Chapter 8 - The Life We Never Planned
Six months passed.
Reed changed Callaway's.
He sold several questionable businesses.
He invested in legitimate restaurants and community housing.
He created a scholarship fund in my father's name.
I left my job.
Not because Reed asked.
Because I wanted something different.
I opened a small bakery across the street.
Reed complained that my coffee was terrible.
I told him his taste was worse.
Ava became the unofficial owner of both businesses.
She walked between them carrying her stuffed rabbit.
One afternoon, Reed entered the bakery holding a small red box.
I stared.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“That means you did something.”
He knelt.
I stopped breathing.
“Mia.”
Ava gasped.
“Daddy is doing the knee thing!”
Reed laughed.
Then he opened the box.
Inside was a red mitten.
Old.
Faded.
Carefully preserved.
“I kept it.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“After all these years?”
“Every year.”
He looked at me.
“You were the first person who ever made me believe I could be something other than my family's history.”
Then he pulled out a ring.
“Will you marry me?”
I looked at Ava.
She nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes.”
Reed smiled.
He slipped the ring onto my finger.
And kissed me.
May you like
For once, there was no danger waiting behind the moment.
Or so we thought.
