Page 63 of Secrets That Bind Us

Dean

Present Day

We’re finishing up a few things when I hear a knock on The Ink Plot’s door. I look up from the display to see Jason carrying a large box. Taking out an earbud, I hurry up to unlock the door and let him in, taking the box from him. “Shit man, thank you.”

He grins as he looks around, hands on his hips, then lets out a low whistle. “Well, butter my ass and call me a roll. It looks fuckin’ good in here.”

I nod, reaching down to open the box. Verity and I had a last-minute idea to put a halogen sign that reads “Came for the Ink, Stayed for the Plot,” for a photo prop.

Thankfully, Jason’s brother owns a custom sign store.

Verity and Zoey were able to convince the Townsends to transfer their boutique over to the space on the other side of the building so Zoey could interconnect her new tattoo parlor to The Ink Plot’s cafe side by a sliding door– so people waiting could browse and hopefully drum up more business.

Jason is helping me put it up next to the large display.

Eli comes up to us in his usual tailor-made suit. “Oh, is this the sign?”

“Jason, Eli, Eli, Jason.” I introduce. “Eli is Jake’s husband. Jason is my best friend and the Fire Chief.”

They shake hands. Jason looks around the place. “Show me around? Muscles here can haul that out. I just want to make sure everything is up to code. I haven’t been in since checking it all out before the renovations.”

I roll my eyes at Jason but continue hauling it all out of the box.

I look up at the display Verity trusted me to create.

I went online and found a few videos on how to make an artsy book display out of old books.

I took a few pieces of plywood, had Savannah paint it black, went to a second-hand bookstore, purchased some old books, and nailed them to the thing.

Once I was done, Savannah added vines, little flowers, and made it way better than I ever could.

My daughter is great with those types of things.

I look down at my watch, noticing she’s probably at lunch, so I FaceTime her.

“Hello?” she asks quietly.

“Hey, sunshine. Quick question. Wait– are you in class?”

“No, I’m at the library.”

Of course. She may look like me and have my attitude, but that brain of hers is all Ver. I smile at that. “Okay,” I reply, not questioning it. “Jason brought the sign. I’m gonna put you down and you tell me where it looks best, alright?”

“Okay…”

I do as I said, put the phone to where she can see me, grab the neon sign, and put it toward the middle. “Here?”

“No, try more to the left… wait, your left. Yeah. Lower. Okay, now the right side of it should be more down.”

“Like this?”

“Uhhh… little more. Okay. there.”

“Perfect?”

“It looks great from here.”

I bring it down gently and grab my pencil from my back pocket, then do it all over again– measuring where she said. “How’s that?”

“Good.”

I measure it out where I need to screw the nails in.

“It needs glitter.”

“Huh?”

“The flowers and stuff. It needs glitter. The sign looks great. Can you buy some glitter spray from O’Flannigan’s? I can spray it when you pick me up.”

“Oh, is that Savvy? Hey honey!”

“Oh, hey Mom.” she says, still as unbothered as ever, looking up from time to time.

“Is everything okay? Why are you in the library?”

Savvy sighs. “Cafeteria’s too loud. Plus, this guy asked me to Homecoming and I’m not sure. So I'm kind of avoiding him.”

Verity hikes a brow. “Is it the dance you don’t want to go to, or the guy you don’t want to go with?”

“No… I like River… I just… I don’t know about the dance.”

I hold in my frown. As much as I don’t want my daughter to go on a date… I feel like HoCo is a weird rite of passage in Texas. Mums and garters. The football game itself. “Would you feel better if your mom and I chaperoned? That way if you want to leave once your social battery runs out, we can.”

I can tell Verity wants to smile but she’s holding it back. I take her lead, knowing we have to play it cool. Nonchalant. Be chill .

“That would be kind of okay, I guess. If you aren’t too busy.” She says softly.

I blink at my daughter. “For you? Never too busy, sunshine. Go ahead and tell River yes, I’ll take you shopping for a dress tomorrow, and I’ll contact the school.”

“Can Uncle Jake come? To shop, I mean.”

I nod and so does Verity. “He’s definitely who you want to help you choose a dress,” she giggles beside me.

The bell rings behind our daughter, blue eyes looking up at the ceiling. “I gotta go. Bye Mom! Bye Dean!” she hangs up on us without a second thought.

I turn to Verity. “So, what do you say? Will you go to Homecoming with me?”

