Page 11 of Guarded Love

When you know it’s right, you don’t let go, you don’t let anything ruin the chances of being together and that’s how it felt with Ciara.

I might not have been looking for love, but it fell into my lap, and I wasn’t about to close the door on it.

“I know. I’ve been waiting forever. I can’t wait to wake up to you every morning, baby.” I said as I leaned across my truck’s middle console and kissed her, long and deep. She always tasted so damn sweet. I could never get enough.

“Me either. Jeanie is tired of hearing me whine.”

“Ha! She must be happy it’s moving day too, then.”

“Oh, she is. But she’s also begging to come for a visit.”

“Invite them all, baby. We’ll have a housewarming party. I need to fix a few more things first.”

“How about we unpack later and go say hi to your parents first? I’m starving.”

I threw my head back with laughter. Ciara couldn’t stop raving about my dad’s tomato sauce. He was already making a batch for her right now. Cooking lately has seemed to bring up his spirits, and I was happy he found something he liked. Most days he was depressed not able to work and watching mymother’s health decline, but there was always a smile on his face when he was cooking.

Ciara was his biggest taste tester. She also loved watching trashy reality TV with my mom, and both my parents just adored her.

Sometimes I wondered if they admired her more than me. But that wasn’t possible.

“Pops already has the sauce on. We might as well eat some lunch before we get started.”

“At least I only have a few bags. You won’t believe how much crap I got rid of.”

“Oh, I can believe it.” I said as we climbed out of my truck and she came around the front.

“Would you still love me if I filled this house with stuff?”

“Of course I would. I’d just slowly clean it out when you weren’t looking.”

Ciara laughed, and we couldn’t stop smiling all the way to the carriage house.

How I met the love of my life at my side hustle job, I’d never know, but I wasn’t about to question it. She was perfect, and I’d forever be thankful. I’d also forever be thankful her first engagement was called off. Something I told her often, and she loved to hear. Because she was happy too. She wasn’t stuck in a loveless marriage she didn’t want.

And a couple of months later, when I proposed to her under a moonlight sky, she cried tears of joy, happy to be engaged to a man shewantedto marry.

I was happy I found my forever in her.

THE END