Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48730 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
I smiled. “I’m so excited for you. I think you’re going to love your job, and it’s all going to be awesome.”
“As long as I get to come home to you, I could probably work anywhere,” he said as I unpacked our food. “But it would be nice to enjoy it.”
“Life’s too short to work a shitty job,” I joked. I paused a minute and then widened my eyes. “Too soon?”
“You’ve got jokes,” Richie replied dryly. “Come on, get them all out now.”
“Can’t,” I teased. “They’re so much better when you don’t expect them.”
He laughed. “You know, plumbers don’t deserve to be made the butt of anyone’s jokes. Their jobs are shitty enough, alright?” He grinned slyly as I hooted.
“It’s a shitty job, but someone’s gotta do it,” I chirped back.
We were quiet as we ate, enjoying the view of the valley below us. We were somewhere down an old logging road that I was pretty sure I’d never be able to find on my own. The trees tapered down almost like gigantic stairs on the opposite side of the ravine, and I always wondered if the ground was shaped like that or if it was just the way the trees had grown.
When I was done eating, I laid back on the sleeping bag and stared at the sky. It was blue for as far as the eye could see, not a single cloud.
“What are you thinking about?” Richie asked, lying down beside me on his side. I knew his hand would roam, and I smiled as it slid beneath my dress and up my thigh.
“Well, I was thinking that there were no clouds, but now I’m wondering where that hand is headed,” I joked.
“You know exactly where it’s headed.” He grinned.
“Lucky me.”
He let out a huff of a laugh before his eyes grew serious. “Jesus, you’re pretty.”
“You’re prettier,” I crooned back, making him shake his head.
His hand traced designs on my thigh, higher and higher while his eyes roamed over my face and neck.
“What are you looking at?” I asked hoarsely, my cheeks heating.
“Forever,” he muttered.
I let out a noise halfway between a scoff and a laugh, but his expression didn’t change.
“This isn’t a teenage rom-com,” I joked uncomfortably. “Are you reading from a script?”
“Shut it,” he ordered calmly.
I swallowed thickly.
“You and me,” he said quietly, his hand moving higher. “You know that, right?”
I nodded.
“I’m serious.”
“Okay.”
“Aoife.”
“Richard.”
His hand cupped me over my underwear firmly, and I jolted.
“It’s you and me. Not just long term. I’m talking forever. Buying a house. Having babies—if you want. Getting a fucking dog. All of it.”
“Richie,” I murmured, the lump in my throat so huge that I wasn’t sure I could even speak. “You know I have the kids.”
“So?”
“I can’t leave them.”
His free hand tangled in my hair. “And?”
“Aisling won’t even be an adult for ten more years,” I whispered. I didn’t want to say it out loud. I didn’t want to break the spell. But he was looking at me with all of these plans in his eyes, and I couldn’t let him keep dreaming when I knew that eventually I’d have to bring him back to earth.
Richie leaned down until we were nose to nose, and I couldn’t see anything but him. “So, we bring them with us,” he whispered. “I’ve known since you were sixteen that you were a package deal, E.”
I was trying really hard to keep it together, but as the tight ball of anxiety in my gut unraveled piece by piece, a tear dripped down the side of my face.
“Were you really worried about this?” he asked in disbelief, his thumb wiping away the tear. “Where the hell do you think I’ve been for the last three years?”
My mind was racing. Things couldn’t be this easy. Things were never this easy.
“You want babies?” I asked, blurting out the first thought I could actually grasp.
“If you do,” he replied instantly.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Aoife, I’d love your babies,” Richie said gently. “But you’ve been raising kids since you were fourteen years old. You wanna be done, I’m good with that.”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded. “In five years, Aisling will only be thirteen. It’s not like we won’t still raise kids together. I just won’t have to wipe anyone’s ass, which isn’t a bad thing.”
“What happens in five years?” I breathed, staring at him. Did he have any idea that he was handing me the only dream I’d ever had, like it was no big deal?
“I put a ring on your finger,” he replied simply.
“Oh.”
“You good with that?”
“Is that a proposal?” I asked in disbelief.
“Fuck no,” he shot back. “When I propose, there will be a ring involved.”
“Oh.”
Richie grinned.
“You could change your mind,” I whispered.
“You know my parents met in high school, right?” he asked, his lips still pulled up in a small grin as his fingers between my legs began to gently move. “Hank and Rainy, too. Us Lewis men know what we want early.”