36. Really Damn Good #2
After a great deal of time talking with Rowan and Harper, I decided I wanted to get my teaching degree and work with kids as an art teacher.
Maybe not fully helping with trauma—I was still trying to deal with mine—but maybe I could make a difference for someone, open their eyes to how art could heal and help you through anything in life, big or small.
So when spring classes started, I was fully enrolled in the local college to get started.
It had been a long time since I’d been this excited about something, maybe I never had.
But life was going well, and I wasn’t afraid anymore to be hopeful.
I wasn’t constantly forcing myself to focus on tomorrow being better, because today was already really damn good.
We were all sitting around the massive table in Abby’s dining room, a glass of wine in everyone’s hand. Each taking turns doing toasts, and basically just shit talking Rowan the entire time. All of Rowan’s siblings, Abby, and Ivy had been invited too.
I set my free hand atop Rowan’s, which was currently squeezing my leg beneath the table, his thumb rubbing small circles along my inner thigh.
“Once upon a time,” Abby started, her eyes already tearing up.
“My little boy looked at me—although truly he wasn’t little, he was almost sixteen and towering over me.
But he looked at me and told me that I would be the only woman for him for his entire life.
I remember thinking what a crazy thing for a teenage boy to say, and when I voiced as much, he said it was because I’d always need his protection and love more than any other woman out there.
” She wiped her face before her eyes met mine, a knowing look behind them.
“I’m so happy he found a woman who needed love just as much as I did, and I’m happy I could keep plenty of space for you here with me, Aspen.
To the happy couple!” she said as she lifted her wine glass into the air with the rest of the table.
I let out a deep breath, trying to keep the tears at bay before they rushed down my face and ruined the makeup Ivy had meticulously crafted mere hours ago.
Payton reached over from next to me and kissed my cheek.
I’d noticed she got extra lovey when she was tipsy—which made me happy because so was I.
Oliver, clearing his throat and standing from his chair, had everyone quieting down.
I wasn’t sure if it was shock or respect that had us quieting down so quickly.
He lifted his glass into the air and looked over at Rowan and me.
“This won’t be long, so no one has to start preaching that the pigs’ll be flying tomorrow because I had a whole ass speech.
” Ivy and I started giggling, but everyone else looked around sort of wide-eyed.
“Watching you two fall in love has given me…hope. Thank you for letting me be a part of this,” Oliver continued, and after a brief raise of his glass, he sat back down.
“Does this mean I can start searching again?!” Payton hollered. I swear if hearts could appear in her eyes like the old cartoons, they would right now.
“Oh, I want to help!!” Ivy said from the other side of Payton. Oliver just glared at the both of them, and Hudson chuckled beneath his breath.
“Okay, let’s leave my big bro alone, y’all.
I’m next,” Theo said as he stood from the table.
“Thanks to Aspen, I now know there are indeed women out there to match all of our crazies, and I couldn’t be more excited about it!
Everyone pray to the gods above that when I find her again, she’s as tolerant of my insanity as Aspen is of yours, Rowan! ” Theo laughed and sat back down.
“What in the world are you talking about, Theodore?” Abby questioned.
Theo looked over at her, eyes wide like he’d just been caught red-handed with his hand deep in the figurative cookie jar. “Nothing, Mama. I just want a love as thorough and deep as Ro and Aspen,” Theo said with a shrug as he sat back in his chair and attempted a sheepish look.
The tips of his ears were turning a bright red, and Rowan reached across the table and smacked him. “Shut the fuck up, Theo. I hope she has your ass arrested,” he muttered.
Everyone busted out laughing except Hudson, who looked around, his brows scrunched together. “Why would she have Uncle Theo arrested?”
“Your uncle is just joking, Hudson. Don’t worry about Uncle Theo,” Ivy said quickly before anyone could think of an actual response.
Hudson nodded and went back to sipping his apple juice.
I glanced over in time to see her and Oliver lock eyes, but I forced my eyes away before I interrupted a moment.
“Anyway, my turn?” Ivy questioned as she stood, her still half-full wine glass in hand.
She released a small huff and looked over at me, a wobbly smile on her face. “Are you already fighting tears?” I asked, my voice quiet.
She nodded and wiped her face as tears rushed down it. Rowan stood, reaching around Payton and me to grab Ivy’s wine glass and set it on the table. “For when you two launch at each other,” he whispered to me as he leaned back in his chair.
“Thanks, Ro,” Ivy said quickly. “Woo, okay. I had this all planned in my head, and I thought about waiting for the wedding to do this, but then you blurted mid-makeup earlier that you wanted me to be your maid of honor, and fuck, Aspen, now here I am.” She wiped her face again quickly, and Oliver reached across the table, handing her a napkin.
“Thanks,” she muttered quietly, and then looked back at me.
“You are by far the best friend a girl could ever hope to stumble upon. Meeting you the day you walked into The Roadhouse? I don’t know—I couldn’t walk away from you.
We didn’t even need help, but I told Lucas I’d bash his head in if he didn’t give you a chance.
” Everyone around the table started laughing.
“I can see that honestly,” Theo muttered, causing Ivy to roll her eyes playfully.
Ivy looked back over at me, our eyes locking as I felt tears run down my cheeks.
“I just…saw something in your eyes that matched my own. The need and desire to belong somewhere outside of yourself—true love, and while I know what you and Rowan have is beyond true, you’re welcome by the way, Ro.
I helped a ton there,” she said as Rowan chuckled and nodded his head.
“What I’ve found with you, Aspen, can only be described as finding your other half.
That’s what you are to me, and while I hope to find love as amazing and crazy as what you and Rowan have, at the end of the day, I have the greatest friend in all the world, and I couldn’t imagine life without you.
You are the definition of true love for me, Aspen, and I’m so fucking thankful to have you.
” Thankfully, Payton chose that moment to scoot her chair back, and I was in Ivy’s arms before she could wipe away another tear, our arms wrapped around each other.
“I love you so much,” I whispered.
“I love you so much more,” she replied.
“Good lord, I’m not following that dude. Not sorry,” Wyatt said from across the table. “To the happy couple. May a love this deep and untouchable never find me,” he said with a laugh. This time, it was Abby who smacked him on the chest as she shook her head.
The rest of dinner went on like that once we calmed down and all the gals, plus Theo, wiped their faces of never-ending tears. Everyone took a moment to give a speech with pretty words, all of which I was able to swallow down tears—post Ivy—that had my chest heating with love.
I genuinely didn’t know how in less than a year I’d managed to find a group of humans so incredibly loveable and welcoming, but I’d never take them for granted. They were everything I’d ever hoped for.