Page 24 of Love at First Write

I roll my eyes and laugh. “Let’s get back in bed and snuggle while you read all their nonsense.”

“I love you, Selkie. I hope you know that.”

“I not only know it. I feel it.”

epilogue

Kelsie

A few months later…

Sometimes when I wake up, I pinch myself just to make sure that this is really my life. Ethan moved in with me and while it’s abundantly clear that the small house I rent won’t fit us for long—big men take up big space—for now it’s our little love nest.

It’s date night tonight. Well, I suppose every night is date night. But this one is scheduled and intentional. We take turns planning them. Often though, we end up snuggled on the couch watching our favorite show.

I have something fun planned for us and cannot wait for Ethan to get home. He’s been spending his time, when I’m at the bakery, volunteering out at Dane Whitmore’s Great Dane’s Dog Sanctuary. I think being around another former military man is helping Ethan adjust to civilian life.

“Selkie,” he calls to me when he comes in the door.

My whole body warms and my heart rate picks up. Just the sound of his voice. That special nickname only for me.

“I have a surprise for you.”

I leave our bedroom and go out to meet him. We embrace. Kiss. “I missed you,” I say.

“I missed you.” He kisses my forehead. “Want your surprise? Well, technically you can’t have it right now, but you can know about it. Or we can wait, and you can just find out when it’s here.”

He’s like a kid on Christmas morning, clearly bursting to tell me the surprise. I lead him to the couch, and we sit.

“Tell me,” I say.

He pulls a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket and begins to smooth it out. I can tell it’s a picture or something, but I’m not sure what it is until he turns it around. It’s a clump of kelpie puppies all looking up at the camera.

“Oh my God,” I breathe.

“So, Dane got word about these little guys who were recently rescued from a puppy mill. And this one,” he points to one in the back with a squished-up face. “This one is ours. She’ll be here in about two weeks.”

“You got me a kelpie puppy?”

“Yeah. You said you’d always wanted one. Said it was on your bucket list.”

I grab his face, squishing his cheeks a little. “I love you so damn much!”

He smiles. “I love you. Are you excited?”

“Ridiculously excited.”

“I asked Dane to use his connections to see if we could find one to rescue rather than buy. I mean I would buy you one, but to find one who already needs a home.”

Because he knows what that’s like. To need a home and not get one. This man!

“It’s perfect. She’s going to fit in so great. But we’re definitely going to need a place with a much bigger yard.”

“Yeah, cause I really don’t want the dog climbing up on our fridge.” Then he sees my preparation for date night. “What’s all that?” He points to the notebooks and pens.

“I thought it would be fun if we each started a bucket list that we can do together.”

I hand him his notebook and pen, then take mine. “Let’s just do ten minutes for now or I will be here all night filling every page up.”