but looking back, that was the moment. I knew I felt safe with you, that I could tell you anything and show you my real self. I knew you wouldn’t laugh at me and would look after that knowledge.”
I pause. Then, inhaling deeply, I reach into my pocket and pull out the small, sky-blue box. I set it neatly in front of him. “I want that forever, Dylan. I want to look after you and love you and protect you. I want to laugh at your sassiness, warm your cold feet in bed at night, and never nag you for your endless preoccupation with baths. I want to sit quietly at home reading with you and lie in bed at night talking together. I want to go out on the town with you because I’m so proud to be seen with you, and nothing is ever so good if it isn’t shared with you. Everything I see in my future has you in it, so I need a ring on your finger and one on mine because I want the world to know we belong together.”
The words dry up in my throat as I see a blaze of love in his eyes, the sparks turning them almost golden. “Gabe,” he says, and then pauses, swallowing hard. “Sweetheart, yes!”
“Yes?”
He nods frantically. “Yes to everything you said, darling. I love you so much. If you’d never wanted to marry, I’d still have been happy, but all I ever wanted was for you to be mine in all the ways that you can.” He shakes his head and then says slowly, “I’m not as good with words as you, but I’m good with promises, so my promise is that I will love you until the day I die. Through laughter, through arguments, through snark, grumpiness, and the odd bout of green eye, I will always love you. No matter what happens in the future, I will always be yours.”
I reach out, and with fingers that shake slightly, I slide the ring down, reaching down to press a kiss on it as it nestles against his knuckle. I swallow hard as he does the same, and then I draw him into my arms, feeling the heat and warmth of him. “God, I love you,” I say softly. I try to pull him into me to kiss him, but he shakes his head.
“Gabe, you’ll get my cold.”
I shrug. “I don’t fucking care. If I do, so what? We’ll have it together.”
He laughs, and I take his mouth, kissing him hungrily.
Jude was right. This is our moment. Normality and the everydayness of this moment are the glue that sticks us together. Over the years there may even be a few cracks in us, but even with colds and jealousy and tiredness we’re together, and that’s what’s perfect. Who needs candlelight and roses? We have scrambled eggs and Lemsip.
The Valentine Do-Over
Dylan
I follow Gabe’s tall figure into the lift at his office. As the doors close, I lean back against the highly polished interior and grin at him.
“It feels weird to be back here,” I observe.
He sniffs. “I suppose that’s just you repressing the massive amount of regret you feel at leaving my employ.”
“Oh, ginormous,” I agree.
He wrinkles his nose. “It’s not the same without you.”
“In what way?” I ask. I absolutely love my job and my boss, but some days I do feel a yearning to be back by Gabe’s side. Nobody gets me like him, and I’m never as stimulated as when I’m with him.
He shrugs. “It’s just a bit boring,” he says. “No one to bitch at.”
“It’s lovely to be so memorable for such a wonderful reason.” He grins at me, and I shake my head. “And if you’re telling me that you don’t bitch at Alistair, I’m going to be calling you a liar, my dearest.”
He smiles. “Of course, I do. I may be a reformed man, but I’m not dead.”
“Gabe, I’m unsure in what way you’ve reformed beyond the lack of pedestrians wandering through your bedroom and the fact that you don’t order me to get you a taxi at four in the morning anymore.”
He ignores me. Something he’s adept at.
“Everything is just so calm,” he says in a disgruntled fashion. “So peaceful. The coffee is spot-on.” I roll my eyes, and he ignores that too. “Everything is perfect.”
“I’m a little offended. It was perfect when I worked here.”
He grins at me, and my heart does a little pitter-pat. “Darling, it was far