Chapter 36 Marsh
Marsh
Three Years Later
By seven-thirty a.m., I’ve already written six hundred words, taken Pepper for a walk around the neighborhood, and picked up two breakfast burritos. On my way home, I stop by the local coffee shop and pick up two iced oat lattes.
When I open the front door, Pepper’s paws clack against the hardwood floor. Her seventy-pound speckled white-and-gray body and blocky head greet me like I didn’t just see her fifteen minutes ago.
“Hi, sweet girl,” I say, leaning down to pet right behind her ears. I kick my shoes off and walk into the bedroom.
Slowly, I sit on the side of the bed and rub Lucy’s arm until she flutters her eyes open. Her dark hair is messy, her skin is soft, and she’s not wearing a lick of makeup. Her lips are plump after a long night’s sleep, and she still smells like strawberries.
Her eyes crinkle against the sun, and when she sees me, she smiles. “Happy anniversary.”
“Happy anniversary, baby.” I lean down to give her a kiss.
It’s been three years since we’ve officially been together, and we’re still here.
Lucy booked a last-minute flight, and we went to Thailand together. A year into us dating, she moved in, and we adopted Pepper six months later. While we disagree on things, as most couples do every now and then, surprisingly, the one thing that we can agree on is how crazy we are about each other.
“Is that for me?” She eyes the iced latte in my grip and brown paper bag between my fingers.
“Chorizo, and oat milk.” I place the contents on the nightstand.
“Oh, babe.” She sits up. “I’m sorry, all I got you was a blow job.”
“I’d much rather have that than a burrito.”
“You just tell me when you want to cash it in.” She leans in and gives me another kiss.
“Get over here.” I pull Lucy into my lap so she’s straddling me. We start kissing and she rolls her hips as I reach under her shirt.
“Mmm,” she moans, and that’s when I feel something at my leg, nudging me.
I sigh and place my forehead on Lucy’s. “Really, Pep?” I look down, and our pit bull is staring up at us with these giant cartoon-like eyes.
Lucy breaks out into laughter. “Did you come here to wish Mom and Dad a happy anniversary?” She gets off me and pats the bed, telling Pepper to jump up.
In an instant, Pepper is comfy on the bed, staring at both of us, and I can’t help but give her a kiss on the forehead.
“We will have to rain check for tonight.” Lucy playfully rubs my dick, which is still hard. I grunt, and she swipes the burrito from the nightstand and takes a hearty bite. “How’s the story going?”
I’m forever grateful to Nadia for working her magic and letting me publish that opinion piece.
It gained so much traction that I started being a guest columnist once a month.
It came so naturally that transitioning into opinion pieces made the most sense.
I’m still able to cover topics that are important to me, but with less of a workload.
Most important, I’m able to use my voice. I was able to find my voice.
“It’s good.” I reach over and take a sip of coffee. My current piece is about how we’re entering the age of extinction with the rise of AI. “I have an interview with that professor this afternoon, the activist for technology-based work.”
“That’ll be fun,” Lucy says sarcastically. “Oh! Before I forget, what time are we leaving tomorrow?”
My mom’s seventieth birthday is this weekend, and Lucy and Quinn have taken it upon themselves to plan a surprise party in the Bay Area.
“Want to leave by ten?”
“Then that means we should get there by three…” Lucy looks up, doing some mental math. “Okay, yeah. That will give me and Quinn time to pick up the food.”
“And your parents are meeting us there?” I ask.
“Yeah, they’re going up tonight actually.”
“Great,” I say, now giving Pepper belly rubs.
“Also,” Lucy adds, “before I forget, I think we’re going to do dinner with Jordan and his new girlfriend next week.”
“Are we being nice or interrogating her?”
Lucy and Jordan aren’t by any means best friends; he’s not someone she even feels comfortable calling her half brother.
But in the past few years, they’ve developed a real relationship.
One where Lucy will want to take him out for a birthday brunch, and Jordan sees the two of us as important enough to introduce to special people in his life.
“I think he really likes her,” she says. “I have a good feeling.”
“Yeah?” I raise my eyebrows. “I’m excited to meet her.”
Lucy reaches for her phone and then smiles to herself. “Jonah and Elijah say happy anniversary.”
“Thank you, Jonah and Elijah,” I say, unwrapping my burrito.
“Oh my god,” Lucy says, eyes glued to her screen. I wait for her to tell me that a celebrity couple broke up or that one of our favorite shows got canceled, but she just keeps her gaze locked on her phone.
“What?”
She looks up, her face white. “My agent just emailed me. There’s a studio that wants to have a meeting…to talk about optioning the book.”
When Lucy told me that Nadia encouraged her to apply for the open role at The Journal, she wasn’t necessarily excited.
Tempted, yes, about writing for a more renowned publication, but she never wanted to write about news.
Instead, she attempted to push through her role at The Rue for a few more months, and when she didn’t get the promotion in the new year, asked me if it was crazy if she quit.
It was a no-brainer; I supported her choice to start writing freelance.
Even if things didn’t work out, I was making enough for the both of us.
She wrote freelance about sex and relationships for Cosmopolitan, The Cut, Glamour, Elle, you name it.
It wasn’t long until she had an idea for a book.
She asked me in the middle of the night if she was out of her depth for trying to write something long-form, and I told her she could do anything she fucking wanted because it’s true.
There’s nobody more determined and good at what they do than Lucy.
So, she did it. She owned being a sex writer and wrote a memoir about her experience with sex and dating advice, her journey to finding love, and even her parents.
It didn’t go over well when they found out, but it’s a narrative that Lucy could control and she’s never worked harder than she has the last year.
“Holy shit,” I say, gaping, “the book doesn’t even come out for another seven months.”
“I know,” she says, dumbfounded. “They got an advance copy and are interested. I don’t know what any of this means.”
She shows me the email on her phone, and I scan the words in front of me. “Luce…”
“Obviously nothing is guaranteed,” she says. “Literally nothing could come of this, but it’s cool to have the meeting, right?”
“Are you kidding?” I look at her. “It’s huge to have the meeting. The book is sharp and insightful, and even if this doesn’t work out, this just shows how much of an impact this book will make.”
She puts down her phone and swipes a quick tear at the corner of her eye.
“I couldn’t have done this without you, Marsh,” she says.
“Yeah, you could’ve.”
“No,” she says with weight to it and then sits up. “Think about it. I really wouldn’t be here without you.” She opens her arms out to me. I sit next to her and give her a hug. She buries her face in the crook of my neck, and I want her to stay there forever. “I love you so much.”
There’s no way to explain how much Lucy telling me that every day means to me.
“I love you.” I kiss the top of her head. Lucy looks up at me, a grin stretching across her mouth. “What?”
“Can I tell you what the book title is?”
“You landed on one?”
“Mhm.” She nods like a kid keeping a secret. “Okay, ready?”
“I’m ready.”
“Let’s Kiss and Tell.”
I laugh breathlessly and then take her face in both my hands, giving her a kiss.
“It’s perfect,” I say.
Lucy falls onto the bed. She has on an oversize band T-shirt and boxer shorts, and a giant burrito still in her hand.
I’ve watched this woman go through hell and back fighting for what she believes in and desperately wanting to make a difference.
Everything she does, she does authentically and she’s just as stunning as the day I met her.
On the inside and out. When I look at her, I can’t believe how lucky I got.
Every time I look at her, I’m reminded that this is what love is supposed to feel like.