Page 59 of Make Me Swoon

Flynn waves, calling out that it’s good to have me back and I grin, waving as they take off down Main Street.

I’m sure that news of my return is already spreading throughout town and I turn back to Hudson.

“What now?” I ask him as he takes my hand.

“Whatever you want.”

I grin at him. I’ve got a few ideas.

TWENTY-ONE

Hudson

Five Years Later…

I headout of Fender and over to my car. I’m late getting home to my wife and I don’t want her trying to put our son’s crib together by herself. Knowing Lyla, she’s probably got all of the pieces spread out around the room and halfway down the hallway.

Fender is my newest restaurant, the one that I opened up in Lilac Harbor. Fender as in fender bender. I named it after Lyla, after the way that we met. It’s meant to be an inside joke, and it made Lyla laugh, so that’s good enough for me.

It only takes me fifteen minutes to get back to Destiny Falls and I pass by the Mystery Cabin and see that Teller and Sutton are just leaving too. Sutton is seven months pregnant, a month ahead of Lyla, and the two pregnancies have only brought the two of them closer together.

Iris and Madelyn just found out that they’re expecting too and I know that all of the women are excited to have kids around the same age together. They’re already planning play dates and the kids haven’t even been born yet.

I park in the driveway next to Lyla’s new Jeep and hop out. We bought her a new car a few months ago when her old Jeep finally gave out. It had quite a few miles on it, so it was time.

I hurry inside and I’m about to head upstairs when I smell garlic burning in the kitchen.

“Hey,” I say, coming into the kitchen and around the counter so that I can kiss her hello.

“Hey, how was work?”

“Good, what are you making for dinner?” I ask even though I can guess.

Lyla has been craving Italian food for the last few weeks, so I’ve been eating spaghetti, ravioli, and manicotti for weeks, along with a lot of garlic bread. I’m guessing that it’s the bread that is burning.

Lyla moved in with me right after she got back to town. I didn’t want to let her out of my sight, and it didn’t make much sense to have her in that apartment when we were spending every spare second together.

She’s gotten a lot better at cooking in the last five years. We usually make dinner together, but I’m guessing that she got hungry or wanted to surprise me tonight. She’s mastered noodles, but sometimes when she has to do two or three things at once, something gets slightly charred.

“Spaghetti,” Lyla says happily and I discreetly pull the garlic bread out of the oven before it can really burn.

I put the bread onto a plate to cool as Lyla stirs the sauce that’s boiling away on the stove.

“How was your day?” I ask and she launches into a story about Sutton crying while watching some commercial on her lunch break and Stan hiding in the kitchen for the rest of her shift.

I listen as Lyla goes on about some of the tourists that they had go through today and I love hearing her sound so happy. She tells me that she walked Bandit this afternoon for Sutton since she had a doctor’s appointment. She’s been talking about him a lot and I know that she would love a dog. I was planning on getting her one for our anniversary next week but I want it to be a surprise, so I haven’t told her yet.

I help Lyla drain the noodles and plate the food before I grab us some milk from the fridge.

“Smells great, Lyla. Thanks for making this.”

She grins happily as she takes a big bite of the garlic bread. I tell her more about Fender. We found a new chef for it the other week and just changed the menu. Lyla makes me promise to bring her home some of the chocolate fudge cake tomorrow and I make a mental note to grab an apple pie from the bakery downtown too since I know that she loves it.

“Ready to tackle the nursery?” I ask as we finish up dishes.

She nods, smothering a yawn and I smile, letting her lean on me as we head upstairs and into the room next to ours.

We already painted and set up the dresser and rocking chair and I lead her over to the chair, letting her sit down while I go and start unboxing the crib.

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