I stand just inside and watch her. She supposed to ease on the bed and not scare the shit of my sleeping beauty, but obviously she’s too excited to follow that plan. “Brooke! Wake up! Happy birthday!"
Brooke stirs awake with a big grin on her face, "Good morning, Gabby. Thank you,”
Gabby gives her a big hug and bounces off the bed, "Come on!" Then she looks over at me and remembers what she’s supposed to do. “Oh, wait. I got to put this on you.” I’ve shown her a dozen times how to tie the blindfold. Finally secure she helps Brooke stand. Thank God, I had her slip on one of my shirts before we fell asleep. Carefully she’s led through the great room to the table where everyone is sitting. I sneak behind and give her a chaste kiss before easing the blindfold off.
“Happy Birthday.”
Brooke laughs again and blows out the 25 candles decorating the pancakes we’re about to eat.
As soon as we’re through eating the kids clear away the aftermath that was our breakfast. She’s been giving Jax shit because he’s been trying to convince her that he’s her birthday present, and that’s why he didn’t show up until today. What a jackass.
After getting dressed Brooke gets to open her presents. Jax’s gift causes a curious look, but a grateful thank you nonetheless, from Brooke and snickers and giggle from the rest of us. I think the blue fuzzy dice leave her speechless. Luke’s gift also stumps her, and still she’s gracious in her acceptance, but I know she’s wondering what she’s a fuzzy steering wheel cover that matches her dice. Honestly, I can’t believe how well everyone’s doing not to roll on the floor laughing at her totally confused face. More gifts following a singular theme are opened. A beaded seat cover that’s supposed to be oh so comfortable for those long drives. Michael, with the help of Jax, got her car mats with the roadrunner on them.
Now I can’t take it anymore. I don’t know if it’s to put me out of my misery or her misery, but I have to move things along. Alex and Cassie clear away all the paper while Brooke once again thanks everyone for her gifts, so beautiful and graciously it makes my heart hurt. Time for the main event. Four cell phones come out when I lead her to the front door to have her help me “get something” from my truck.
And then she sees it, and I know for certain that people on the Lake of the Ozarks are picking up phones to call 911 because of the ungodly shriek that disturbed the quiet of the morning. She turns back to us with her jaw on the floor, and rips the air again, I turn my head sideways and notice the rest of the audience cringing and covering their ears, because goddamn that noise hurts. Now if I were a man that planned everything to a T, I would have made sure we all had ear plugs for this.
When we all look back to her after regaining the equilibrium she knocked out of us, we notice her running toward the big red bow, and then she damn near flings herself on the hood of the Roadrunner. She finally pulls herself off and turns to me. “The Roadrunner?”
I laugh, "It was always meant for you, babe, even when I couldn't admit it."
She squeals, again, and if you listen closely, I’m sure dogs in the next county are answering. She turns back and lays her body right over the very spot I fucked her for the first time and gives me that sweet, sexy smile followed immediately by biting her lip. Oh, the evil, evil temptress.
After she peels herself away from our spot on the hood, she finally climbs in to explore the custom finish of her dream car. “Oh, shit. This is why I got all those odd gifts,”
Everyone chuckles and continues their exploring. Gabby and Cassie disappear back in the house and reappear with all the curious gifts so they can finish kitting out Brooke’s new, old car. The way she’s eye fucking and rubbing all over the interior I’m wondering if I’m going to be sleeping alone tonight, hell every night for that matter.
Eventually, we do drag her away from the car after she zips down the road circling the lake. Every time she passes the house she honks at us while we sit on the porch and wave. The third time around, we just give a nod. I decided that might be better than encouraging her to continue with excited waves.
We finally load up and catch the Independence Day parade in town and scarf hot dogs from food vendors on Main Street. Before the sun fades, we head back home to relax on our beach and watch the fireworks shot from the center of the lake.
After the show, everyone heads back to the house, but I lead Brooke to the boat and climb in. After a little manipulation of the front seats, I create a small bed of cushions to rest against.
“This has been a crazy year hasn’t it?”
I think about her question for a moment, and then answer honestly, "Best year of my life.” I decide to steer the conversation to get some questions of my own answered. “Are you happy with us, Brooke?”
“Of course, Dylan. You know I am. You have to know how much I love you and the kids.”
