I started giggling as one of my previous train wrecks popped into my head. I could laugh about it now. I could laugh about all of it because that part of my life was dead and gone.
“I was with this guy once and—”
“Wait, do I want to hear this?”
“Yeah, because it’s just yet another incident that proves how amazing you are and how lucky I am to have found you.” Jills smiled, sipping her beer. “So, this dickwad brings me to his room, failing to tell me about the little camera he installed up in the ceiling fan. That fucker was going to film us without me knowing. Fortunately, we didn’t get too far and all my clothing was still intact before some car lights spliced through the window and I noticed it.”
“So, what happened?” Jills asked.
“I was pissed as hell. I grabbed a chair to knock it down and ended up whacking off the blade. Then I tried to beat him with it. He just held up his arms and kept apologizing, saying he really liked the way my gazumbas bounced or some shit like that and wanted to beat off to it later. I should’ve known something was up when he rolled around on the bed, then started charging at me on all fours making these strange noises. Fucking sicko. Did he think we were shooting an episode ofWild Kingdom?”
She laughed. “Wow. Can’t say that’s ever happened to me.”
“Consider that a bonus.”
“How do you even find these guys?”
“That’s the thing. It’s the ones who come across as the mostnormal that you have to worry about.”
“Looks like I have nothing to worry about with you, then,” Stephen said.
“Hey!” I turned my head around and stuck my tongue out at him.
He buried his face against my neck, whispering, “You’d better be showing me that tongue for a reason.”
Fuck, he got me hot.
I didn’t think Jills heard anything, but she excused herself from the room anyway to go check on whatever Mike was doing in the basement.
He planted a few kisses below my ear. “But maybe I should be worried that one of these days you’ll decide that I’m just way too boring for you.”
“Never,” I said. Besides, it wasn’t the craziest encounters that stuck out the most, it was the ones that elicited no reaction at all, positive or negative. Those were the ones that made me the most thankful for having a man like him.
I honestly couldn’t imagine my life any better at the moment. I was content, and that was a beautiful place for me to be. I was sure that eventually I’d move on and find a different path in life, but Stephen would always be on it.
“I’m going to marry you someday,” he said, making me smile. We’d had this conversation before, and my heart never failed to flutter. I loved knowing that he always wanted me to be a part of his life too.
I turned around and faced him. “Promise me you’ll never propose, and we’ll spend the rest of our days happily unmarried.”
He brushed his lips over the top of my head. “If I make you that promise, you’ll regret it.”
“If I ever regret it, that means I’m ready for you to propose.”
“Oh, believe me, Perry. I’m going to have you so ready you’ll be begging for it.”
I hope so. I snuggled against his chest. If ever a man could get meto change my mind, it’d be him.
It had taken love, luck, and countless clusterfucks to get to the fairy tale.
Because of Stephen, I finally believed they were real, and he was my happy ending.
Hegotme, and I hoped he never let go.
