Stitch by Jaime Lewis
Epilogue
“Mia, this is gorgeous!” Alex said as she admired Mia’s engagement ring.
“Thank you,” Mia replied and then winked at Stitch. “He did a good job picking it out.” Because the diamond was embedded in the ring, it gave it a smooth surface so she wouldn’t snag it on anything while at work.
The gang was once again gathered at Ace and Alex’s celebrating the holiday. Stitch couldn’t stop smiling. There was so much to celebrate besides Christmas. He glanced over and wanted to laugh at Potter as he sat back in the chair with his new daughters, one in each arm as they slept the day away.
“So, did you and Mia talk about wedding plans yet?” Frost asked Stitch.
“Some. She wants a small event. Similar to what you guys had,” Stitch said, looking at Frost, Potter, and Irish.
Just then, Sienna, Irish, and Bailey’s little girl walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie off the tray in the table, and Stitch smiled, seeing how Irish morphed into daddy mode. It was heartwarming, and Stitch couldn’t wait for the day that he would become a dad. Mia had told him last night that she had been cleared by her doctor. It had been killing him not to be able to make love to her, and the last thing he wanted was to cause her more pain. But she better be ready because tonight, he was going to show her what she meant to him as he explored every inch of her body.
“Sienna, where are Cody and Alejandra?” Tenley asked.
“Oh, they’re in the game room playing with Cody’s balls.”
The room went silent, and Stitch wasn’t sure what was more amusing—the blood draining from Frost’s face, or Potter spewing his beer all over his newborn twins. Everyone else thought it was funny as shit.
Before Potter blew a gasket and Frost keeled over from lack of oxygen, Bailey asked Sienna while trying to keep a straight face, “Honey, what balls are they playing with?”
“You know, the squishy ones.” She said as she squeezed and relaxed her fist.
“Oh hell!” Potter exclaimed as he leaped up and handed the twins over to Tenley before high-tailing it out of the room.
Everyone else laughed their ass off when Sienna clarified that the squishy balls were the stress balls that Alex kept around the house.
Once the amusement died down, Stitch turned toward Dino, who had been on the quiet side for most of the day. He noticed he kept looking at his watch as if he had some place to be.
“Dude, what has been with you the last two weeks?”
Dino looked up with his forehead scrunched up. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been skipping out on drinks at Bayside, not to mention hauling ass out of the base, and just like you’re doing now, you keep looking at your watch. What gives, man? You got a woman waiting on you or something?” Stitch joked, but Dino didn’t reply.
“Wait a minute. Have you been seeing that neighbor of yours?” Diego asked.
Judging by the death stare that Dino gave Diego, Stitch knew Diego had hit a nerve.
“Are you seeing someone?” Alex asked, and Stitch smiled to himself. He knew that Dino couldn’t and would never lie to Alex. Although he could skate around the truth, Stitch knew Dino respected Alex too much.
Dino just shrugged his shoulders. “It’s really nothing. I have a new neighbor that moved in next door, and we’ve been….talking.”
“Oh, well, talking is good, I assume.”
Dino just nodded his head, and Stitch could see that the conversation was becoming uncomfortable for Dino, so he changed gears.
“Hey Alex, I heard that Arianna was coming back to town in a few weeks.”
Alex smiled at the mention of their old high school friend. “Yeah, Paul said she was due in between Christmas and New Year’s. It will be great to catch up with her.”
As they all discussed the impending arrival of their old friend, Stitch couldn’t help but hope everything was okay with Dino. Whatever was going on, he hoped it all worked out for his friend.
Dino and Arianna’s story is coming in April 2021!
Pre-order available now!
