Page 70 of The Beat of My Heart

Dexter: Will do.

Preston: Who the fuck is Maria?

“Julia Grace, how often does he send these updates?” my mother asks.

“Every freaking day,” I tell her. “Why, how far have you gotten?” I ask, shoving cookies into my mouth.

“I’m just finishing day one, I guess. Oh my, Jules. This is something else,” she says, holding her hand out for a cookie. “I can’t wait to see what he does next. Good Lord, GG would have a field day with these.”

“Oh, she is aware,” I tell her. “GG has the entire town taking bets, the odds are in Dexter’s favor, 10 to 1.”

“No way,” she says, awed.

“Yup, you better get to The Convenient One and place your bets soon, you never know when GG will declare a winner,” I say, laughing. “GG is camped out at that store from seven to eight every morning taking the bets,” I say with a smile. “Okay, keep reading, it only gets better.”

“What is the Maria thing? Who is that?” my mom asks.

I can’t help the tears that form, “Dex asked Lanie if she knew the difference between Mary Poppins and Maria from The Sound of Music.”

My mother stares at me, concerned for my emotional well-being I’m sure, “What’s the difference?”

“Maria stayed,” I tell her right before I break down completely.

“Awe, Babycakes. I know this is hard for you, sweetheart. You really miss Charlie’s dad, don’t you?”

“More than I should considering I knew him for less than a week. B-but I think he was my puffin, mom,” I cry.

My mom holds me while I let it all out. “Julia?” she asks, waiting for me to look at her.

“What?” I ask. “Did I get snot on you?”

Laughing, my mom gets serious. “No, sweetheart, and it would be fine if you had, it wouldn’t be the first time. I just want you to know that you are the best thing I have ever done in my entire life. I am so proud of the woman, the friend, the mom you have become. I know you have always felt like you were lucky to have Lanie as a friend, but I’m telling you, you both lucked out in the friend department. You, my dear, are one incredible human being.”

The tears start anew, but I’m able to choke out, “Thanks, mom. Keep reading. It only gets better.”

I concentrate on her reactions as she reads and can almost pinpoint the exact messages as she reads them. Dexter and Lanie are going to have one hell of a love story.

Dexter: Day 1 didn’t go the way I planned. We laid all our ghosts bare. I’m afraid she is going to run.

Julia: WTF, Dexter, how did that happen?

Dexter: I burned the chicken parmesan.

Julia: Hey, dipshit, how do you go from burning chicken to bearing your souls?

Trevor: It’s a little early for this but can I just point out, I really like Lanie’s friend.

Trevor: She has a point though, how did you get from point A to point B?

Dexter: I don’t know, guys. I burned dinner. We talked. I started to tell her about my dad and Anna. I ended up telling her the entire damn story.

* * *

Loki:Okay guys, I’m about to take off, but these two dipshits, as Julia so eloquently put it, will need some help. I’m not there and Preston will be useless for this, so I suggest the two of you work together to make sure Dex and Lanie don’t fuck up their happily ever after.

Trevor: What are you? A fairy godmother all of a sudden?

Loki: Can you do it asshole? He deserves to be happy and I think Lanie will be the one to get him there.