AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There’s lots I haven’t talked about with Olivia that I want to talk about.
But right now, what I want to do most is kiss her.
So, I lower my lips down and tenderly place them on hers. She arches up into my arms.
When I feel her soft, warm arms loop around my neck, I feel like we made it safely to the other side of a river full of swirling rapids. Now our feet are firmly on the other side.
Our journey’s just beginning.
Knowing Olivia, it’s going to be an adventure. And I can’t wait to get started.
Epilogue
Olivia
One year later
For the firsttime in my life, I’m hosting a dinner party.
I never hosted one when I lived above my grandparent’s garage. How could I invite family and friends over, with a queen-sized bed four feet from the kitchen table and nothing but a toaster oven to roast chicken in? But this new house Cole and I are renting on the edge of town is perfect for dinner parties. It has an actual kitchen complete with a real oven. Not that we’re going to use it tonight.
Cole’s out back in the yard, manning the grill. He’s been all excited about the burgers he’s going to grill up for guests, going on about what kind of cheese to use on top. He even woke up this morning with that question on his lips. As if he didn’t know the answer. I rolled over to pat his chest.“Cheddar, honey. The answer to that question is always cheddar.”
I even baked a cake. It’s chocolate, with two layers, thick chocolate-fudge icing, and sprinkles on top. It looks like abirthday cake, but this party isn’t going to celebrate anyone’s start of another trip around the sun.
This evening, we’re going to celebrate something else.
As I pull a pitcher of lemonade out of the fridge I hear my grandmother’s voice, behind me. “Olivia, baby, do you have tomatoes in here? Cole’s asking if we can slice a few up and bring them out to him.”
I reach for a bowl of sun-ripened tomatoes from Cole’s family's ranch out in Farmdale. Golden evening sunlight flashes off my diamond engagement ring.
Gigi notes the sparkle at the same time that I do. She smiles as she takes the bowl of tomatoes from me and sets it on the counter.
“I can’t get enough of that ring, Olivia. The gold band is perfect, with your coloring. He has a good sense of style, doesn’t he?”
I hand her a cutting board and keep one for myself, then divide up tomatoes between us.
“Sort of. I mean, he sure knows how to rock black on black for decades. But Mom helped him pick this ring out when we went out to California for the holidays.”
“How perfect! That mother of yours sure knows her way around a jewelry store.” I laugh, thinking about that particular adventure Cole embarked on.
“He says she dragged him to six different places, and she had all the clerks running. He almost quit halfway through, but somehow stuck it out.”
“He did good. In lots of ways.” Her eyes twinkle. She runs the blade through the tomato.
Out through the window before us, I can see Trent and Cole by the grill, both holding bottles of beer and laughing. Maggie’s off to the side, gabbing with my Grandpa Ray as they both watch Blue.
Blue’s the star of the backyard show. He loves the lush green grass, and me and Cole spent way too long setting it up in a way that would provide plenty of goat entertainment.
If we’re capable of spending a dozen hours setting up balance beams and plastic playground tunnels for our pet goat, what will it be like when we actually have kids? I smile to myself, thinking about how we want three.
Three kids.
Realkids, not goats. Though, we might get a few more of those, too. Who knows?
My work schedule is good these days because my travel blogs are all about cool places to see in Colorado. The trips don’t take me too far from home, and I can make my own hours. Plus, Cole has the summers off.
Gigi slides a parade of tomato slices onto a plate and holds it out so I can do the same. “What are you daydreaming about?”
