"I was ready to set up camp on this beach like Tom Hanks in Cast Away until you said yes. So I can say with absolute certainty that I’m ready for this."
"Shit. That would’ve made me Wilson." She sniffles.
"You have better hair." I smile wide, unable to wipe it from my face.
"I’m not going to lie, Leo. I’m glad that you are so optimistic about this because I’m really fucking worried." She pauses and begins inspecting her ring. "But I’m really fucking happy too."
"We’re going to be amazing, Sarah. I can feel it. Now, come on. Let’s go upstairs. Suddenly, I feel ready for something else too."
"No, wait. I have to call Emma and Casey. They are going to flip. Give me your phone. Let’s text them a picture of the ring." She begins wiping the mascara from under her eyes. I watch as she tries to capture the perfect picture of her ring using only the flash on my phone as light.
A half hour later, Sarah and I consummate our engagement in the hotel shower. My phone vibrates its way off the counter with incoming messages from not only Emma and Casey, but also Erica. However, as I bury myself in the woman who will forever be my wife, they all go unanswered.
THE MORNING after Leo proposed, we immediately started talking about getting married. He wasn’t keen on the idea of a long engagement. And while I may have been hesitant at first, once that ring was on my finger, I couldn’t wait to become Mrs. James. For the first time since the accident, everything actually felt right—including the imperfections in our relationship.
Leo and I decided to have a small ceremony in a few weeks. Just something intimate with our closest friends in attendance. Originally, he just wanted to rush to the courthouse as soon as we got back. That was until I reminded him that Erica would probably murder him in his sleep if she didn’t get to come to his wedding. He quickly agreed, and we sat down to set a date around his schedule.
We went over our finances on the plane ride home. It was really important to me to help contribute to our new life together. When Leo broke down his monthly bills for me, it became blindingly obvious that he made a hell of a lot more money than I did. I would have been lucky if I could even cover our electric and cell phone bills every month. I still had some money from the wreck, but it was dwindling quickly, and with overhead like Leo’s, it wasn’t going to get us far. I got panicky at the idea of depending on him for everything, but he squashed those fears by telling me that, by accepting his proposal, I had just signed on for a twenty-four-seven job at Guardian. I began to relax as I worked out the math of my new paycheck in my head while Leo laughed beside me.
The day we got back from Florida, Leo hired movers. I thought his head was going to explode when they told him it would be a few days before they could add us to their schedule. I giggled as he marched to my bedroom and dumped all my underwear into a box, mumbling something about how "home is where the panties reside." He also confiscated my keys so that I had to stay at his apartment until the move was final. He could have just asked. It’s not like I would have argued, but it was more entertaining watching him try to force me to stay with him.
When the movers finally came, it didn’t take long to empty my apartment since I didn’t have much to take with me. Leo has a house full of furniture, so we donated most of mine to the Building Foundations’s yard sale. They were more than appreciative.
"Leo, where did they put the stuff from my bathroom?" I ask, walking into our room just as the last mover leaves.
"I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess the bathroom? But come here. I have something for you."
"Mmm. Is it something new or something hard?" I ask seductively, swaying my hips as I walk toward him.
"Well, first, it’s something new. Then it’s something hard." He pulls me against his chest and presses his hips into mine. Walking backwards, he scoops up a bag next to the bed then leads me into the bathroom.
"So, now that we are living together—"
"And getting married," I add with a huge smile.
"And getting married," he confirms, "there are a few things you should know that I’m not willing to share." He pulls out a rectangular box from the bag. "This is your very own Kindle. No more borrowing mine. I swear, Sarah, I opened it the other day and there was a naked man on the cover of nearly every book in my library."
I let out a quiet laugh. He’s not wrong. I’ve been reading a lot more recently, and every single day, Casey sends me a new recommendation. It’s not my fault they all have half-dressed men on the covers. Okay, fine, I might buy them exactly for that reason.
"Well, you didn’t have to do that. But thank you. I’ll put it to good use." I give him a quick kiss and throw in an ass grope, well…just because I can.
"Secondly,"—he opens the bathroom closet, revealing a shelf full of my body wash—"you stink. Take a shower."