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Hey, boss man. Thought I’d be the first to invite you to the wedding.
Wait, what wedding? WTF are you talking about?
Brian laughed and pulled up his pictures. He sent Duncan one of he and Sage at the holiday party last night. It was just a long-armed selfie, but the Christmas lights gave her an ethereal glow. Andshemade him look good.
She’s beautiful! Are you seriously getting married?
Next summer sometime. I’ll send you the details as soon as we pull something together. I just wanted to thank you for letting me change things up. It was exactly what I needed.
I’m glad, Brian. You deserve every single happiness. Can I tell the crew?
Yup. I already talked to Grif and Diego. Tell the guys to be prepared to make a trek out here to visit the Buckeye Brigade.
LOLOLOL! Roger that!
* * *
Sage gasped,staring at the screen. “I can not believe she said that!”
“Oh, just wait. It gets better,” Brian said, scrolling forward through the commercials.
They were curled up on the couch, watching the reunion of the most recent housewife iteration. “These women are so over the top.”
“Can you imagine how Bear and Gabbie would lose their shit if they ever did a Columbus show?”
Brian snorted. “I think Gabbie would do her best to be on the damn thing. She has her fingers in so many pies around here. I’ve decided she must be running the Columbus mob. Or maybe just doing their books.”
Sage snorted, pulling the blanket up over top of them. Now that they were an official couple, they were making time to do couple things, which meant watching TV together. Sage never thought she’d be pulled into the over-the-top dramas, but it served two purposes. It let her cuddle against Brian’s warm, delicious chest, and it gave him some street cred at work.
Street cred by watching housewives. What the hell…
“I don’t even think Gabbie and Bear like the housewives,” Brian said thoughtfully. “I think it just gives them something to bicker about, and they’ve pulled the rest of the office into it.”
“Sounds like a little unwanted attraction, maybe?” Sage suggested.
Brian winked at her. “Kind of what I was thinking too. But I may be wrong. It’s too early to say.”
Sage had met the group last night at the Lost and Found Columbus holiday party. It had been a glorious, glittering affair at an exclusive restaurant downtown, and it had been the first time Brian had introduced her as his fiancée. She looked down at the glittering ring on her finger. She didn’t like to wear it at work, but she couldn’t not. It meant the world to her.
Sage had gone back to full-time this week and it was kind of kicking her ass. The higher-ups had decided that her training was complete, and they’d partnered her with another veteran, a woman this time, and she continued to learn. Men and women taught differently, and she appreciated having both Elise’s and Gary’s perspective on the way the law was carried out in Columbus.
They’d gone to visit Gary the other day, and he was improving steadily. With Candice by his side, he’d moved to a rehab facility. It was more homey and less sterile, and he was getting used to the idea of not going back to work. He and Candice were planning their trip to Germany, though it would be a couple years down the road. That would give him, and Candice, plenty of time to heal from this mess.
Adam shifted on the floor. He’d passed out an hour ago, and Sage had just covered him up where he lay, gently removing his glasses. For about the past eight years, he’d done the same thing every Christmas Eve. He would curl up on the living room floor in an effort to catch Santa and prove he wasn’t real.
Luckily, he fell asleep every year. He didn’t still believe in Santa Claus, but he did like the tradition of sleeping near the tree. Diamond enjoyed it too, so Sage indulged them. It didn’t hurt anything.
She was sure they would do it at the new house as well.
This Christmas was going to be even more fun. Brian had steadily been building the stack of presents under the tree. When Sage had admonished him to stop, he’d given her a dour look. “I’ve never shopped for my son before. I’m making up for lost time.”
Those words had made her eyes fill with tears, and she hadn’t said any more about what he brought in for Adam.
She and Adam had gone hunting as well, and they’d found several fun things for Brian. Tomorrow was going to be amazing. It alreadywasamazing.
“I have to pinch myself sometimes, to believe this is real,” she breathed. “I never imagined I would find a love like this,” she said, turning to him. She looked into his warm, smiling eyes. “I love you, Brian, with my entire being.”
“I love you too, babe. I won’t pinch you, but if you need some loving to prove it’s real, I’m more than happy to do that for you.”
She gave him a saucy grin. “My hero,” she said, and tugged him up off the couch.
* * *
Adam smiledas he listened to his mom and Brian leave the room. According to all the statistics he’d read, a healthy sex life was vital to a strong marriage. He had no doubt that this would be one of the strongest.
“I told you we could do it girl,” he said, rubbing Diamond’s fur.
Sighing, he closed his eyes.