“I know you do. I’m just worried that someday you’re going to wake up and see what an ass you’ve fallen in love with or that I’m going to fuck up in some way. It scares the shit out of me because I don’t see a future without you in it, and I need to figure out how to make you happy every damn day so that you want to stay in our lives.”
"Crazy man, you don’t have to drive yourself crazy to keep me happy.”
“And what if I fuck up?”
She leans in and kisses me then whispers the words across my lips, “I won’t let you.”
“Can you just be patient with me until I can figure it out and not give up on me?”
She holds my gaze and promises with all sincerity, “I’ll never fail you.”
I take a moment to let her promise sink in and soothe my worries. How she has so much patience and understanding, I will never know, but I do trust her completely. It’s at that moment that I recognize an undeniable truth.
I know that I will never walk in this life without Brooke by my side. We will lean on each other through everything and because of that we can get through anything.
Epilogue
Dylan
Welcome to New Year’s Eve 2016. I’m glad you’re hanging around for an update on what’s going on in my life over the last year and a half. Brooke and I are going strong, like bunnies, every day. Okay, sorry about that. Everyone is great. You could say Brooke has become a permanent fixture in our lives, and no, we still aren’t married. I am, however, proud to say, though it’s wrong in so many judgmental eyes, we have joined the unsocial graces of living in sin. We talked about it when it got to the point Gabby would cry to manipulate her into staying if she planned on going to her apartment for a night. The others, including me, would pout. So following a serious adult conversation, she moved in.
Now, I’m sure everyone wants the answer to the million-dollar question. You know, how did Brooke’s coworkers take the news about us? Well, that had to do with a little Monroe charm, my sexiest grin, and a dozen roses when I went to pick up my girl for lunch one day. Brooke only received nine of the roses that day since I had to give my best impression that first time. But don’t you worry, I make sure she gets all of them now. Anyway, long story short, there was no drama surrounding mine and Brooke’s love life. I know this because why else would the lovely ladies leave bridal magazines on her desk?
We’re half way through a new school year. As you know, Luke is a senior. He’s still in the ‘I might and I might not’ limbo of deciding if college is what he wants. He’s got plenty of options whatever he decides to do. A part of him has always dreamed of playing college ball, and KSU is hungry for him. He’s also received letters from Oklahoma, Alabama, and LSU. I won’t be surprised at all if he gets others before he has to sign a letter of intent next month. But again, he’s also got the option of working at the shop with us.
Cassie is still cheering and believe it or not still with Austin. Surprisingly we still like him. He treats Cassie like a queen, and really that’s all we can ask. And for a high school kid, he’s the most respectful little shit you could meet. His parents have had us over a couple of times for
dinner, which reminds me I need to talk to Brooke about finally returning the favor. Oh, and they’re here tonight joining us for the celebration.
Gabby is in second grade and an absolute Brooke cling-on. Kind of sad when you think about it, a grown-ass man having to compete with his 7-year-old sister for attention from his girlfriend. She’s now trying to replace me in the kitchen when it comes to cooking dinner and breakfasts on the weekends. I thought for sure it would be Cassie in there with her, but she’s too far up Austin’s ass to be bothered with something like cooking. Brooke finally had to put a moratorium on phones at the dinner table.
Michael is halfway through his first year of junior high, and guess what’s new in his world? A girlfriend. My baby brother over the last six months discovered some food, drink, or whatever the hell that made him shoot up four inches and build a little muscle mass. Don’t think I didn’t search his room for steroids. Girls started looking; and all of a sudden the quiet, handsome nerd gig he has going is serving him well. With all the phone numbers he was coming home with, Brooke was able to form his very own cheerleading squad for this year’s spelling bee, and sadly, t-shirts along with pom-poms were involved. Luke tried like hell to get out of going, but Brooke wasn’t having that.
The whole family, Jax and Alex included, had to be there in full uniform, which meant we had to wear t-shirts too. I was smart enough to lose my pom-pom in the parking lot. Someone probably found it beside the little Mazda parked beside us. I would say ‘those were some fun times” but when you have to set through a spelling bee with your girlfriend leading your brother’s very own cheering section, the word fun doesn’t even belong in the conversation. It’s just unfortunate that none of us have the balls or the desire to tell Brooke no or hurt her feelings, and this leads to a lot of ‘grinning and bearing it.”
