Epilogue
JULIAN
Six Months Later
A wet nose on my foot startles me out of a rather pleasant dream I was having about my boyfriend. With a grin on my face, I roll over, reaching for Ranger without opening my eyes. Unfortunately, my plan to re-enact the dream is thwarted by his very cold and empty side of the bed.
I grumble, opening my eyes and yawning. I don’t have long to mentally complain about my lonely predicament because PP takes it upon herself to crawl up the bed and start licking my cheek.
“Yes, it’s good to see you too.” I yawn again, dodging when she tries to stick her tongue right into my mouth. Not exactly the French kiss I was hoping for this morning. I indulge in a few minutes of husky cuddles, then drag myself out of bed and go in search of my man.
My man. I still get a giddy smile on my face every time I think of him. Six months living together and we’re still very much in the honeymoon phase, but I have every confidence we’re building a relationship that’s going to last long beyond these fluffy, wonderful early years.
As soon as I step out of the bedroom, the smell of pancakes wafts to my nose.
I shuffle to the kitchen and find Ranger standing over the stove, holding a spatula, the frilly pink apron I bought him as a joke tied around his neck.
Benny thumps his tail against the floor but doesn’t move from his spot next to his person.
I wrap my arms around him from behind, pressing my morning erection against his ass and kissing the back of his neck.
“I missed you in bed this morning.”
“I can feel that.” He chuckles and grinds his ass back against me, flipping the pancake that’s in the pan. It has chocolate chips, naturally, just like all the pancakes Ranger makes for me these days.
“Sorry I overslept. You wore me out last night.” I nip playfully at his earlobe, then reach past him and snag a strip of fake-on (aka meatless bacon) off the plate next to the stove.
“I let you sleep. The puppies started barking, and I figured if I got up to let them out and feed them, then you could get a little extra rest this morning.”
“Thank you, that was sweet of you.”
“No problem. You know I love the babies.”
I took some time to get settled here before accepting a new litter of pups to train.
This batch is a bunch of rambunctious but extremely smart border collies.
They’re only ten weeks, and we’ve already got them potty trained and responding to the basic commands.
Benny loves them. PP is, as always, less than impressed.
“You can’t get attached,” I remind him.
“I know, but they’re too cute not to love.”
“Believe me, I know. Letting them go after a year of bonding with them is always the hardest part.” I pat Benny on the head.
Ranger plates our breakfast, and I bring both plates to the table while he pours us each a glass of orange juice.
It’s terribly domestic, and I couldn’t be happier if I tried.
“Do you have any jobs scheduled today?” I ask.
A few months ago, Ranger started his own small handyman business, basically putting his number up on a few apps and making his own simple website.
After a few months of hemming and hawing about it, he also signed up for night classes in construction management so he can work on getting a contractor certification.
“Nothing as of now, but who knows what could roll in later?”
He still struggles some days, of course.
There’s no magic fix for PTSD after all, but he smiles more often than not now, and I can tell that having a purpose has made him feel more like himself again.
Between that and how busy I keep him around here, I wouldn’t be surprised if sometimes he still wishes for his old days of peace and quiet.
Ranger smiles at me, reaching across the table and taking my hand in his. My heart gives a silly little flutter like it always does when he touches me, and I bump my foot against his. I’m pretty sure if Benny and PP could roll their eyes at our disgusting display of schmoopieness, they would.
Once we’ve finished eating, I get dressed, and we head outside to do our morning feedings and stall mucking. As always, Doc brays loudly, banging on his stall door until I fill his trough with alfalfa hay, which he then happily munches on without so much as a thank-you.
Butler’s stall is next, or I should say Butler’s and Buddy’s.
I looked high and low for Buddy’s owner, putting up posters everywhere, posting on social media, and even letting all the local shelters know just in case, but whoever he used to belong to never came looking for him.
It all worked out for the best because Butler has never been happier.
Gone are the days of pool noodles on his horns to keep him from injuring me.
I stop at their stall with their flakes of feed, and Butler bleats softly and gently nibbles my hand as I reach over the stall wall and put the feed hay into the trough.
If I’d known that all it would take to make him like me was to find him a cute boyfriend, I would’ve done that ages ago.
Speaking of happy, we also built a tiny house on the property for Marvin Sherman to live here. Neither of us liked the idea of him being all alone. Everything’s better with family, whether it’s by blood or by heart.
Ranger and I have a great system down for finishing morning chores, and there’s something nice about having someone to shovel horse shit with. If there’s anything more romantic than that, I don’t know what it is.
I admire the bulge of Ranger’s biceps as he dumps a heap into the wheelbarrow, and smile.
“What?” he asks when he catches me looking.
I shrug. “Just thinking about how lucky I am to have such a sexy, incredible partner.”
He leans the shovel against the wheelbarrow and strides over to me. Then he yanks me into his arms and kisses me fiercely.
“I’m the lucky one,” he mumbles against my lips, sneaking a hand down and squeezing my butt.
“I guess we’re both lucky, then. Lucky to be so crazy in love with each other.”
“Without a doubt,” he agrees. “Today, tomorrow, and forever.”
“Forever,” I echo, kissing his lips one more time and thanking every lucky star in the sky for this man.