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Story: Home Stretch
“We’ll see you back here in a few weeks,” she says as she leaves us at the front counter.
I help Malia out to the car and open her door for her. We’ve upgraded to something safer since we learned that she was pregnant. Luckily, when we bought our house, we made sure that it had plenty of bedrooms.
“Locklyn said that she’s closing up tonight, but maybe we could get together later and tell them the news,” she says, and I nod.
Locklyn, Elodie, and Malia own a boutique in downtown Sequoia. They opened it right after graduating and have made it a success in a short time. I opened a garage with Hendrix and Thorne, and we’ve been working on building up our clientele over the years. We do the usual repairs, oil changes, and all that, but we also do custom work.
We have one big-shot client in Los Angeles, and we’ve been doing work for him for over a year. He’s been bringing in his friend’s cars, too, so we’ve been making bank the last year or so.
I head toward our house, but I know my wife, so I pull into the drive of the local Mexican restaurant and hit the drive-thru.
“Oh, those crispy tacos sound so good right now,” she half moans, and I grin.
“How many do you want?”
“Four.”
I nod, taking her hand as we wait in line. She’s been craving hot sauce and salsa for the last two weeks. I’ve been trying to keep up with her cravings and anything else that she might need or want. It’s the least I can do since she’s carrying our baby.
I place our order, and we drive around to pay and get the food. I pass her the bag, and she sighs happily as we hit the road toward home.
“Happy?” I ask her as she crunches into a taco.
“I always am with you,” she says, and I grin.
“I love you, Malia.”
“I love you more.”
I don’t tell her that that’s not possible as I take her free hand and drive us home.