The thought doesn't make me run.
It makes me smile.
Which is how I know this thing has gone way beyond serious.
I'm not dating Mary Donahue anymore.
Not in my head.
In my head she's already mine.
Not like a piece of property.
More like she’s a part of me now.
Mine in the forever sense.
The wife sense.
The old-and-gray-on-the-front-porch sense.
The woman I'll spend the rest of my life with.
And somehow—somewhere between the fake dating and falling asleep with her in my arms—I became absolutely certain of one thing.
I'm going to marry this woman.
“Earth to Kai? Care to share with the class?” Noel Kane interrupts my train of thought.
“I’m gonna marry her!”
Twenty-Six
Mary
By the time I get home, I'm exhausted.
Not just physically.
Emotionally.
It's been one strange day after another, and all I really want is a cup of tea, my pajamas, and maybe a phone call from Kai.
Mom's already put dinner on the table.
Chicken cutlets.
Roasted potatoes.
Green beans.
Simple comfort food.
Exactly what I need.
And honestly? Looking at her sitting there waiting for me, I have to smile.
Because my mother is basically me in thirty years.