AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Instead, I sat next to her and pulled out a ring that’d been in my pocket for a couple of weeks.
“I bought this for you,” I said.
Her eyes went to the small bag that’d been so much like the first one that had housed her engagement ring.
“What is it?”
“I bought it a month ago,” I promised. “I didn’t stop and get it today or anything…it’s a well thought out gift. I promise.”
She sighed and opened the bag, pouring the contents out on the counter.
Her eyes went to the ring, and her breath caught.
“That’s…”
“My birthstone, your birthstone, and each of the kids,” I said. “The inner circle is Alicia. The outer one is me.”
She picked it up with shaking hands.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, slipping it onto the ring finger on her right hand.
Her head fell toward my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her tight.
“I’m sorry I’m such a loser,” I told her. “I…I completely forgot about today. But I still remembered. Kind of.”
She pulled the bag of takeout closer to her, then started munching on a waffle fry.
“I thought Chick-Fil-A was closed?” she asked.
I grinned. “It was. Kind of. They were closing, and I had to beg the young kids to make me something. I had to explain what kind of moron I was for them to do it, though.”
She snickered.
“Thank you, Lock,” she whispered.
I played with the ring finger on her hand.
“I can’t believe it’s been ten years,” I said.
She snorted. “It’s definitely flown by.”
She wasn’t kidding.
Three kids, a house, and two dogs later.
My life wasn’t the least bit what I ever expected.
Nothing ever went as planned.
I was still on the motorcycle patrol unit, and still had yet to go to negotiator school, and likely never would.
I enjoyed my job. I loved spending time with my family.
We went hunting and fishing and camping.
There wasn’t a single day that we weren’t being active doing something.
Downtime was a hot commodity at this point.
