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“Well, this is it.” Da
“No words needed, Dan,” Chris replied. “You and Julie are two of the finest people I’ve ever known. Sheila and I were blessed when you entered our lives.”
Da
“Bro, I bet Sheila twenty bucks that I wouldn’t get—her words—all emotional. My words—pussied up. So let’s end this here.” Wiping the wet from his eyes, Chris gri
“Yeah, that would sound stalkerish coming from a chick. Coming from a man…shit’s just creepy.” Da
“Nope, got fifty and an office blow job riding on that,” Chris muttered.
“Ha, why’d she take that bet? Those two cry over Hallmark commercials.”
That was one of the things Da
“Sheila swears she has no more tears left. All these years together, and she has no clue how well I know her. Silly woman.” Chris shrugged, opened the glass door to the pub, and walked in.
Da
“Oh shit,” Sheila gasped, turning her head to face Julie. “They’re here. I need to run to the bathroom.”
“Oh, no, you don’t, woman.” A deep laugh rolled from Chris’s chest. “Get your sweet ass over here. Hands to your sides. Don’t try to get rid of the evidence.”
Julie’s giggles grabbed Da
“I know you’re go
His heart pounded. “No, honey, we’re going to be amazing.”
“Not to be a dick, but the lunch rush is over and, judging by the current state of my wife”—Chris winked—“looks like we have important business to tend to in the back office.”
Sheila elbowed her husband in the gut, making the four of them laugh. After one last round of hugs, Da
Chapter Twenty
Da
“THE SIGN LOOKS fantastic,” Julie called from across Main Street.
Her husband and Chester were directing the employees of Hang Around, the local sign company, on where exactly to hang the handcrafted, white cedar sign that was relaxed and classy rather than pretentious or tacky. After a full year of business, that same description fit Da
Da
She and Da
Da
Then it happened. She and Da
Da
Ninety minutes later, she returned to the building with a bag of takeout in her hands and tingles in her tummy. While what she’d done might have felt spontaneous, she had discussed it in the past with her husband. Would he appreciate the sweet gesture?
“I’m back and brought lunch.” She heard the mischief in her own voice, so she knew Da
“Hmm, if you’re lunch, I’ll definitely dig in.” His brows waggled as he closed the distance between them, cupped her head, and pressed their lips together.
Sweat, soap, and Da
“Oww,” she hissed, breaking the kiss and putting slight space between them. Shit, how quickly I forgot.
“What’s wrong?” Da
“Nothing’s wrong, I promise.” Squeezing his hand, Julie moved to place the food on the folding table before returning to face her man. The two vertical lines pressed deep between his brows screamed that he was far from reassured.
“Start talking,” he rumbled. “Make me believe that you’re okay.”
God, that low tone turned her to mush. The dominant side of Da
“Um,” she hedged, “I’ve been thinking about getting a tattoo—for a while now actually.”
“For real? In the past you said you liked them on me but not for you,” he recounted.
“True. But as you said, that was the past, and we’ve started fresh.” His hazel eyes twinkled as she explained. “You and I, we’ve been through so much. Happy, sad, joy, love, loss…all of it. And then we decided to start fresh.” Julie reached for Da