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This is how you fall in love.
“You know what I think, Adam? I think you’re the one who found it because you’re my family now too. You feel like it, anyway. You didn’t just find my family; I found my family in you.”
I’ve found love.
“I’ve wanted to belong to someone for a long time. So long, I’m not sure my brain will let me believe it now.” “I’m a patient man. I don’t mind needing to prove it to you every day.”
“We’ll never be right for everyone, but we’ll be perfect for the right person. And when that person comes along, there is no choice. It just…is. We exist exactly the way we are, with exactly the right people, because there is no other way to be.”
“I want you, Rosie. I want all of you. And there is no other choice.”
“Careful. Serve a girl hot fudge sundaes in bed, and she just might fall in love with you.”
I’d give her anything, whatever she wants, because as she stares up at me like I’m the sun in her sky, I realize she’s mine.
“You’re not my first choice, Rosie. You’re the only goddamn option.”
I want to spend my days giving you the love you’ve always deserved, the kind you’ve dreamed of, and I want to show you how thankful I am for giving it back to me. You’re mine, Rosie, and I’m yours. That’s all I need to know.
“Quit looking at me like that. It’s dangerous.” “How am I looking at you?” “Like you’d marry me right now if I promised to bring you flowers and ice cream sundaes every day for the rest of our lives.”
“Bye, Dada,” Connor whispers, waving at me. “Lub you.”
“You’re my family, Rosie. You and Connor.”
“I don’t think my forever exists without you somewhere inside it.”
“I hate Courtney,” my mom mutters.
Same
Deacon pauses at my side on the way by. “Thank you for taking care of my boys, Rosie. I know how much they love you.”
“I love you, Bear,” Adam whispers to him. “You’re the best dog in the world, and my best friend.”
Bear brought me Rosie, and Rosie brought me Connor. I wouldn’t have one without the other, and it doesn’t feel like my family is complete without all three of them.
“You will never lose me, Rosie. As long as you want me here, there’s nowhere else for me to be.”
It’s always been Rosie.
“These are peonies. You’re planting a peony garden in your front yard.”
“Because I wanted you to feel like you were home if you decided to come back to me.”
“I don’t need perfect. I need the mess, the chaos, all your fears and your insecurities. I’ve given you mine, and you’ve walked me through all of them. Let me walk with you through your chaos.”
“I’m gonna marry you someday, after all. Batman always gets the girl.”
“Every day, you give me something new to love about you. How lucky am I to find someone who gives me so many things to be thankful for?”
On the last page is a photo of Carter with Ireland tucked in the crook of his arm, Olivia held tight against his side. The love reflected in his gaze is staggering, but it’s the words beneath the photo that tug at every bit of my heart. Daddy goes to hockey, but his love stays here.
“We’re a family. We want you and Connor to be part of this family.”
“You really think you’re gonna marry me one day?” “Sure as shit do.” “What if I say no?” “You won’t.”
“I like you a little drunk.” “You like me all the time.” “This is true.”
“You know, Jaxon, Carter was a lot like you before he met Olivia. Maybe worse.” “What’s your point?” I shrug. “Can’t wait to see how obsessed you turn out to be for the right woman.”
“Thank you for coming.”
“Where else would we be if we weren’t here supporting our favorite person?”
“We need you.” “You do?” “Of course. But more than we need you, Adam, we want you.”
“Really? Because I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you and Connor, Rosie. Not a single thing, not even hockey. I want to be your partner, and I want to do all the things together. The adventurous things and the quiet, lazy things. I want to do all the happy things, and all the sad, hard things, too, as long as I’m doing them with you. I want to keep loving Connor exactly the way I do, like he’s mine, ours, because he fucking feels like it. That kid owns my heart, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t hope one day Dada won’t just be a name he calls me because it’s a phase, but
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“Thank you,” I choke out. “For what?” “Loving me.”
“Loving you came so naturally, like all these years I’d been saving it just for you, and when you walked into my life, all I wanted to do was hand you my heart and tell you to take it. So kiss me, please, because I’m ready to give it all to you.”
“That’s why I love you, Rosie. I love you, and I’ve been loving you for a long time.”
“My only goal in this life is making sure you spend the rest of your days knowing, without a doubt, how loved you and Connor are.”
That’s Rosie. She unravels every string, and when she puts me back together again, I’m better than I was before. Whole, finally, and I don’t think I’ve ever been whole.
“Do you wake up every day and think to yourself, ‘What can I say to Rosie today that’ll make her fall even more in love with me?’” “Pretty much. I need you head over heels if I have any hope of getting you to change your last name one day. Every morning I wake up and ask myself how I can get us one step closer.”
“How lucky am I to have my dreams come true?” “Am I really your dream?” he whispers against my lips. “Promise?” “Swear it.”
My spectacular girlfriend, and our beautiful son.”
“And also, you said our. You called Connor our son. And all I’ve ever wanted is for someone to love him as endlessly as you do.”
“I was thinking, in the future, when we get married—” “You have to ask me first, you know.”
“Would me adopting Connor be something you might want? Obviously, we would talk to him about it, too, and see if he wants that, but—”
“He’d be the luckiest boy in the world to be able to officially call you his dada.”
“How we make a family doesn’t matter to me. Whether we open our home to kids who were born to someone else, whether we make five babies or Connor is our one and only, and he and Bear convince us to buy a farm filled with animals to play with. What matters to me, at the end of the day, is that I’m with my family. And my family is you and Connor.”
“If I’m your happy ending, you’re my heaven. There’s nothing else I need from this world. I could live here forever, in this place where I’m yours and you’re mine. There’s never been anything more beautiful than this version of paradise. I’m certain of it.”
Jennie steps through the door, a dazzling, dimple-popping smile on her face as she holds out her hand. “We’re—” Garrett pushes by her, doing a twirl in the entryway. “—engaged!”
“You’re our puzzle piece, Lily. Our family isn’t complete without you.”
