Chapter 12
Rory
I probably should’ve had Emily read the tag before I started driving because all I wanted right now was to watch her face. When her voice choked off the last word and I could hear tears I had a slight moment of panic.
A moment which quickly receded at the awe and wonder in her tone when she asked me if I loved her.
Of course I loved her. Last night only solidified it.
One of the first emails arranging the purchase of the puppy had me adding the sentiment—I’d known how I felt for the woman prior to this trip.
I nearly blurted it out any number of times but I felt that Emily deserved grand gestures, something that I didn’t have all that much practice in, so I waited for this moment.
Last night’s email to Meredith simply had me adding my new name for my Emy girl.
I wiped a fallen tear from Emily’s face before returning my attention to the road. It would be nice if Emily returned the feelings but I would completely understand if she needed time.
Two years ago when she and I truly began this game I didn’t have the best track record but I definitely thought I proved I could be the man Emily needed. But if she wasn’t there yet, if she couldn’t say she loved me yet, I would be ok. Things were going in a positive direction for us…
“I love you too,” she finally whispered.
I glanced back at her, huge grin on my mug. “Yeah?”
Emily nodded, her face blotchy from tears but her blue eyes bright with emotion. “Yes, Rory O’Gallagher. I do love you.”
We neared the highway then and as soon as I pulled the truck onto the smoother road, I reached for her hand, holding it over the center console. The puppy snoozed away on Emily’s lap, not that I blamed the pup. Emily was a pretty cozy place to be.
I went from a bachelor in a huge assed apartment I didn’t need, making forgeries for college kids and playing music at parties, to a bachelor living above the family bar. I had my women and I made my money, but it was this willowy blonde beauty next to me who made me re-evaluate everything.
I would gladly live in the tiny two-bedroom rental house—a house where I could put my arms out on either side of me in the bathroom, and without stretching, reach the walls; a house with an oven that was probably from the early nineties; a house with a yard made of rocks, as I learned Arizonians liked to do—with this willowy blonde, then go back to the way life was.
I enjoyed growing my health and fitness company while helping Emily study her ass off for a career that she was passionate about. I even enjoyed cooking her dinner and cleaning up the house, so she wouldn’t have to worry about it later.
Sure, someday I’d love a bigger place with her—I wasn’t lying when I told her this morning I wanted her to carry my babies. We were going to get a bigger house and fill it with a bunch of hell-raising blondes, and if our girls looked anything like Emily? Well shoot my now.
Or help me pick out an appropriate rifle.
One or the other.
We drove along the highway in silence, the roads understandably busy for the holiday. The radio was on low but couldn’t be heard much over the road noise. Not that I minded. With Emily’s hand in mine, I was plenty comfortable.
“So you, who thought of everything,” she finally spoke into the quiet truck. “Have you thought of a name for this beauty?” I glanced over and watched as Emily lightly stroked the puppy’s fur.
“Nope. I thought you would like a say in that.”
“Hmm,” Emily replied through a closed lipped smile.
She looked incredibly relaxed and happy, and it had little to do with her customary leggings and oversized shirt.
She even wore those fuzzy boots that girls seemed to like, but looked like she was walking with an animal on either foot, but hey—if she liked it…
“Well, she kind of looks like a teddy bear, don’t you think?” I gave a noncommittal grunt but could do nothing to stop the slight grin on my face. “But Teddy is too masculine,” she continued.
I squeezed her hand. “So what are you thinking?”
With a big wide smile aimed at me, she announced. “Theodora. Teddy for short.”
I let out a short laugh. “A name and a nickname? She’s a dog, Emy girl. Not a kid.”
“Hey, I could go and give her a pedigree name. You gave me naming powers,” she jested, squeezing my hand back.
“Theodora, Golden light of the Arizonan sun, the Goldendoodle.” Her voice was thick with laughter.
Letting go of my hand to scoop the sleeping puppy up under her forearms, she went nose to nose with the quickly excitable puppy.
“You think that works for you, Teddy girl?”
I shook my head, still grinning, albeit much wider now that she addressed the puppy. “You’re nuts, Emily. Absolutely certifiable.”
“Yeah well, you love me,” she snuck in there, still looking and talking to the puppy now dubbed Teddy.
Long-assed pedigree-type name or not, I could be game with a dog named Teddy.