Page 111 of The Exception

“I missed you too.”

“Have y’all been good?” They were arriving separately to Ocean Beach because it was Dylan’s bachelor weekend—no women allowed. The guys had been there since Thursday and since Trav was now firmly one of the guys, she’d been forced to spend the weekend without him.

“We’ve been grilling and surfing for two days straight. I hope you brought some fresh vegetables and sunscreen in that bag of groceries.”

“You know I have both. And I’m not eating hot dogs, so start planning the menu, soldier.”

Dylan and Dani stepped out of the rental house hand in hand and Sonya waved.

Last New Year’s Eve, while they were celebrating at Emma’s, Dylan had brought up the subject of Sonya’s failed attempt at an elopement. She was ready to tell him where to shove it when he’d flipped the entire thing around and asked Dani if she wanted to tie the knot on the trip they had scheduled to Mexico.

Dani had shrugged and downed her glass of champagne. “Does the money we save on the wedding go straight to the ring?” she asked.

Dylan agreed, and her friends hijacked one of Sonya’s most foolish ideas and made it into something that was perfectly them. They were leaving in two days with Cat and Josh for the required witnesses. Sonya and Trav were babysitting Lucia.

Meanwhile, the big blue binder labeled “Wedding plans” sitting on Sonya and Trav’s dining room table was getting bigger each day. They had a system since they were ships passing in the night these days. Every time she added something new, she left a line at the bottom for Trav to sign his approval.

Benjamin J. Travis PMD ____

The blank line was for the LSW that would follow soon. Trav had transferred his credits to a four year degree, and with completing summer semesters, he was a year and nine months out from a degree in counseling—something he would combine with his trauma experience to make the best damn veteran’s liaison the hospital had ever seen.

Trav was adamant he would never be Dr. Travis, no matter how hard his ED mentor had pushed him to look into med school.

“There’s only room for one,” he’d said. Unless Sonya wanted to marry him, take his name, and go to med school herself. In which case, he’d make an exception. She’d rolled her eyes, then turned around to see him down on his knee in their living room, a little black box in his hand.

She’d said yes to the Mrs. no to the MD, and she was still mulling the name change.

“Just so you know,” Dani said, gesturing to the way Sonya was still wrapped around Trav, touching her nose to his and grinning like a fool, “I’ve known Sonya forever and she’s never acted like this over a man.”

“That’s because I’m rewriting her diary,” Trav said. “Scribbling all over the lines.”

Sonya shuddered but hugged him tighter.

Finally, he set Sonya on her toes in the water when Lucia toddled over to them. “Hey, little cupid.”

Trav liked to give Lulu credit for pushing him to make a move that night on the dock. Secretly, Sonya knew it was watching Trav do that little airplane noise with the baby spoon that had sealed the deal with her accepting said move, so it was pretty accurate.

He scooped her up, raspberrying her cheek. Lucia gave him a full belly giggle.

“When we get home, I’m adding one of these to the binder,” he said. “Actually three.”

“Three? You can’t just randomly decide how many kids you want. We need to make a list. Do a budget analysis…”

“Nope,” he said. “Three. Maybe four. We’ll see how it goes.”

“We’ll see how it—You know what? Fine, Trav. You’re right. There’s more than one way to plan a life.”

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