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“What are you two hiding?” She asked suspiciously. I would have figured she would have jumped to the correct conclusion almost instantly.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Andrew asked. “Why is Landon smiling like that? It’s kind of creepy.”
“He hasn’t told us yet. But you’re right, it is creepy. So fess up, Landon.”
“We actually both have something to tell you,” Landon said, throwing an arm around my shoulders. Which was something sort of normal for him to do, except this time, he pulled me in closer. Affectionately.
Immediately, Mandy and Leslie’s facial expressions changed to shocked, slightly confused ones.
“Are you…” Mandy started, pointing between the two of us.
“There’s no way,” Leslie added, shaking her head in disbelief.
“What are you two talking about?” Andrew asked, looking at them with more confusion.
“We’re dating!” Landon finally said, breaking the suspense that was even building in me.
“What?” Cooper said loudly, garnering the attention of everyone in the room. He grabbed Landon’s hand and hauled him into a bear hug, his excitement for us immense.
“No way!” Andrew added, doing the same thing to me. When he pulled away from the hug, Leslie and Mandy were there to pull me into a group hug.
“It’s about time!” Mandy said, giggling in her happiness.
“I was wondering if we would have to force you two on a blind date.” Leslie grinned at me like this was the best news ever. I couldn’t help the laugh that tumbled from my lips.
The rest of the night was Landon and I enjoying time with our friends and celebrating Liam and Emma. It was so much fun, and more than I ever could have imagined because everyone I loved was here, and I’d finally realized that there was no one on this planet that I would rather spend my life with than Landon.
31
Epilogue - Landon
Everythinghadtobeabsolutely perfect.
And this Trader Joe's was not helping me accomplish that.
I pulled up my GPS, seeing that there was another location for the store just forty-five minutes away. That meant it would probably take two hours for me to get home, but it was worth it.
I made the drive, finding the salsa that had been out of stock at the usual location where I bought it. And since I knew it was rude to take all of their stock of salsa, I took all but one jar, leaving that for the next person who thought it was the best salsa on the entire planet. Which it was. At least to Belle, and that was all that really mattered to me.
It had been eight months since we started dating, and those eight months had truly been the happiest I'd ever been. And I thought that Belle would say the same. Every day was a new adventure for us, and we made the most of every second that we had together. But I wanted more.
I wanted her for the rest of my life. I wanted her through the ups and downs that life would bring and every phase in between. She was the one person in this world that I wanted that with – she was my everything.
Which is why tonight had to be just right. I wanted to show her that there was nothing in this world for me if it didn't include her. That I would need her until the day that I took my last breath. Hence the long trip just for salsa.
She was worth it. And so much more.
I'd taken off work today just for this. A movie that we'd wanted to watch finally came out, and I had already bought it to watch at home so that we could snuggle up, eat our favorite snacks, and enjoy it together. We always preferred movies at home to movies in the theater, and even when I'd offered to take her, she said she'd rather watch at home where we could snuggle. I didn't disagree, but immediately started planning this day.
When I finally got home, I started to get dinner ready. She would be home in about two hours, and this recipe was a little bit more complex than normal, so I would need the entirety of the two hours. It was a Tuscan chicken recipe I'd seen on the internet called "Marry-Me Chicken" ... which seemed fitting for tonight.
Once I put the Dutch oven into the oven to finish cooking for thirty minutes, I got to work preparing all of the snacks. I even hid a special dessert in the refrigerator, hoping that it was going to stay hidden until the right time.
"Baby!" Belle called out to me, the front door closing. My nerves had my hands shaking, so I grabbed a towel and pretended I was drying them as I walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey, Belle," I said, grinning at her as she sat her bag down next to the entrance and ran to me to give me a hug. Even after eight months, we still did this every day. It kept our relationship so precious, and I couldn't get enough of it.
I wrapped her up in my arms and spun her around, burying my nose in her hair that smelled like home. Nothing ever smelled as good as Belle. Nothing ever felt as good as holding her in my arms like this, which made it hard for me to let go. But eventually, I did so that we could move on with the night's plans.