Now Jackson just grins and encourages the madness. I have to shake my head at the lengths the jerk goes to get me to kick his ass. Every fucking week it seems he and Brooke are up to something that’s bound to drive me out of my damn mind. Brooke asked me to help her paint our bedroom sanctuary purple, okay lavender or some shit, but yeah, I pulled the plug on that before she even finished the request. Some things a man will not do and one of those high on the list is sleep in a purp….lavender….bedroom. I gave in and let her pick out new shit covering our bed that has some goddamn flowers, but I stopped there. Well until she put some stuff that makes it smell like a garden. I had to stop there. That’s because I may have been too tired to bother bitching about the hand towels that are for show only now hanging in our spa-like bathroom. Oh, I guess you probably figured out how my former best friend and girlfriend like to drive me crazy. In that particular instance, the traitorous motherfucker helped her paint the bedroom freaking purp….lavender. I haven’t forgiven them for that little stunt yet, and until my walls go back to the nice manly tan they were, I’m holding onto that grudge. No way should a dude have to walk into his bedroom and then check to see if he still has balls.
Now Alex, Brooke’s best friend, or maybe I should say Cassie’s best friend, has put herself solely in charge of purchasing my one-way ticket to the nut house. In short, she is corrupting my sweet little sister. You be the judge; shopping trip, my credit card, 400-dollar Victoria Secret charge. Then there’s the fact that she’s Jax and Brooke’s strongest supporter. I know this for certain because I caught her buying the yellow paint for their next project. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the kitchen. I’ve come to the decision that I’m just going to choose my battles, and that battle is my gym.
That pretty much catches you up on the last six months. I don’t give a fuck how nuts my family makes me. Every day with them there is something new, and all the crazy shit just makes them worth waking up to.
Oh, shit. The DJ I hired stopped the music. Hey, don’t go anywhere, you’ll want to stick around for this. Right now, I’ve got to track down my girl because I haven’t danced with her all night. Ah, there she is, right beside the dance floor.
“Good evening, everyone. We hope you’re all having a good time tonight. Right now, I’m going to play a special request.”
You’re gonna love this song. I’m going to go ahead and give the DJ the signal while I grab Brooke.
“Dance with me.” Her smile is so perfect when she looks up at me and lets me lead her to the center of the floor. Our hands instinctively move to their usual anchors. Me holding her tightly with my left arm firmly around her small waist while tucking my right hand just inside my front pocket. And as always she slides her right hand up bringing my face closer to hers. The fingers of her left hand hooking securely to my front belt loop to keep our bodies flush. Then we’re swaying before the first words of SafetySuit’s Never Stop, the wedding version mind you, starts playing.
Now, you have to admit, this song says it all when you want the girl you love to know, she is and will always be everything to you. I think it’s a perfect way to celebrate the anniversary of our one-night stand that so easily turned into to all of this.
“I love this song, Dylan.” What did I tell you? If she hadn’t said it, I would know by her contented sigh. And would you look at those dreamy eyes. Good God, she looks so good and feels so fucking perfect in my arms.
“I love you, Brooke. Always.” Returning those words never gets old. Her eyes always light up whenever I say them, and that’s why I say it to her all the time.
Holy hell, I feel about a hundred sets of eyes, all on us right now, that makes me just a little nervous. “Everyone is watching us, babe,” I tell her softly.
“That’s because we’re so perfect together, honey,” she whispers back.
Okay, then, I’m just going to block them out and concentrate on dancing with my girl.
Oh, boy, here we go, the song is almost over, and it’s time to man up. Now, I’ve practiced this a hundred times, and I cannot mess it up. First, I just need to pry her fingers out of my belt loop, find her….ah ha, what do you know, it’s a perfect fit.
And she says yes, not with words, just a soft nod of her head next to my cheek.
Now, just so you know, as soon as the last notes of this song fade, I’m holding up Brooke’s left hand and proudly pointing out the two-carat diamond I just slid on my brand-new fiancé’s finger.
Hell, yeah, that’s how I make a statement.
Letter from the Author:
I just want to thank you for taking the time to read Dylan and Brooke’s story. I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
If you want to connect with me you can find me here:
https://www.facebook.com/Author-Nicole-D-1607194522867504/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13701591.Nicole_Dykes
Email me at [email protected]
Special Thanks To:
I want to thank my beta readers! Jo-Ann you are always so encouraging and sweet and Beth the amount of time and effort you put into helping me with this book is absolutely incredible! You both are amazing and I don’t know what I would do without you!
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