Page 82 of Her Ex-Husband's Brother

There wasonepath all the teachers (and my mother) were ever interested in telling us we should take my whole life.

Grow up, take the SAT, get into the best college you can, take out loans, then pray you can get a steady office job working for the man to pay off all your loans just in time to get a mortgage, aka, taking on an evenbigger debtthat you then work the rest of yourlifeto pay off?—

Look, that was just never gonna be my path.

So fuck it.

I met the girl of my dreams during a wild, one-night stand and then she just happened to be still-married to my bitch of a brother.

Life’s funny that way. The kind of shit no one would believe, but there it is.

Am I really gonna let whatever anybody else might think about the circumstances fuck up what might be my chance at the best thing that’s ever happened to me?

Lennon’s amazing, gorgeous, kind, and funny. Fuck, she’s so funny, andfun. Who the fuck knew life could befunall the time and not a dreary slog of negativity? She just bounces out of bed happy and grateful and full of ideas for all she wants to do that day.

I’ve never met anyone like her.

I didn’t know peoplecould belike her.

I doubt I deserve her, but she makes me want to be better every day, so I even have half a chance at being the man walking the path at her side in life.

Is that crazy to say about a woman I’ve known only a little over a month?

I know it’s too crazy to say out loud, that’s for damn sure.

Even though I want to crow it from the damn rooftops.

I’ve still met myself.

And I know that I might believe this with all my brain and soul and it seems wildly possible right now… when I’m at the rollercoaster’s heights.

Everything always feels possible when I’m up here.

I’m on top of the whole goddamn world.

I’m trying not to think about what comes next and how I’ll try desperately to hold on to these same beliefs when the fall comes and the ground drops out from underneath my feet like it always does.

Because maybe, just maybe it will be possible to hold onto anyway… for her.

And in the meantime, I just want her to know how special she is.

So I pick Lennon up from a coffee shop after a shorter shift than my usual nine- or ten-hour sessions I’ve been pulling lately at the shop.

She camps out here for long days of her own as she ramps up her new business while she’s still closed out of her old one. Her lawyer assured her any work done after the date she separated from Jake is 100% her own and won’t have to be split 50/50 with Jake even though they’re still legally married. So she’s been busting her butt just as hard as me to createherfuture.

When I pop into the shop, she’s hunched over her laptop, her brow adorably scrunched as she types away furiously.

I drop into the chair across from her at her table. “Hey gorgeous. Cancel whatever you had planned tonight.”

Her face lights up when she sees me. “I didn’t have anything planned.”

She immediately shuts her laptop lid and starts packing up, like she didn’t look like she was engaged in the world’s most intricate and important work situation two seconds before. She just drops everything, like she’s always ready to get back to the real business of living. It’s only one of her amazing qualities.

“Good. Then it’s easy.”

She frowns at her phone. “Wait, I thought you had four appointments back-to-back tonight? Shouldn’t you still be at work?”

“I rescheduled the last one. I haven’t taken a night off in weeks. So I’m taking one. With you.”