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“And hello, little chiot,” Grandma El says, using the French word for puppy, even though Cub is two and a half now and nearly bigger than me.
I had no clue the tiny ball of brown fur we adopted from the pound would turn out to be partially Bernese Mountain Dog. Luckily, Cub is as sweet as he is big and rarely ever causes a problem.
“Aren’t you looking so handsome?” Grandma El coos.
Cub preens, wagging his tail. I push his butt out of my face as Teddy’s grandpa appears onscreen, taking a seat next to his wife. “Is that Kipp?” he says.
I wave from around the ball of fur.
“Ah. Hello, Kipp. Did you try that tomato sauce recipe I sent?”
I huff a laugh as Teddy shakes his head from within the kitchen. He’s putting away the remnants of our dinner. “I did. Thanks for sending it. It was delicious.”
Grandpa Luca looks pleased. “Where is our Théodore?”
“Right here, Papa,” Teddy answers, sitting beside me and Cub, just inside the frame of the video call.
“Happy anniversary,” Grandma El says.
“Thanks, Maman,” Teddy replies, his arm coming around me as Cub licks his face.
Technically, it’s our second third anniversary. I keep track of both. There’s the anniversary of our first marriage—the kinda, sorta, definitely accidental one. Even though neither Teddy nor I remember it, it still counts. It’s what brought us together, after all.
Then there’s the anniversary of our quote-unquote real marriage. The one we had in front of our family and friends exactly three years ago in the fall at Red Rock Canyon. It was a gorgeous night, the temperature a little cooler and the sunset casting a beautiful glow over the red rocks. We had white flowers, the mountains as our backdrop—just like I always wanted—and everyone we loved was there, including Grandma and Grandpa Lavoie.
Neither Cameron nor Antoni were invited, of course. And no one from my immediate family came. In fact, I haven’t heard from any of them in years, apart from a couple unpleasant texts from Vaughn before I finally blocked his number. It’s okay, though. I have a wonderful family of my own with Teddy, his grandparents, our sweet Cub, the Adamoses…heck, even my work crew and the wacky bunch at Elite 8 Studios.
I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world.
Teddy and I spend a good while catching up with his honorary parents. We’ll see them again shortly for Thanksgiving. Christmas this year will be spent at Mama Adamos’s house.
“We’ll let you two enjoy the rest of your night,” Grandma El says. “Bisous.”
“Kisses,” Teddy and I reply in unison.
As the call ends, I give Cub a good scratch. His tongue lolls out, doggy breath fanning over my face. “You know what time it is,” I say excitedly to Teddy.
His lips twitch, but he stops my hand as I reach for the remote. “I thought we could do something a little different this time.”
“But…” I pout. “Our videos, Teddy. We always watch our videos.”
“Trust me?” he asks, standing and holding out his hand.
Trusting him—always—I grab on.
Cub whines at the door as we leave, but Teddy tells him to stay. “Your daddies will be back soon,” he assures our fur-son. I about melt.
After closing the door, Teddy leads me down the hall, and, much to my surprise, to the stairwell. We take the stairs up, not down, and Teddy opens the door to the roof. I momentarily falter, having trouble comprehending what I’m seeing.
“Teddy…”
“I thought we could watch the videos up here tonight,” he says, setting a brick against the door to hold it open before leading me toward the projector screen that’s on top of the roof.
“Where did… How…”
I can’t seem to figure out what question to ask, but Teddy explains, “I borrowed the projector from Scott. As for the rest of it, well, that was me.”
My mouth hangs open as I take in the roof of our apartment building, which Teddy has transformed into some sort of romantic outdoor theater. There are bunches of white flowers set up along the perimeter, more flower petals blowing gently over the concrete, two chairs with cushions in front of the screen, and a bucket between them with half-melted ice and a bottle of champagne. He must have crept away while I was finishing our dinner, the sneaky man.
