Page 128 of Eye of the Hurricane
“Shut up. We’re celebrating,” Ravyn jokes, shushing me. I roll my eyes but I let them enjoy their moment.
“Do you have a venue?” Sebastian asks.
“Yes, do you guys want to see it?” Everyone including myself says yes despite the fact I’ve looked through the pictures of this specific venue a hundred times. She’s known her venue since before she knew her groom.
I don’t give her a hard time because she deserves it after everything she’s been through this past year. The things her ex, Tyler, put her through were horrible. She deserves her peace and to plan the wedding she’s dreamed of.
When things settle and we get a chance to sneak off, Katherine takes my hand and drags me down to the beach. Okay, fine, drag is a strong word for someone who willingly would follow her anywhere she wants to take me.
We walk hand in hand to the beach. We leave our shoes at the end of the boardwalk and walk through the sand barefoot.
She takes us down into the most shallow point of water where only our feet and the ends of her dress are getting wet. The water is freezing, much colder than it is in the summer. We both step out of it and back to the sand.
There are far fewer people walking the beach than usual this time of year. It’s only us and a handful of other people as far as the eye can see.
Katherine stops once we’re a decent way away from the house and reaches into her purse. She pulls out a small box.
When she opens the box there’s a small key inside. I recognize it as her house key immediately. I’ve unlocked her house enough times to know.
This is huge for her. I know how serious this is and how hard being super serious about relationships can be for her. And still, here she is.
“You’re giving me a key to your house?” I ask, looking to confirm my assessment of the situation.
“No.” Rejection and a slight pang of embarrassment settle in. More so, confusion. Because what other key could it even be?
“Oh,” is all I can respond with. Her smile grows and for the split second she’s not speaking, it feels like salt in the wound.
“I’m giving you a key to our house. I’m asking you to come move in with me,” she corrects.
This moment feels like the start of forever. It feels like being asked to move for the last time, take a chance on love for the last time, and start something for the last time. And I have zero hesitation saying yes to all of those things.
“Are you sure?” I don’t even know why I say it. Shock maybe? It’s not like I want to give her an out, but here I am offering one. She just giggles.
“Yes, baby, I’m sure. You’re there every night anyway. The best part of all my days is coming home to you. I think I’d like to do it every night.”
“Of course, I’ll move in. One condition though,” I say sticking my hand in the air. Funny thing is, I know even if she told me no, I’d still go to my mom’s house and pack my bags tonight.
“What’s your one condition?” she asks, dropping the key into my pocket. I hadn’t realized I was so surprised by her question that I forgot to take the key.
“A dog. Bells needs a big strong friend,” I tell her.
“Do you want to go to the shelter now?”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. I’m all in on this—on you. If your condition is a dog, let’s go get a dog.”
“Honey, I was kidding. I don’t have conditions. I would live with you no matter what,” I assure her. She just laughs, turning the other way to walk back toward the house.
“I know.”
Three different shelters.
We’ve tried three different shelters and this is our fourth.
“Kat, maybe we just aren’t meant to find our dog today,” I suggest. She shakes her head firmly. She doesn’t even entertain the sentiment with a response, she just walks through the glass doors of Paws and Pals Rescue. It’s bigger than the others, which makes sense considering we drove two hours to a bigger city hoping for a wider selection.
A tall woman with electric blue hair walks up to us and greets us. Despite everything about her attire and face leading me to think she’d be rude, her smile is warm and welcoming. Reminds me of Audi.
