“Him? Who the fuck is in my house, Rachel?!” Without waiting for an answer, I stalked off down the hall and straight toward the shut bedroom door. This wasn’t fucking happening, she would never cheat on me. I knew she wouldn’t. Another loud noise sounded, and I swore I would kill the son of a bitch. Shoot first, ask questions after.
“Kash, wait!”
I flung open the door, and my eyes went to the perfectly made bed and lamp that had been knocked onto the floor. Before I could say anything, I heard a whine coming from the corner of the room and walked slowly toward it.
Huddled into the corner near the other nightstand was a puppy looking up at me like he knew exactly what he had done. Rachel was talking quickly, and I knew she was trying to explain why the dog was here, but I was just trying not to laugh. I holstered my gun and bent down to pick up the shaking puppy.
“. . . please don’t make me take him back!”
I turned and looked at my beautiful fiancée. I wanted to play with her so bad, but when she was giving me puppy-eyes about as good as the little shit in my arms could, all I could think about was giving her anything in the world that she asked for.
“Did you get him from the shelter where Maddie works?”
“Maybe.”
I nodded and scratched behind the pup’s ears. “And I’m guessing Maddie was with you?” When Rachel nodded, I continued, “Did she say anything to you about getting the puppy? Like maybe . . . don’t?”
“But I’m in puppy love with him! I wanted him so bad, I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me, I knew you would say no and I couldn’t stand the thought of letting him go to someone else!”
Coughing to cover my laugh, I let my eyes fall over her pleading expression and sucked hard on my lip ring so I wouldn’t smile. “Maddie feed you a story about the
puppies being adopted quickly and she was afraid they’d all be gone by Saturday?”
“Wait, what? How did you know?”
“Because, woman I love whom I want to strangle sometimes, Maddie took you to the shelter to see which of the two puppies you liked best. They were officially adoptable, but they were holding both of them because I was going to get one for you.”
“You were?”
“Yeah, but obviously you jumped the gun on that one. So, uh, surprise . . . I guess?”
She squealed and launched herself at me, taking the puppy from my arms. “Thank you so much, I love him, you’re the best!”
I rolled my eyes and fell onto the bed. “What are we gonna name him?”
“Trip.” I knew from her tone there was no room for negotiating that, so I just smiled at her.
“All right, Trip it is. Are you going to make me pancakes now?”
“Make them yourself. I’ve been freaking out about your reaction all day, and I want to play with him now.”
And that was more like my Rachel.
3
Rachel
“YOU STILL DOING OKAY?” Kash asked, and kissed my neck softly.
“Yeah, your family is fun. I feel like I don’t need to say anything and they’ll just continue to provide all the entertainment.”
We were at a family dinner with a bunch of his aunts, uncles, and cousins—and though I’d been nervous to meet more of his family, there was no way to stay nervous around this bunch. There were a lot of them, they were loud, and they were a freaking riot. At any one moment at least two people were in an argument, there were cousins tackling or hitting one another, others giving one another a hard time about the game on TV, and even more laughing throughout the house. It felt like I was in a real version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Except Kash’s family wasn’t Greek.
I have two cousins, and I’d only met them once when I was really young, so I didn’t know what it must have been like for Kash to grow up with this. Out of the nineteen cousins he has, there were only three older than him and they ranged down to the youngest at eight years old. Even through the yelling and fighting, it was apparent this family loved each other and would stick together through anything.
I’d never known any different, so having Candice and her brother, Eli, as my best friends and makeshift family had been all I’d needed growing up. But seeing this—seeing the way Kash interacted with five of his cousins closest in age . . . I found myself wishing I’d had this.
“They’re something else,” Kash said, laughing, interrupting my thoughts. “That’s for sure. I’m gonna get another beer, do you want one?”