She pushes her glasses up her nose in that Verity way and grins. “I dunno… I heard you got kids, plural… ”

I grab her by the ass and haul her up to me which makes her yelp my name. “Fuck yeah I do. I got the hottest woman alive pregnant twice .” I say proudly, dipping low to kiss my woman. “Going for a third.”

“God, y’all are so hot.” Jake says from behind us, causing Verity to groan and pull away. “Trish needs you.”

She sighs. “Of course. Has anyone seen Zoey?”

“She’s with Evan on the patio.” He replies. She saunters off, and I watch her walk away– biting my lip, thinking of every disgusting position I’m gonna put her in later.

Jake stays with me, helping with the sign as I grab some screws that came in the box and Will’s drill, then drill it where my daughter told me it would look best. “About tonight…”

“All things ready to go?” I ask over the noise.

“I have one more thing coming in, but everything is set.”

“Thank you, Jake. I really appreciate you helping with this.” I reply, moving to the other side.

“I always knew it was you for her, by the way.”

I look over at him before drilling the last screw into the wood. “I always knew it was me for her, too. I just wish we could’ve all worked this hard to get us back together a lot sooner.” I retort. “Oh, Sav wants you to help us when we go shopping for her Homecoming dress tomorrow. You down?”

“Am I down to help my favorite niece shop for her first date? Absolutely.”

I laugh, step away from the display and grab the wire to plug it into the wall. It lights up neon pink. He helps me move the small loveseat in front of it. I hear Jason and Eli’s voices coming back and we all stand around the thing, heads tilted to the side. “Sav’s right. It needs glitter.”

“Ohhhh, I love that idea!” Jake claps. “I can go to O’Flannigan’s. I need to grab a few things for tonight, anyway.”

“What time do the book influencers get here?” I ask Eli.

“A little after five-thirty. We want to get video of them standing outside in a line via drone.”

I look down at my watch again. “And they’re leaving before eight, right?”

Eli sighs, obviously annoyed with me. “Yes. Why are you so nervous? Are you having second thoughts?” He growls at me, stepping closer– dark eyes getting a little wild.

“What? No . I just want everything to be perfect. I don’t want to fuck this up, you know? I want the kids to see me do it right. One day Sav is gonna get proposed to, and– ah, shit. I know Micah proposed in front of, like, forty people and–”

“Dean, man, I was there. There were sixty people she didn’t know with cameras everywhere.” Jake interrupts my spiral. “You have fifteen. And every single one of us are people she not only knows, but trusts, too.”

I take in a shaky breath. “I’ve fucked a lot of things up. I just want this to be a night she’ll never forget.” I shake my wrist to peek at my watch. “Shit. Okay. I need to go pick up my nana’s ring from the jeweler. You swear she’s a size six?”

Jake laughs. “You know, I’d probably be more worried if you weren’t this nervous. Are you gonna cry?”

I roll my eyes. “Fuck yeah, I am!”

“Then let's get this show on the road.”

I poke Jake in the shoulder. “Glitter spray.”

“I got it.”

I look over at Jason. “You ready, Chief?”

He nods. “Let’s roll, Sheriff.”

I feel dizzy once all of the influencers finally leave but so fucking excited.

I look over at Verity wearing a short– what Jake calls a “champagne cocktail dress.” It’s edgy and beautiful and fucking perfect for tonight.

The bodice of it hugs her dangerous curves, the neckline looks like a heart, and the sleeves go off the shoulder.

The skirt of it poofs out to her knees, and it shimmers everywhere.

Her hair is down in waves, one side pulled back and held by a little glittering sunflower.

Her lips are red, eyes winged to perfection, and she’s wearing her contacts, not her glasses– which she told me is to be able to not worry about cleaning her glasses or accidentally touching her face while she’s meeting new people.

She’s also wearing little wedges that strap up her legs.

She locks the door behind her as the last person leaves, leaning against it and huffs out a breath. The staff and all our friends erupt in cheers, and she smiles up at us. Bright. Beautiful. Mine.

I walk over to her. “Congratulations.”

She leans up to kiss me, and I do-- never not returning it. “What a ride.”

“Not the first time you’ve said those words to me. First time in front of company, though.” I whisper.

“Dean!” she laughs.

“C’mon. There’s a celebratory bottle of wine waiting for us on the patio.

” I reply, knowing everyone’s already heading that way to finish up what I need.

Thankfully, I know they work quickly, having gone over this with them for the past month.

I may have proposed merely a few nights ago, but I’ve been planning this for weeks .