“Forever. One condition, though.”
He reaches up to wipe away my tears. “Name it.”
“We have to have really ridiculous hotel sex at really ridiculous hotels at least once a year.”
Sawyer laughs. “I’ll bring the champagne.”
“I’ll bring the Tide pen.”
He’s still laughing when he leans in to kiss me. “Deal.”
Epilogue
SAWYER
Shower Sex and Surprises
Taking a deep breath,I shake out my shoulders. Tilt my head to one side, then the other, the sofa cushions groaning as I wiggle my body.
Ava laughs when my neck cracks. “You know braiding toddler hair requires significantly less effort than, say, working cattle, right?”
“Yeah, Daddy.” Ella looks up at me. She’s seated on the floor between my knees, her pretty blue eyes almost translucent in the morning light that slants through the family room windows. “It’s notthathard. Right Ava?”
“Right.” Ava reaches down to give her shoulder a squeeze. “We’re going to turn your daddy into a French braiding pro.”
“Can you do two braids?” Ella glances at Junie, who is seated on the floor between Ava’s knees. Ava patiently brushes the long blonde hair that courses down her back. “I want it to be like Junie’s was yesterday.”
I chuckle, even as my palms break out in a clammy sweat. Mule looks at me in sympathy from his perch by the windows.
“One braid at a time, Elly Belly Boo.”
“I’ll help him do two,” Ava leans down to whisper conspiratorially in her ear. “We’ll make sure it looks just like Junie’s did, I promise.”
It’s Monday morning. Eight fifteen a.m. A few months back, I would’ve dreaded this part of the day—the one where I shook off the cobwebs from the weekend and endured the crucible that was getting my three-year-old ready for school. A long week behind us, and another long week ahead.
Now?
I’m smiling like an idiot as I run a brush through my daughter’s hair. She yelps. Ava stops brushing her own daughter’s hair to grab a nearby bottle of detangler and sprays it on Ella’s hair.
“That will help,” Ava explains. “It keeps the knots from getting too big and hurting.”
Ella grins. “Thank you, Ava.”
“You’re so welcome, sweet girl.”
I’ve lived long enough to know my life is a dream right now. Ella is thriving. Her teachers tell me she’s really come out of her shell now that she’s in class with her bestie, June. Ava bonded with Ella right away, the two of them exchanging giggles and secrets like they’re best friends too.
Junie has become the second daughter I always knew I wanted. She’s so different from Ella with her extroverted personality and fearless approach to pretty much anything and everyone. But I adore her differences as much as I adore how much the two of them are alike. They delight in the smallest things. It’s easy to make them laugh. They both love arts and crafts, almost as much as I love sitting down with them while dinner’s in the oven to color or cut out shapes from construction paper—purple or pink only, obviously.
Best of all, June and Ella delight in each other’s company. They play beautifully together. Don’t get me wrong, they have their moments—sharing is very much a struggle right now—but they’ll also have hour-long stretches where they entertain each other without calling for me or Ava a single time.
Needless to say, Ava and I are in heaven.
We also fuck a lot.
Alota lot. Never thought that’d be the case with two young children in the house, but our (much) smaller version of theBrady Bunchhas actually worked in our favor. The girls play, and so do the adults. Ava and I have become experts at slipping away for a quickie.
While the girls ride their scooters in the driveway, Ava and I get busy in the back seat of my parked truck.
