few weeks after our honeymoon, I missed my period but I just thought it was my age, never even considering the possibility that I might be pregnant. When I started to get sick every morning, Tate made me go to the doctor and sure enough, I was two months pregnant. At first I was completely dumb-struck, asking the doctor to retake the test just to make sure. But sure enough every time he did it, it came back positive. Tate was overjoyed and became obsessed with how much curvier I was going to get the further along I got. Unfortunately he had to wait several months for my morning sickness to end before he could get his hands on my blooming pregnancy curves.
It turns out being a ‘gereatric’ mom-to-be comes with all sorts of pitfalls; not only was I sick as a dog for the first three months, I was so tired I started napping in my office. After that followed the diabetes and finally my blood pressure was dangerously high so I was ordered to take bed rest until the baby was strong enough to be delivered by c-section.
But even though the last eight and a half months have been hard work, the squirming miracle in my arms is totally worth it. Tate insisted we name her Camila, after my grandmother, and I couldn’t think of a better way to honor the wonderful woman who raised me.
“Hey baby.” Tate’s deep sexy voice interrupts my thoughts, and I look up to see my gorgeous husband enter the room, his arms filled with the biggest bunch of red roses I’ve ever seen. He saunters over and kisses me with such tenderness my toes curl, and my heart stutters in my chest. “How are my favorite girls in the world?”
“Camila’s sleeping soundly, but I’m going a little crazy with cabin fever,” I laugh quietly.
“Well, I hope these’ll give you something pretty to look at while you heal.” He puts the flowers on the chair and carefully takes our baby from my arms, kissing her sweetly on the nose, breathing in her intoxicating baby smell. Again, my heart stalls in my chest at the sweet scene in front of me; the perfect little family I never thought I’d have.
Not in a million years did I think moving to this small town by the ocean and letting my best friend sign me up to a dating app would lead to my wonderful perfect life.
The End
