Page 2 of Grace Notes
Wiggling, she pulls her arms free from where I had them squashed between us and reaches up, grabbing my face on either side with her hands and pulling my head down until I’m staring her in the eyes.
“Focus, Brooks. I need you to focus.”
“Sorry,” I say, wiping the smile off my face and feigning seriousness, “I’m focused.”
She rolls her eyes but continues anyway. “Our vow renewal is in two months.”
I’ve proposed to Emryn three times in our lifetime together—once when we were six, once during college, and a third time just a couple of months ago. Each time I proposed, I gave her a strawberry RingPop to seal the deal.
She accepted each time with some stipulations of her own. This time, she wanted to renew our vows, and even though I’m not the kind of guy who loves to get dressed up in a suit and tie, I could tell how much it meant to her. So I agreed. Now, we area few months out from the date, and the planning has gotten—a little crazy.
“It’s marked on my calendar,” I say. “I won’t forget.”
“Good because I refuse to be a jilted bride, but that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” She chews on her lip, suddenly looking nervous, and my stomach dips. We’ve come a long way, but that doesn’t always mean we get it right. “I—uh—I kind of need some help.”
Guilt threatens to poke at my chest. It kills me that she still struggles to ask for help after all these months—a habit I created by not recognizing how much she does for our little family in the first place—but letting the guilt take over won’t get us anywhere. So I lean my head down until we are nearly nose to nose. “What do you need me to do?”
Her lips twitch in a wary smile. “Really? You don’t mind?”
Closing the distance, I drop a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Really. Make me a list. I know I let the big things fall on your shoulders for a while, but we are a team now. Don’t ever be nervous about asking me for help. You can come to me anytime.”
When I lean back, happiness is sparkling in her eyes. “Just remember you asked for it.”
Then she’s pulling out a list from her back pocket. She pinches the top of it between her fingers and lifts it above her head as, inch by inch, the bottom half of the paper unfolds, leaving enough tasks to fill an entire year.
My mouth drops open. “That’s your list?”
She nods. “Yes.”
I meet her eyes, making sure to keep my tone light. “Are we throwing a party for the whole town?”
I’m teasing—kind of—but that comment gets me a smack to my chest with the back of her hand. “Hush. Are you still willing to help me or not?”
With the smirk on my lips that she loves so much, I take the list from her hand and put it in my pocket. Then I lean forward until our lips are a breath apart. “I’m willing to help—but I have a stipulation.”
Emryn’s too breathless to giggle when she asks, “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“Kiss me.”
She doesn’t hesitate. Closing the gap, she presses her lips to mine and wipes away my smirk.
I sigh into her, getting lost in the feeling of being home.
______________________
“How’s the wedding planning going?” I ask my brother Grayson.
He got engaged less than a month ago and included my daughter Avery in the proposal. Avery was ecstatic. She fell in love with Grayson the first time he let her color in his tattoos that run all up and down his arms. And as far as his fiance goes, she offered Avery hot chocolate the first time she met her. That was an automatic win on Avery’s part.
Grayson’s fiance, Georgia, is sweet. Life has been hard on her. Her first husband died almost two years ago, but my grumpy big brother was there to help her through her grief, and in the midst of that, they fell in love with each other.
I’m happy for them, and so is Emryn. She loves Georgia. They’ve become good friends, and now, once a month, no matter what’s going on in our lives, we get together—sometimes at Grayson’s house and sometimes at mine—but we never miss it.
“Did you know there are a hundred and twenty-six shades of pink?” Grayson asks, his eyes widening as if traumatized by the idea.
I snort, unable to contain it, and he kicks my shin. “Shut up.”
Coughing, I try to cover up my laugh, but I can’t stop it. The horror on Grayson’s face is growing by the second.
