She’s so damn adorable. Sometimes I think my old cold heart can’t take it.
We’re passing my office building when the garage door opens and Eli’s Ferrari zips out. He stops and rolls down the window when he sees us.
“You’re working late,” Arya says as she ducks down to see him.
“Someone’s got to make the money while you two lovebirds slack off.” He’s smiling as he says it and I know he’s only kidding. Eli has been happy for us and he even confided in me, saying that he wants the same thing for himself. He’s twenty-eight and itching for a girl to settle down with.
I just hope he finds one soon. I hope all of my brothers do. I want everyone in the world to experience the joy I’m feeling with Arya.
Everyone should have a love story like ours.
“You know, you’re never going to find a girl if you’re working all night,” Arya says. I love how she’s already giving him shit like she’s been a part of the family for years. She walked in and fit right away. “Come for a drink with us. Maybe you’ll meet someone.”
Eli takes a deep breath and stares out his windshield as he thinks about it. “Nah. I’ll let you two lovers enjoy the night.”
“You sure?” Arya asks. “We can help you find a girl…”
He laughs. “I’m not that desperate. Yet.”
“Well, when you are, let us know and we’ll help you.”
We chat for a bit longer, say bye and then Eli peels off in his sports car.
“He has to find himself a girl,” Arya says as we continue walking to the bar.
“Yup,” I say with a breath of relief. “All of my brothers do.”
I can see that I was just like them. Overworked, overstressed, and in desperate need of a new perspective on life.
Arya gave me that perspective and I can’t thank her enough.
I guess I’ll just have to settle for spoiling her rotten every second of every day for the rest of her life.
Her hand slides into mine and it feels like home. She smiles up at me as I squeeze it and I swear my heart can’t take all of this love.
It’s going to burst.
That would be okay with me. It’d be worth it.
Loving Arya is worth anything.EpilogueAryaOne year later…“I don’t think so,” I say as the hostess holds up a grass skirt at the entrance to the luau.
I’ve always had a thicker waist than the women you usually see on TV and in magazines, but now that I’m seven months pregnant, I’m not sure if that tiny grass skirt is going to fit around me. It’s gonna be a grass apron, not a skirt.
“You’re in Maui,” the beautiful girl says as she tries again. “I’m afraid it’s the dress code for the night.”
I look at Nolan in his ridiculous Hawaiian shirt that somehow looks incredible on him. Ugh. This is not fair. How come he gets to look like that and I have to look like this?
All the tourists entering the luau are putting on the grass skirts and leis. “Fine,” I say with a sigh. My ankles are too fucking swollen to be standing here arguing with this girl.
She smiles as she ties it around my waist and then wishes us a good night as we go inside.
“It doesn’t even make it to my ass,” I say with a laugh—It’s either laugh or cry.
“You look beautiful,” Nolan says as he wraps his arm around me and grips my thick hip. “You look like a hula dancer.”
“Oh, please,” I say with a sigh. “I feel more like the pig on the spit.”
The huge dead pig has an apple in his mouth as the locals slowly turn it over the fire. Why the hell did our vacation to Maui have to be in my third trimester? It couldn’t have been a couple of months ago when the baby weight made me extra curvy and filled out my breasts even more?
Nolan takes my hands in his and turns me away from the spit. “Look at me,” he demands.
I let out a breath as I meet his eyes. They’re so full of love. He always makes me feel so cherished and adored when he looks at me like this.
“You are the most stunning, gorgeous, breathtaking girl on the planet,” he says as I try to look away. He squeezes my hands and my eyes dart back to his. “It’s true. You’re carrying my child right now and that makes you even more spectacular.”
“I’m huge,” I say as I look down at my swollen belly. It’s touching his flat stomach. “I’m sure the people on the beach thought I was a beached whale.”
Tears start stinging the back of my eyes as I remember them looking at me. I know I’m being ridiculous, but I can’t help it. The pregnancy hormones are driving my brain crazy and throwing my emotions all out of whack.