Page 62 of Keeping it Casual
All orchestrated by our kids.
I shake my head in disbelief. “We thought the town matchmakers were bad enough. We had conspirators much closer to home than we realized.”
“Even worse, conspirators we created!” Jeremy says.
“I don’t get why you’re mad. Didn’t it work out okay?” Lachie asks.
I slide a look at Jeremy, and I’m fairly sure I fail to keep my love for him out of my gaze.
He does a cute nose-scrunch at me in return, and I can see from his expression that he’s come to the same conclusion.
“Yeah, I guess it worked out okay in the end,” I say.
Epilogue: Jeremy
One year later
Kelly’s restaurant is crowded, even for a Saturday night.
“Did you book?” I ask Dustin as we walk in. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to offer free massages to the wait staff to get a table, and you have no idea how tense the shoulders of people who work in the hospitality industry are.”
He rolls his eyes at my overdramatic commentary. “Of course I booked. I wanted to make sure we’d definitely get a table.”
As we say hi to Kimmy and she leads us across the restaurant, it becomes apparent that not only did Dustin book a table, he booked a very specific table.
“Did you request this table?” I ask Dustin as we sit at a familiar table in the center of the room.
He gives me a smirk. “I might have.”
It’s the table where we had our first date. Well, our first fake date, anyway.
Which is fitting, as today is the anniversary of that date. We’ve decided to celebrate today as our official anniversary because it’s slightly classier than celebrating the date we first hooked up in my office. And celebrating the date we finally admitted our feelings for each other feels false because by then we were already eyeballs deep into a relationship, even though we’d been in denial.
Besides, I think if Dustin and I are honest, we both knew from our first date that the connection between us had the potential to lead to something.
Even in my most fantastical musings, I could never have imagined it would lead to the past year, which has been the most magical of my life as Dustin and I have built a life together.
It’s nothing like I imagined a relationship with the man of my dreams would be.
It’s so much more.
My DIY steps came in handy as we got really good at scaling the fence. After six months, we realized the stupidity of trying to live separately when we spent nearly every free moment together.
I never imagined that blending our families would be the source of so much fun and laughter, along with the occasional tantrum as two only children discovered what it was like to have a sibling for the first time.
Luckily, we had the ultimate retort for the few times Lachie and Lucy complained about each other.You guys were the ones who set this up, remember?
But most of all, I could have never imagined how incredible it is to be with someone who’s my best friend but also the person who can turn me into a quivering, horny mess with oneheated look or suggestive innuendo. It’s fair to say Dustin and I have continued to work on our sexual chemistry to the point that scientists need to develop a new temperature scale to measure how scorching things are between us.
Tonight, though, I don’t have time to share my reflection with him because we’ve barely taken a seat when I realize I know nearly everyone at the surrounding tables. We end up circling the room together like we’re visiting dignitaries.
Amanda, the real-estate agent who sold us our new house big enough for us and the kids. Laney Hewitt, who taught Lucy in year three. Joyce, from the corner store with her husband, Ron, who I treat to improve his mobility in his left hip.
People are used to Dustin and me as a couple now, but we still attract more than our fair share of attention. And anytime Em, Dustin, and I are in public together, I feel like we’re featuring in a how-blended-families-work documentary.
Luckily Em and Dustin get on great, and Dustin and I both like her new boyfriend, Carl. Carl is Lucy’s piano teacher, which is how Em met him. Given he has the patience to attempt to teach our very-sporty-but-almost-tone-deaf daughter a musical instrument, I’m prepared to nominate the guy for sainthood.
Finally, Jeremy and I sit back down and scan the menu. The waiter comes over, and we place our orders.
