The Offer

We take out a blanket he has in the trunk and lay it on the grass at the foot of the car. He plays Lovage from his portable iPhone speakers and lights the scene with a few electric candles. We spread out the food and wine and we have ourselves a beautiful feast. It’s just us and the city at our feet. I didn’t think it was possible to fall in love with Bram McGregor all over again, but it is.

It so fucking is.

And after we’re done and the white chocolate covered raspberries are licked off each other’s fingers, we start, well, we start licking more than that. And I discover my love for him goes further and further.

We make love on that blanket, like the exhibitionists we are. The other patrons of the parking lot are too far away to see, and they couldn’t anyway from their angle, but it wouldn’t matter anyway. Beneath this rare open night sky and these blinding stars that the fog so often hides, we are deeper into each other than we ever have been before. When he pushes inside me, I feel so complete that it brings tears to my eyes and when I come, softly, whimpering into his sweat-soaked neck, those tears unleash.

“Why are you crying, sweetheart?” he whispers, voice slow and sated.

“Because I love you,” I tell him. “And I can’t imagine anything better.”

He brushes my tears away and doesn’t pull out, even though we’ve both come. He stays in me until he can’t anymore.

Later, when we pull up to Kayla’s apartment, he puts the car in park and then twists in his seat to face me.

“Nicola,” he says, sounding grave.

I swallow, suddenly on alert. “What?”

He takes my hands in his and squeezes them. He clears his throat and looks down at my hands. “I’m going to ask you something. And then I’m going to ask Ava. And if you both say yes, then I might just be the luckiest fucker in the entire world.” He pauses, his eyes flitting to mine. “Will you both move in with me?”

“Are you kidding?” I say, wanting to laugh. “Of course we’ll move in with you.”

“Not in my apartment building, I mean in the actual apartment. You’d be sharing it with me.”

“Well, you’d be sharing it with me. And a five-year-old.”

“But that’s a yes?”

I break out into a stupid grin. “That’s a yes.”

He kisses me, fast and deep and beautifully. Then we make our way upstairs to my soon-to-be-ex apartment.

By luck – or bad babysitting skills – Ava is still awake, playing a game with Kayla.

“Bram!” she says surprised, and runs over to him. He picks her up and gives her a big bear hug.

“What are you doing up, little one? It’s past your bedtime.” He eyes Kayla. “Have you been giving Aunt Kayla trouble?”

I smile at the way he’s such a natural around her. He puts her back down on the ground and she looks at him shyly.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she says.

“She wouldn’t sleep,” Kayla fills in.

Bram grins at them both and then crouches down to Ava’s level. “Listen, Ava. I have an important big girl question for you. Are you ready for it?”

She nods, mouth grim and looking overly serious. “I’m ready.”

“How would you like to move in with me? Your mom will be there too.”

Her eyes widen and she breaks into a smile. She glances up my way.

“Is this true?”

“Yes, angel. If you say that we can, we can both live with Bram.”

“What do you say?” Bram asks.

Ava actually looks like she’s going to cry. She throws her little arms around Bram’s neck and says, muffled, “Yes.”

My heart, my soul, my ovaries are all simultaneously combusting.

This man.

This damn man.

I hear a sniffle from beside me and Kayla is actually crying. Kayla who never cries.

“Kayla,” I say, in mock surprise. “You’re not soulless after all.”

She glares at me and angrily wipes a tear away. “I’m just happy that you guys are finally leaving.” But then she huffs off to the kitchen yelling, “This calls for champagne!” over her shoulder.

It calls for a lot of things.

But most of all, it calls for me to count my blessings. Because standing here, surrounded by the people I love most, I realize I have a ton of them.

“Bram,” Ava says, pulling on his sleeve. “When we move in, can I have a trampoline?”

I roll my eyes. She’s been asking for one for as long as she’s learned how to pronounce it properly.

“We’ll see,” Bram says good-naturedly.

“Can I have a pony too? Mommy won’t let me have a pony.”

He looks at me and smiles. “We’ll have to see about that one, too. I think your mum is going to be calling a lot of the shots.”

She pauses, thinking.

Then. “Bram, can I have a bugosaur?”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

I laugh. “Ava, if you want, you can have a bugosaur.”

“Yay!” she cries out and then runs to our bedroom. Thank God for fictional creatures.

Kayla brings over the champagne and we each take a flute. We raise them in the air for a toast.

“To new begi

“To love,” I say. “And not giving up on it.”

“To Nicola’s arse,” Bram says, “and the fact that I’ll see more of it.”

I roll my eyes but I clink to that anyway.

We finish our drinks and then it’s time for Bram to go home. I stand outside in the hall with him, exchanging one long, sweet kiss, his hands wrapped around my waist, my fingers in his thick, soft hair.

“Tomorrow,” he says, murmuring into my neck, “you’ll come live with me.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll be all yours.”

And the day after that.

And the day after that.

I’ll be his forever.

EPILOGUE

Nicola

Six Months Later

“Bram-a-lama-ding-dong!” Ava yells at the top of her lungs.

Matthew can’t help but join in. “Bram-a-lama-ding-dong!”

The two of them run ahead while Taylor yells at them to “come back, where do you think you are, Disneyland?”

Because of course, yes, we are in Disneyland. We try and go every time we make the trip down to visit Taylor, Irving and Matthew.

“Don’t you find it wrong that the kids keep using the word dong?” Bram whispers to me, as we make our way through the crowds.

I giggle. “You’re a pervert.”

“I’m serious. And you’re on Team Perv too, missy.”

It’s Christmas time and Disneyland is in full swing with the decorations and festivities and the SoCal sunshine is such a welcome respite to all of San Francisco’s grey. The more we visit Matthew and crew, the more I get attached to the area. I may not want to live in San Bernardino, but anywhere on the coast would be just fine, and no more expensive than SF.

But Bram’s making some real progress with his building, so we’re probably staying put in the city for the time being. Thanks to the backing of Lachlan, his rugby-playing cousin and wa

Now, Lachlan is back in Scotland and he took Kayla back with him. It’s a long and crazy story of how they got together— and one I didn’t see coming—but it seems that Kayla finally met her match in that macho Scot. I just keep thinking she’ll arrive back home in tears, wanting to talk to me and Steph about her drama but so far so good.

Obviously I moved out of Kayla’s apartment, so at least I know she wasn’t fleeing the country on account of me. Ava and I are happily living with Bram while my old place is rented out at a low-rate to someone who really needs it.

And now, now things are finally back on track. They feel right. It’s all coming together. As cheesy as this is to say, and yeah, maybe it’s a bit presumptuous too, we’re starting to feel like a family. When I’m not at home, Bram usually is, so we take turns caring for Ava. She hasn’t had an incident since and has been really good. I know her disease is something we’ll always have to watch out for and monitor, at least until she gets old enough to do it herself.