Page 66 of Love Songs

“Okay, you two,” Haider hollered. “Quit lollygagging and get back to work.”

Laughter rang throughout the house, and joy sailed through my veins. This was the everything I’d been looking for in life. Jaylin, Conor, good friends, and a place to call home.

“WHERE ARE YOUgoing?” Dallas asked later, after the pizza boxes were all empty and everyone had gone home.

“There’s one more box.” I tucked my phone away, so he didn’t glimpse the message on the screen, and a thrill danced through me. I loved giving surprises as much as I loved receiving them.

Dallas looked around the living room with his eyebrows furrowed.

With the help of my friends and their significant others, we’d unpacked all the big and important items by early evening.There was still a lot to do, but at least the house wasn’t in complete disarray or cluttered with boxes everywhere I looked.

“How can there be another box?” he asked, turning back to me with a frown. “I don’t think we’re missing anything.”

“Be right back.” I winked at him, trying so hard not to bounce on my toes. “Call Jay down.”

Dallas narrowed his eyes and propped his hands on his hips. “What are you up to?”

I flashed a wide grin at him and pointed. “Stay right there.”

Leaving a confused Dallas standing in the middle of the living room, I rushed outside, where I found Sam waiting for me by the back of his truck.

“Are you sure about this?” Sam sounded serious, but there was a smile on his face.

“One hundred percent.” I hopped from foot to foot as he opened the tailgate and canopy hatch to reveal a large box with holes in it.

“Thought so,” he said with a soft note of affection in his voice. “They’re adorable. I was kind of hoping you’d change your mind so I could keep them.”

A throaty laugh burst from my lungs. “No way!”

I gently grabbed the box and tucked it close to my side, away from Sam, while Sam shook his head and chuckled.

“Good luck,” he said. “I want to hear how it goes.”

“Thank you for helping me, Sam,” I said. “This means a lot.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t have to marry you, so we’re all good.”

“Ass,” I joked.

I’m not sure if we’d have ever gone through with the pact that we’d made to marry each other if we were still single when we turned thirty, but I’m happy we never had to find out. Sam, as well as Ryan and Haider, were and would always be my best friends and chosen brothers.

“You know I love you, right?” he said, and I nodded. “I’m really happy you’ve found the other half of your heart, and your own family.” He shook his head and chuffed under his breath. “Who’d have thought you’d be the first one of us with a family?”

“And you were doing so well,” I teased.

He laughed as he got back into his truck and waved as he drove off.

I took a deep breath and went back intoourhouse, where I found both Dallas and Jaylin sitting onourcouch inourliving room. They both looked up at me as I entered the room, curiosity glittering bright in their matching blue eyes. I had to pause for a second, overwhelmed that these two had come into my life and given me the love and family I’d never thought I’d find. And now that I had, I couldn’t imagine a single day without them in it. They were my everything.

“What’s that?” Jaylin asked as I placed the box carefully on the floor in the middle of the room.

“Open it and see,” I said, unable to keep the grin from my face, and stood back.

She cautiously lifted the lid, as if worried I was playing a prank, and something would jump out at her. Something was definitely going to jump out at her, though. Two somethings.

She squealed when two of the most adorable Bernese Mountain Dog puppies I’d ever seen tumbled from the box and trounced around the room, uber excited at their new digs and new humans. One launched himself at Jaylin and she cradled the wiggling black, white, and copper bundle of fur in her lap, giggling while the puppy planted sloppy dog kisses on her cheek.

“Puppies?” Dallas looked up at me with wide eyes and a grin he was clearly fighting. “When you said a couple of dogs, I thought you meant a couple of grown, past the chewing-everything-in-sight stage shelter dogs.”

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