Summer With My Dad’s Best Friend

I look up at Ben once we’re on the dock with my family. “What’s going on?”

He gets on one knee and my heart stops. Is this really happening? Tears explode from my eyes and I’m sobbing before he even gets the words out. I look at my mom and Annie and they’re doing the same.

“Jenny, will you make me the happiest man on earth and be my wife?” He presents the box to me and opens it to reveal a gorgeous heart-shaped diamond ring.

I cover my mouth with my hands.

Annie whispers at me. “Say yes.”

“Yes. Oh my God, yes. Yes, yes, yes.”

Ben laughs and slips the ring on my finger. It’s a perfect fit and I know my mom must have told him my size. I have a feeling they were all in on it from the beginning. I’m so surprised they were able to keep it a secret.

Tulip says. “It’s going to be so weird calling you mom.”

I laugh. “Don’t you dare.”

I look into Ben’s eyes when he stands. I’m so full of love for him that I’m about to burst. Another amazing memory to add to the many I have at our cabin by the lake.

Epilogue

Jenny

The summer heat crept up slowly. Just days before graduation there was nothing but rain, but now the temperatures have climbed up to the nineties. Hot and humid the way I like it. Except I’m not sure how much I’m going to like it now that I’m seven months pregnant. My swollen ankles definitely aren’t a fan of this heat. But despite all that, I’m so excited to be done with school. Now I can finally focus on my family and my new job.

I’m in love with my job as a chemist in a cosmetics lab. When I decided to major in chemistry, I wondered what I could do that would be both stimulating and fun, and I’ve definitely found it. This job also moves me toward my goal to one day start a cosmetic brand with Tulip and Annie who also found their niche in the beauty industry doing makeup and hair.

But as much as I love my job, I can’t wait to get out of the lab and go spend my next two weeks off for vacation at the cabin with my amazing husband and our family. The clock seems to be going by so slow today. Each time I look up, only minutes have passed. Only five more to go and I can clock out.

I clean up my station, hang my lab coat on its hook.

“Bye everyone,” I say to my lab partners as soon as the clock strikes five. They wave goodbye and wish me a happy vacation. I’m so excited. It’s the last real vacation I’m going to have before the baby is born.

I head for the lobby, toward my car, and stop short when I see Ben standing there with his dazzling, sexy smile and a greasy paper bag from my favorite burger joint. Usually he brings flowers when he comes to visit me; he knows flowers always brighten up my day, but today it’s like he’s read my mind.

“How did you know I was having a serious craving?” I say, waddling to him as fast as I can on my poor swollen feet.

“I figured my girls need to eat.”

He hands me the bag, kissing my lips while rubbing my belly.

“How do you know it’s going to be a girl?” I ask, digging into the bag and sighing contently when I see the delicious oily fries I love so much. I take a handful and start to munch before they get cold.

“That’s what my gut is telling me.”

“Well I know Tulip and Annie hope your gut is right. Remember we told them they could name her if it ends up being a girl?”

He winces playfully. “Oh, right. I forgot about that. Maybe we shouldn’t have made that promise. We’ll end up with a kid named after whatever beauty guru they’re obsessed with at the time.”

“It could be worse,” I laugh. “When Annie and I were little, we decided to name our future kids after the three musketeers whether it was a boy or a girl. We might end up with a child named of Aramis, Athos, or Porthos.”

He looks mortified and I bust up laughing, almost choking on my fries. “With any luck, they’ll have forgotten that pact we made.”

“God I hope so,” he says.

He takes me by the hand and we walk out to my car. He’s parked beside me, the back of his truck heaping with everything we need for the next two weeks at the cabin aside from everything my parents will bring.

I follow him in my car to the big beautiful house we bought together after I graduated. It’s the perfect place to raise a child. The neighborhood is great, close to a park and a school nearby. Ben’s son has his own room and there’s an apartment in the back yard for when Annie and Tulip want to come stay—which is often. They’ve really embraced my relationship with their dad and it’s been such a wonderful sense of family and closeness.