My Better Life

“And then I spoke.”

“Quit interrupting. And then you spoke.” She winks. “But then, I knew you were the reason I felt alive again. You were the reason I dreamed. I want to marry you. I want to spend the next seventy years in your arms, because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

My chest expands and I tug Jamie into my arms, tipping her chin up. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

Her lips soften and her lavender blue eyes warm. “I wouldn’t expect anything else. But Gavin?”

I brush my mouth across hers. “Yes?”

“What are we doing after we go camping?”

I nibble at her lip and span my hands around her waist, breathing in the orange blossom scent of her.

“We’re getting married, you’re becoming a world-famous glass artist, and we’re having a baby.”

She smiles against my mouth. “In that order?”

I laugh. “The last two are interchangeable.”

“You can kiss me now.” She wraps me in a hug.

And then I kiss her and kiss her. The kids run by, laughing and shouting, Scooter chases them, and the door that was closed in my heart opens wide and lets all the light in.

From now on, I know it’s going to be a good life.

THE END