Chapter Twenty Seven

Once upon a time, there was a woman who dreamed that when she woke up, all the things that had hurt her would be gone. She dreamed that all the things mothers accidentally tell their daughters when they read them fairy tales were true and not just stories.

Her fairy tale didn’t end with a wedding that usually signifies the end of the story. It didn’t end with her going to sleep and it didn’t end with her waking up. Instead, it ended the moment that she realized her feet were warm, there was a glass of orange juice on the table next to her bed, and a very undressed man asleep next to her.

For Paige, there wasn’t a better place to end the story because at that moment, he awoke and reached for her.

***

Weeks later, Harrison was wandering around the house when the doorbell rang. He padded over in his socks and answered it.

“Package for you,” Wystan said with a grin.

“Are you delivering the mail now?” Harrison asked, moving aside to let Wystan in the house.

“Gotta take the work I can get, now that Narissa’s expecting. The money has got to come in somehow.”

Harrison took the box Wystan offered him and signed on the dotted line. “Congratulations. Wanna come in for some water or something?”

“Nope. Gotta get on to the next house. Later, Harrison.”

Harrison chuckled and closed the door. That was one of the more miraculous developments in town … and in life in general. Narissa, pregnant? Sheesh.

Harrison opened the box and inside was another box, wrapped in pretty wedding-style wrapping paper. Who on Earth could be sending them a wedding present? Harrison opened the card. “To Harrison. May our years together be bright and… smooth. Love, Paige.”

It was from Paige? What was she talking about? Smooth?

He ripped off the wrapping paper.

It was a power sander. This time it was blue.

THE END