More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
She is so wrong. I haven’t eaten an entire roll of store-bought cookie dough. I would never do something like that. I made my own cookie dough and ate the whole thing. It tastes way better, and if I’m going to get salmonella poisoning, I’m going to do it the right way.
Parenting is a hard job to do on your own.
I’ve decided there’s nothing sexier than a man snuggling his son close.
Dating was so much easier when I didn’t have a seven-year-old sabotaging me at every turn, and I’m not even dating. I’m just texting.
“Has anyone ever thought about how Anna Mae’s name sounds exactly like anime?”
What if I knew Tyler wouldn’t break my heart? Would he be worth losing my job? The logical part of my brain immediately says no. But a bigger part of my heart screams yes.
I’m watching my window from my classroom, waiting for the moment when it looks like Tyler is loading up, getting ready to leave the school for the weekend. When that happens, I’ll head to my car so we can leave at the same time.
I’m moving slowly, trying to time my exit with Meg’s. Her car is still in the parking lot, so I know she’s at the school. I have a plan. When Meg walks to her car, I’ll strike up a conversation with her, and then I’ll ask her what she’s doing this weekend. Hopefully one thing will lead to another, and we’ll end up hanging out.
She tickles his side, and Krew squirms in her arms. My eyes tear up. We’ve already established I’m a crying man, but seeing Meg with Krew fills me with happiness. There’s never been anything more attractive than a woman loving on my son. I’m a complete goner now. Even if I wanted to stop my feelings for her from growing stronger, I couldn’t.
I should probably warn her, tell her I’m absolutely falling in love with her, and there’s nothing I can do about it. She smiles up at me, completely unaware that I’m crazy for her.
“This love is different with you than it was with Kristen. When she first died, I couldn’t even imagine falling in love again. I literally thought that I would be alone for the rest of my life. And then you came along, and now I can’t imagine not being with you.”
“You’re right. I don’t need you. I see that now. But Meg, I want you. You’re the person I want to be with. The person I want to turn to when I've just won the championship. When the entire team runs to the pitcher or to the kid who just hit the home run, I want to run to you. You make everything better. You make the losses bearable and the wins complete.”
“I love you, Meg.”
“I don’t look at your mother like she’s my competition. I look at her like she’s my friend. She loves the same people I love, and therefore, I love her.”
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” —Theodore Roosevelt
He’s not the man I thought I would marry, but he’s the man I want to marry, and I’d do anything for him to know that—even if it means losing my job. Which is exactly what will happen after I get done with my speech, but somehow, I’m okay with that outcome. He’s worth it.
“So I guess you could say we were a little bit more than dating, because I fell completely in love with him.”
“I know now that the only thing that matters is that we’re together. I love you.”
Jobs will come and go, but Tyler will be forever.
Tyler Dixon is the happy ending that I’ve been dreaming of, but the coolest part is that it’s not the end. It’s the beginning.
