Gray by Shaw Hart

Thirteen

Gray

One Year Later…

“Ready?”I ask Nora as she finishes typing something on her computer.

“Yeah.”

She leans over to kiss my cheek and I smile, taking her hand and admiring the diamond ring that I put on her hand ten months ago.

We’ve been saving up for the past few months for our wedding we’re going to have next month and I can’t wait. It feels like I’ve waited my whole life to make Nora mine and it’s about damn time that it became a reality.

“Sit,” Nora says and Moose and Marley both plop down, tails wagging against the ground as we hook their leashes to their collar.

“Want to go to the dog park?” Nora asks and I nod, taking her hand in mine as we head down the stairs.

Both puppies are grown and to be honest, they’re a lot bigger than I thought that they would get. Luckily for us, they’re trained now and pretty well behaved.

We turn left once we get outside and start to head the few blocks over to where the dog park is. We stumbled upon it a few weeks ago when we were out walking and the dogs love it. It’s pretty close to where Rooney, Harvey, Sayler, and Coraline live and since they now have dogs, we like to meet them there and let them play.

“Jasper called today. He said that him and Evangeline are planning on coming up two Wednesdays before. She wanted to help you with any of the wedding plans that she could.”

“That’s so sweet of her,” Nora says, swinging our hands slightly and I smile.

Jasper hadn’t been surprised at all when I told him that Nora and I were together. I had gone back home for two weeks and the two of us bonded and tore down our childhood home. Jasper had already hired a contractor to rebuild there and we sold the house for a profit last month.

I wasn’t surprised when Jasper said that he would be staying in Rosewood. He was always obsessed with Evangeline when we were kids and it seemed his injury and being home for our father’s funeral was the second chance that they needed to finally get together.

The two of them bought a house not far from her nursery and he’s been helping her take care of her sick mother for the past six months.

Jasper and I got over the awkwardness of the past few years and have actually grown pretty close. We talk almost every week, catching up and learning about each other and we try to see each other every few months. He even let me tattoo him the last time that he was in town.

Business at Eye Candy Ink has been better than ever and now that everyone is settled with their fiancées and girlfriends, things seem better than ever. We still go to Sunday brunch at Zeke’s house every week and now that Moose and Marley are trained, they’re more welcome.

“Looks like Rooney and Sayler are here,” Nora says and I look over to see Rooney wrestling with his Irish wolfhound puppy, Baxter.

“Harvey and Coraline too,” I say, nudging Nora until she spots Harvey trying to get his sheepadoodle puppy, Theo, to sit.

It’s not going well.

“Want to go show them how it’s done?” I ask Moose and he wags his tail excitedly.

“Have fun!” Nora calls as she heads over to talk with Coraline and Sayler.

I give her a kiss before she can get too far and she laughs against my lips. I take Marley from her and head over to join my friends.

If you had told me five years ago that I wouldn’t make Nora mine until I was twenty-six, I would have asked you what the hell took me so long, but the truth is that she was always mine. It was finally just the right time for us then. We were both mature, doing well in our careers, and stable financially.

I let Moose and Marley off their leashes and laugh as they head out to play with their friends. Harvey has given up on Theo’s training for now and I smile as Rooney tosses a ball and all four dogs take off after it.

I never had much of a family. Nora was always enough for me, but it’s even better now that I have my brother and his girl, Evangeline, and the family that I created at Eye Candy Ink.

This is the life that I always wanted but was too scared to even wish for.

Now that I’ve got it, I’m never letting it go.