Page 120 of The Arrangement

“Well, we could get started on that.”

Heat blossoms in my belly at the thought. We discussed having children the night he had his accident, but we haven’t talked about it since. With his injuries—a broken collarbone, broken humerus, three cracked ribs, and a broken bone in hisfoot—our focus has been on his health. But the better he feels and the more active he becomes, the more I think about it.

“Can I talk to you about something?” he asks, setting his plate down beside him.

“Sure.”

“When we got married, we did it for a bet. But now, there’s nothing funny about it. You’re the love of my life.”

I swoon at my handsome man’s sweet words.

“I was thinking in all my free time that we should get married again,” he says. “Let our family be there. Let Mimi see you get married. I want to see you in a dress and let my mother have the experience of a son getting married since she’s oh-for-two.”

My laughter is soft.

“I want to do it the right way,” he says. “Take you on a proper honeymoon. Surprise you with a trip somewhere. The whole thing.”

“Who knew you were this sweet?”

He shrugs. “I think it’s less sweet and more obsessed with you.”

“I like you being obsessed with me.”

“Did I really have a choice?”

He grins. “Come here.”

I set my plate beside his and climb on his lap, careful not to disturb the entire left side of his body.

For the longest time, I let my fears dictate my life. They were warranted. They usually are. But instead of acknowledging them and working to overcome them, I only deprived myself of something good. And you can’t find love if you hide away from it. You still wind up hurt, which is what I was trying to avoid from the start.

And I delayed the best thing that ever happened to me.

“I love you, Chloe Brewer,” Jason says, kissing the bend of my neck.

“Not nearly as much as I love you, Jason Brewer.”

He sighs contently. “I’m so lucky I have you.”

I brace myself. “You’re lucky you landed me better than you land planes.”

My laughter fills the room as he tickles me, the sound hushed by his mouth over mine. It’s how everything ends with us now. We remind each other that no matter what happens, what jokes are made, what squabbles we have—we love each other.

Not for six months.

Forever.

Epilogue

Chloe

One month later …

“He’s starting to get on my nerves.” I take a bite off the top of the blueberry muffin. “He’s so into this wedding thing that he must dream about it.”

Nickie sits across from me in the break room, smiling blissfully. “It’s so romantic.”

“In theory. I was happy with our little Vegas getaway elopement thing. Now he wants this …production. That’s the only word I can think of to come close to what Jason has in mind.”