14. Tate
One Year Later
“Maddy, we’re late!” I yell up the steps, glancing around the living room for my purse.
“One second!” she yells back.
Hazel rolls her eyes. “She’s so slow.”
I chuckle to myself, remembering a time when I was as slow as Maddy and probably annoyed the crap out of my younger brothers. But they’d never understand what being a teenage girl was like and how important appearance seemed to be during those years.
“We ready?” Wylder asks.
“Almost.”
“Maddy’s putting on her makeup,” Hazel tells him with an eye roll.
His eyebrows wrinkle together in the adorable way they do when he’s confused. “Makeup?”
“She says she has to look her best,” Hazel says as if it should make complete sense to someone like Wylder. But she hasn’t learned that boys, even older ones, don’t think like women. They’ll never understand the impossible standards we’re held to and how we’re judged on our outsides before anyone gets to know the real us.
“She’s beautiful without all that garbage on her face.”
“Wylder, leave her be. This time is important in a girl’s life. She’s finding herself. There’s a lot of pressure on her, and I’m sure my family doesn’t even realize we’re not there yet. It’s casual. You know that.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Hazel gasps. “That’s a dollar, Dad.”
Wylder mutters a curse word, and Hazel holds up two fingers.
“Fine,” he says, reaching for his wallet and grabbing two ones from inside. “How’s she finding herself in a bottle of mascara?”
“It’s a tube,” I reply.
“What’s a tube?”
“It’s a tube of mascara. Not a bottle.”
He frowns at me, exasperated. It’s an expression he wears more and more now, especially when it’s something new with Maddy.
“Okay. A tube,” he says, drawing out the word to be a brat.
“I’m done,” Maddy says, barreling down the stairs. “We can go now.”
“Finally,” Wylder says, wound a little tighter than usual.
“Baby, it’ll be okay,” I reassure him, wanting him to have a good day.
“I want today to be perfect,” he says.
“It will be.” I smile at him.
“Who’s ready to go eat?”
Hazel’s the first one heading toward the door. “I’m having one of every dessert,” she says before turning the knob.
“Of course you are,” I tell her as I follow her out the door. “Who needs pasta when you can have cannoli?”
“Not me.” She marches toward the car, looking older than she did the day before.
The girls are growing quickly. The features on their faces are changing rapidly. I don’t think I’m ready for them to grow up. I can’t imagine how my father felt seeing me change in every way right before his eyes.
“Do you think Nino will be there?” Maddy asks as we walk toward the bar on foot to enjoy the summer day.
It suddenly makes sense why she was so concerned about making sure her appearance was perfect. Maddy has a little crush on my cousin.
Of course, he is way too old for her, but that never stopped a teenage girl from trying.
“I think so. I’m not sure if he’s done at school for the summer, though.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders sag a little like the air of possibility was instantly sucked out of her.
“Nino’s nice,” Hazel says as she stomps down the sidewalk in a new pair of sandals that are too big for her feet. “He makes funny faces.”
Thank God Maddy and Hazel are so far apart in age. I’m not sure I could handle two girls in puberty and hitting their boy-crazy era at the same time.
I slide my hand in Wylder’s, feeling the tension radiating off him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he says, glancing at me for a moment. “I’m just hungry.”
“Tate,” Brax calls out, spotting us. “Wait up.” He jogs across the busy street, weaving in and out of traffic.
“Hi,” I say, lifting my free hand.
“Hey,” Wylder greets him.
The girls give little waves to my brother before going back to their private conversation. Tomorrow, they leave for camp, trying it again and hoping for different results.
“Phew. I thought I was late, but at least I’m not walking in alone,” Brax says, breathing heavily to try to catch his breath like he jogged here.
We’re near Cheryl’s house, and I expect her to be on the front porch, waiting for us. But she isn’t. “Where’s your Ma?” I ask Wylder as I stare at the now-empty chair she’s always waiting in.
“Tate,” Wylder says.
I turn my head, and he’s not there. I look down, and he’s on one knee with a small box in his hand.
My belly flips and my heart flutters. “What the…” I glance around. Brax has his phone pointed at us, and the girls are behind their dad with one hand on each of his shoulders.
“Tate—” Wylder clears his throat “—this is the very spot where I first laid eyes on you and everything in my world shifted. All the darkness that used to be there vanished. All the loneliness simply disappeared. My life changed in that moment. I found a woman who loves my girls like they were her own. Someone who could deal with my family, even my asshole brothers. A woman who loves me for me and expects nothing in return except love. A woman who makes me want to be a better man and give her the moon and the stars if I could.”
“Wow, Daddy. Who knew you could say so many words at one time,” Hazel says with a giggle.
I let out a bark of laughter as tears start to stream down my cheeks. Hazel always knows how to insert herself in a moment.
“Tate Gallo, will you marry me and officially be part of our family?” Wylder pulls back the lid to the box, exposing a small diamond ring.
“Oh my God,” I breathe, my body humming and my heart pounding so fast, I think it could burst through my chest. The girls are smiling as big as I’ve ever seen, and Wylder’s looking at me with so much love, I can’t do anything else except say, “Yes.”
Wylder scoops me into his arms, forgetting all about sliding the ring on my finger. I’m not even mad about that. There will be time for formalities afterward.
I press my lips to his as the girls celebrate behind him. “Yes, yes, yes,” I murmur against his mouth, wrapping my arms around his neck and letting myself get lost in the moment.
It’s then I realize he’s shaking. It all clicks into place. His tenseness with a hint of grumpy. This is a big step for a man whose wife left him and his girls behind like they were nothing. Opening your heart to love again isn’t a simple thing. But now, he’s offering me forever with him and his girls.
“I love you,” he breathes into my mouth.
“I love you too.”
“Bleh.” Hazel gags behind us. “Too much kissing.”
“Stop it,” Maddy says. “Let them have their moment. It’s romantic.”
We chuckle as we pull apart, and I slide down Wylder’s front until my shoes touch the cement. He stares at me like nothing else in the world matters.
In a whirlwind of a year, I’ve found the best boyfriend—now my fiancé—and two amazing girls who love me like I have been in their lives since they took their first breaths.
It’s funny how fate works. If they hadn’t wandered into the bar for a Shirley Temple, I probably wouldn’t be standing here right now with my future in front of me.
He pulls out the ring with shaky hands before handing the empty box to Maddy. When he slides the metal over my finger, he says, “You’re mine forever.”
“I’m yours always,” I whisper as Wylder lifts my hands to his mouth, kissing the ring he just placed there.
And no other words have ever felt so right.