Page 129 of Pieces of Me

And Tammy—Tammy watches our exchange, her head angled, smiling like parents are supposed to smile at their children. I remember that smile…. in my mother. Beforeeverything else,I remember her love for me.

I push back my heartache, my longing, and look down at my fingers. “This one’s my favorite,” I say.

Tammy lifts my hand, inspecting it closer. It’s a turquoise rock that’s in two pieces, braced by separate fork prongs and displayed one on top of the other. “You know what I like most about it?” I ask and don’t wait for an answer. “It reminds me of Holden. Of how he feels about me… that just because something’s broken, it doesn’t mean it’s not perfect.”

55

Holden

Jamie and I wave at Mom and Joseph as they reverse out the driveway, Mom’s grin matching my own. Once they’re no longer in view, I turn to the girl beside me, my forearms on her shoulders as I drop my gaze to hers. “You’re pretty special, you know that?”

She rises to her toes and kisses me once. “You make me feel pretty special.”

I hug her to me, leaving no space between us. “Thank you for doing that, and I’m sorry if I rushed you or pressured—”

“You didn’t,” she cuts in, rearing back. “It was time.”

“You didn’t have to invite them to the wedding.” We haven’t even set a date yet. “You could’ve just taken your time and gotten to—”

“Holden,” she laughs out. “I have zero regrets; I promise you. But I’ve had quite a day, and I’m tired, and—”

“Okay…” I take her hand in mine. “There’s just once place I need to take you, and then we’ll come straight home.”

“Where the hell would you want to gonow?”

I’m already opening the car door when I answer, repeating the words I’d said the first time she got in my truck, “Shut up. Get in.”

Her shoulders drop as she puts a hand to her heart. “Aww, the nostalgia of Dickhead Holden. Makes my heart so happy.”

“If you’re taking me somewhere to bend me over a bench andbone me, then can we wait a bit?” Jamie says. “I’m so full.” She shifts in her seat so she can unbutton her skirt, then lifts up her top to reveal her bare, curved, full stomach.

She runs a hand over it, moaning, and I focus back on the road and say, “Question.”

“Yes?”

“How long do you want to wait after the wedding to have babies?”

“What?” She sits up, glaring at me. “You think I look pregnant?”

“No!” I laugh out. “But you were rubbing your belly, and it was the first thing I thought of, and now I’m wondering if there’s an incessant need in males to plant their seed—”

“Plant their seed?” she mocks. “I’m not a garden, Holden!”

“Answer the question!”

She removes her shoes and brings her feet up to sit cross-legged. “Not for a while. Years. Maybe ten,” she says. “I still want to travel and discover who I am, who we are as a married couple, you know?”

Ten years?“Five,” I counter.

“Seven,” she returns.

I nod. “I’ll take it.”

She reaches over and grabs my hand, placing it on her lap, and I know what she’ll do next. She’ll open the glove box, pull out a marker, put that marker to my skin and create magic with her fingers. Every time she does it now, it feels exactly like the first time, only back then, she wasbarelymy girlfriend. Now, she’s my fiancée. “It would be pretty cute though,” she says, distracted by the lines she’s creating. “A littlemerunning around.”

“Oh, God, no. A littleyouwould be such a pain in the ass,” I joke. “A little me on the other hand…”

“A littleyouwould drive me insane. I can just imagine that little shit terrorizing the town, walking around as if he owns it.”

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