Read My Everything for Free Online Page B

any more rejection. I’ve resigned myself to living as her partner and not her husband. It’s not going to be enough, but I’ll find a way to make it work.
    Josie leads us to the park bench that faces Main Street. About two years ago the city officials decided to revitalize this area. Wrought iron light poles were installed, a nice fence put up around the park and park benches were added. Across from the park, businesses started rebuilding and redoing their façades, bringing back the old hometown feel. The only problem with it is some couldn’t afford to upgrade and their businesses folded, leaving empty storefronts.
    We sit down, her hand in my lap. I love this. I love that we are a couple, raising our son and living a fulfilling life. I don’t need her to have my last name to make us a family. We already are.
    “What are we doing here?” I look around and wonder why of all the benches she chose the one facing the dilapidated building.
    “What do you see when you look at that building?”
    “Ruins.”
    “No, Nick, really look at it. What do you see?”
    I do as she asks and study the building. It was once a toy store. Mr. Preston told me that he worked there when he was a youngster and that he learned to carve a wooden train from the owner, Mr. W. He said no one knew what the W stood for and no one ever bothered to ask. He died a few years back and didn’t have a family to run the store for him. It’s been empty and falling apart since.
    “I see the toy store in its heyday. Kids running to the shop after school to see what new toys Mr. W made.”
    “My dad would’ve done that.”
    “I know that’s how I can picture it. He tells Noah about what it was like all the time. Tell me, Josie, what do you see?”
    Her expression is what I want to see when I ask her to marry me. Her face lights up, her eyes go wide and her grin is from ear to ear. It breaks my heart to know that an empty, broken down store can get the reaction that I so desperately need.
    “I see my dream.”
    “Your dream?” I don’t mean to sound like an insensitive boyfriend, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a dream.
    “I want to open a flower shop in the old toy store and call it Whimsicality.”
    “Why?”
    Josie looks at me and I can’t decipher if she’s pissed off or genuinely concerned that I don’t know the answer to my own question.
    “I want to bring the same happiness Mr. W. did to people, but with flowers.”
    “Okay.”
    “I talked to my dad. He’ll give me the loan to get started and Henry is going to do all the construction at cost.”
    I see the way she talks about her dream and know that she’ll be successful. I can see everything taking shape in her mind and in mine. The sheer joy that is showing on her face as she talks about opening a shop is mesmerizing. If this is what she wants to do, we’ll make it happen.
    “When do we get started?”
    Josie jumps into my lap and wraps her arms tight around my neck. I start to think this could be the moment, but hold back and just enjoy what we are celebrating.
     
    “Nick, are you coming?”
    I blink a few times to clear my thoughts. I don’t know what I expected. Maybe I thought the park bench would be gone, or this café never took off. I’m wrong on both accounts. Aubrey has had to drag me down the street since my feet decided they no longer function for their intended purposes.
    I thought about telling her that I didn’t feel well and that I needed to rest before returning to work tomorrow, but I owe her this. I can’t expect her to stay cooped up in my parent’s house the whole time. I want Beaumont to be her home and sadly that means I’ll be running into Josie.
    “I’ve been dying to try this café since your mom and I drove by it the other day.” Aubrey climbs the three steps that lead to the café. When Josie told me about the expansion I flipped. I thought she only wanted to do it so Liam had a place to play. I told her it was stupid and a waste