Page 152 of For the Boys
“You got yourself a deal.”
She grinned at him, heart expanding in her chest as the weight of the last two weeks fell away. She pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. “I love you, Brent Jean. With my whole heart.”
“I love you, too, Berkley Daniels. With everything that I am.”
Epilogue
Berkley
Three months later…
Brent was still fast asleep next to Berkley, completely oblivious to the alarm blaring by her head from the nightstand. She rolled toward her phone and grabbed it, quickly silencing it before he woke.
For the entire week they’d been at Brent’s family cabin in upstate New York, they’d been planning to wake up early and take their coffee on the back patio so they could watch the sun come up over the lake. It was their final morning, and they had yet to do so. Berkley was not missing out.
His family had left yesterday, after spending the day before celebrating Brent’s thirtieth birthday, so the cabin was finally blissfully quiet. And, Berkley had to admit, it was nice waking up without a hangover for the first time in several days.
If someone had told her a year ago that she would be waking up next to Brent Jean almost every morning, she would’ve thought they had lost their damn mind. Hell, if she had been told that three months ago, in the deepest, darkest hours post-breakup, she would’ve probably thrown something or hit someone. Between that and finishing law school, the last twelve months had been a wild ride.
She had finally taken the Bar in July. Whether she passed or failed was now completely out of her hands. Waiting until November for her results would be pure torture, but she was keeping her mind sharp by working at Grant, Stone, and Lippett under the continued tutelage of Davis Lippett. She wasn’t allowed to work on or even look at anything related to Brent or FLEX, but the law firm brought in plenty of other business to keep Berkley more than occupied.
The Warriors got knocked out of the playoffs in the second round, so Brent and Berkley had spent the bulk of the summer together, traveling across Michigan on free weekends. After their makeup at graduation, spending so much uninterrupted time together was exactly what their relationship needed, and they were stronger than ever.
After a pitstop in the kitchen to fill her mug to the brim with coffee, she made her way outside alone, choosing to let Brent sleep. Training camp was rapidly approaching, and he deserved the extra rest.
Shortly after she’d settled into a lounge chair on the patio, the screen door slid open behind her, and she knew she was busted.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” Brent asked, walking up behind her and dropping a kiss on the top of her head.
“You looked so peaceful,” she said, tipping her head back to smile up at him.
“We agreed we were going to do this together,” he said, gesturing toward the sky across the lake, which was just beginning to change from the deep purple of night to a marginally lighter lavender.
“Well, you’re here now, and the sun isn’t up yet, so quit your whining.” She took a long drink of her coffee, ignoring the glare he was giving her.
He shuffled around behind her, silent for a few minutes, and then said, “Let’s go watch it from the dock,” grabbing her hand and pulling her from the chair without waiting for an answer.
“Brent!” she yelled. “If you make me spill this coffee, so help me, I will make you drive to the nearest Starbucks and get me a new one.”
Brent smirked at her over his shoulder, towing her along behind him as though she were as light as a kite on the wind. “You could try.”
“You are such a brat.”
“Says the girl who was going to force me to drive to Starbucks for coffee when there’s a perfectly good pot of the stuff inside.”
Berkley giggled. “Okay, fair.”
They reached the end of the dock. The sky was getting lighter, changing from a deep blue still speckled with stars to pink and orange nearer the horizon. Any minute, the first rays would break through.
She and Brent stood there, his arm around her shoulders, hers around his waist, enjoying the early morning bird songs and the waves gently lapping on the shore.
“I wish I had my phone,” Berkley whispered, afraid speaking any louder would break the spell. “I’d love to take a time lapse of this.”
“Don’t worry,” Brent said. “I set mine up already.”
“You think of everything,” she said, snuggling closer to his side. The sky beyond the trees was steadily getting brighter, and Berkley smiled, completely content.
“Can you believe we’re here?”
