Page 67 of Secrets That Bind Us

I follow my kids and their father out of The Ink Plot and down to Mrs. Townsend’s new boutique, feeling all too nostalgic.

Dean looks at me and I know exactly what he’s thinking about– our first Homecoming together sophomore year, when he brought me and we picked my dress and his suit out together.

And now we’re doing it for our daughter…

and she’s leaving her own footprints over ours in this small town that I never truly left behind.

We pull the door open, and Meredith Townsend greets us enthusiastically.

After getting off a call with both Eli and the platform streaming executives, I find Dean in my closet later that evening, pulling out his uniform for the morning.

I wrap my arms around his torso, feeling the grooves of his abs under my fingertips.

I kiss his spine where I can reach, then tip my forehead between his shoulder blades. “I need to talk to you.”

I can already hear the smile in his voice. “Yeah? Is this the part you tell me you’re pregnant with baby number three and we’re gonna have to have a shotgun wedding? ‘Cause let me tell ya, I’m down. I’ll call Judge Jones right now. He owes me a favor.”

I laugh as he turns around and puts his arms around me, placing his hands at the small of my back.

I rest my chin on his chest and look up into those cobalt blues of his, loving the way they glitter when he looks at me.

“No… uh… I got some news today which is why I was talking to Eli out on the patio of Ink Plot. Seems someone leaked my new manuscript to a streaming platform and they want to make a limited series of it. Twelve episodes. That’s who I just got off the phone with. ”

“Oh yeah?”

“They want to go ahead and set up a meeting and buy the rights. But… they want me to be as involved with the entire process as I can be. They want to make sure it’s exactly as I saw it in my mind.”

“I see…” He pauses but then smiles so radiantly it makes me smile too. “Holy shit, babe. This is fucking awesome. When do we go?”

“You want to go to New York?”

“I wanna go where you go, babe. Remember? You and me forever. I mean, it sucks they leaked your manuscript, but it’s really fucking awesome that you got a call from the executives. Like, I don’t know how that happens but, it must not happen very often, does it?”

I shrug, because I don’t know, either.

“So, when do we go?”

“I told them after the wedding. Plus, we’re moving to your place. We have to put the house on the market. There’s so much shit to do.”

He leads me out of the closet and we sit on the bed. “Yeah, but I mean, the house will sell itself.”

“You’d be leaving everything behind. Are you sure this is what you want?”

“I mean, we’re taking Bear, right?”

I nod enthusiastically. “Yes. Savvy is so attached to him and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog so attached to a girl in my life.”

“And we’ll visit?”

“We have to. I own a business here now.” I remind him.

“Then I’m good. I want to experience your life, Verity. I want to experience the New York you got to experience. I want all the things as long as we do them together. I’ve always wanted that. That hasn’t changed for me.”

“We’d be going to Canada, too.”

His eyes bulge out of his head. “Do I need a passport?”

I laugh. “Yeah, you’re gonna need a passport.”

“Shit. Okay. Yeah. I can do that. When do we leave?”

“Our first visit with the execs should be sometime after the New Year. With the way my mind is working, we can go house hunting then, decide by spring break. And the kids can finish out the school year here. We can be packed up and gone by the start of summer.”

He bites back his smile. “House hunting. Fuck, that sounds so good. Wait, you don’t want to live in the house you had in New Haven?”

I shake my head. “No, baby. I want everything to be the way it should have always been with us. I want a new house where we can make our own memories. Build the life we want. That hasn’t changed for me either.”

“Nobody builds you bookshelves but me, you understand?”

I quirk a brow at this request but then nod. “Okay.”

He leans over and kisses me. “When do we tell the kids? I’m letting you lead here.”

I look at him. “Let’s tell them now. I don’t want to drop things on them.”

“SAVVY! NOAH!” he yells, and we hear little feet running towards us from the living room.

“What?” Savvy asks from the doorway, but Noah comes and jumps into the bed to sit on Dean’s lap. I tell them everything, not leaving anything out, because they deserve to know all of it. Seems I’m tired of secrets, too. Savvy’s eyes go wide and she creeps into my bedroom. “Sooo we’re leaving?”

Dean and I nod.

“When?”

“After the wedding, around the first of the year. We’ll go to New York to meet the executives.”

I see the shadow of excitement crawl along her face. “So we’re leaving this town behind? The house?”

“I mean, I’ll still have to come down every now and then to check on The Ink Plot, but yeah. We’ll be living back up North.”

“Will I go back to school at Hawthorne?”

“Is that what you want?”

Both of our kids say yes.

I look over at Dean. “Connecticut sound okay to you?”

We hear another little pitter-patter coming through the threshold of our bedroom door and look to see Bear sit on his hind legs beside Savvy. She pets his head, and gently rubs behind his ear, but looks at Dean as though she’s silently pleading for him to say yes.

He smiles at our daughter. “You kidding me? A new house with new adventures with my wife and kids?” Bear barks. “And Bear?”

“And Clifford!”

“And Clifford? It sounds perfect. Almost too good to be true.”

I shrug at Sav. “I guess that settles it. I’ll start looking at listings in the morning.”

We put the kids to bed; Dean puts me to bed. Afterwards, as he lays there breathing heavily beside me, I hear little scratches on the wall beside my head.

I turn on my side and drag Dean’s big arm over my body. He tucks me in closer.

Scratch scratch scratch .

And go the fuck to sleep.