Page 106 of Necessary Restorations
Smiling, I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around him for the first time in too long. “We’re the ones who figure it out.”
Six months later
THERE WAS A better way to do this. Something elaborate or quirky, the kind of experience we’d retell for years to come. But that ring had been burning a hole in my pocket all week, and we had enough stories in our arsenal.
And maybe this one was just for us.
The ring caught my eye when I walked past the Newbury Street jewelry shop, and I knew that pale pink stone belonged on Tiel’s hand. It was a rare, old-fashioned cut and the thin antique band was studded with white diamonds, and it was too odd to pass up.
And now, on this sunny November morning with her asleep beside me, I was tired of waiting.
We’d spent the first two months going to shows, watching movies, and making new memories to replace those from our time apart. There were a lot of issues for us to get through; simply deciding that we wanted to be together didn’t change the fact that I didn’t make healthy decisions or set the clearest boundaries with the women in my life, or that her jealousy and abandonment triggers were quick. But we talked and worked at it, and we agreed we wouldn’t walk away, even when it was difficult or frustrating.
We weren’t walking awayever.
After celebrating the Fourth of July with a whirlwind tour of regional music festivals, Tiel announced she was tired of bouncing between my place and hers, and we’d decided an experiment in cohabitation was in order.
From there, we’d spent the summer learning how to live together, fighting and making up, and discovering new ways to love and challenge each other every day.
The firehouse was in decent shape, too. There were a couple new walls and the tree-ring tile project was finished, and a crew was wrapping up work on her studio next week.
At Tiel’s request, I hadn’t evicted Riley, but he was safely ensconced in his own wing these days. Unfortunately, that didn’t improve his ability to zip his pants.
Tiel had accepted an associate professorship, and for the first time in years, didn’t spend the summer at band camp. With all that free time, she eventually agreed to Lauren’s invitation for margaritas and pedicures. The paint wasn’t even dry on her toes when she’d texted me to say Lauren was hilarious and she was developing a crazy girl-crush on her.
Over Labor Day weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, Tiel and Shannon ended up chatting for hours—there were a few bottles of wine involved—and now they regularly met up for drinks.
Despite our commitment to complete honesty, I wasn’t going to call out Tiel’s dramatic pivot in that situation.
I glanced at the ring again, smiling. The stone was big, bigger than Tiel would ever select for herself, but wasn’t that the point?
The idea of marriage was a strange compulsion for me. I craved this, and not because I doubted any amount of our commitment to each other. I’d spent some time unwrapping this urge for weeks now, and though I knew I could be content with our relationship as it was, I wanted the official confirmation that we were legally, socially, spiritually bound and possessed by each other.
I wanted Tiel as mine, and I wanted to be hers.
And we were ready for this.
“Sweetheart,” I murmured, brushing her hair aside and kissing her shoulder.
“Five more minutes,” she whispered.
“I’d like a little bit longer than that,” I said, curling my arm around her waist.
She nodded and burrowed into my chest, her eyes heavy with sleep. “It’s Sunday, though,” she said. “Let’s have snuggletime.”
“Let’s get married,” I said.
Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at me, quiet and assessing. “Yeah,” she said, her smile hitting me like a blinding ray of sunshine. “We’re going to have really cool kids.”
“Of course,” I said, laughing as I slipped the ring on her finger. “They’ll be smart and the good kind of weird, talented and cute, and we should start making them right now.”
“You’re brilliant,” she said, wrapping her legs around me. “And more than a little pervy.”
“You’rea little pervy,” I murmured. “And I love it.”
