Camden

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1 Year Later

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I take another peek behind the curtain, checking the driveway yet again. He should be home any time now.

At first I couldn’t believe he had to work on our anniversary, but I guess that’s the life of an artist. We don’t have days off, holiday time or celebrations. We always have to be on the ready.

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But that’s okay. At least this time around. Because going to work left me all the time I needed to prepare my surprise for him.

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I check the lasagna in the oven and my surprise in the bedroom then pace around the apartment again until I check the window again.

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Finally I see his car pulling into the driveway and I go over to the kitchen to pretend I haven’t been on edge actively waiting for him to come back so we can properly celebrate.

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“Honey, I’m home,” he says when he walks in.

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I roll my eyes and take the lasagna out of the oven as he comes into the kitchen and sniffs the air.

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“Oh it smells divine in here, baby.”

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I set the tray down on the kitchen counter and turn around to face my boyfriend. My tall, handsome, sexy as all hell, boyfriend.

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He puts his hands around my waist and pulls me into him, planting a deep kiss on my lips and I caress the back of his neck with one hand, and one of his shoulder blades with the other.

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“I hope you’re hungry,” I say.

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“Oh I certainly am. For more than just lasagna.”

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He pulls away and wiggles his eyebrows, getting another eye roll from me.

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“All in good time, my love,” I tell him and slap his butt for good measure.

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“Indeed,” he says, but I have no idea what that means.

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“How was work?” I ask, getting busy serving the lasagna, stalling on purpose.

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“Oh, I wasn’t working today,” he says.

He opens the fridge and gets a beer can. He passes me one and I reluctantly take it.

“What do you mean you weren’t working? I thought you said you had to?”

I crack the beer can open and slit my eyes, staring down at him.

“Oh that? I lied,” he says so nonchalantly I have an urge to punch his arm.

“So… you lied about working on our anniversary? Does that mean you didn’t want to spend your whole day with me?”

I can already feel my temperature rising and my irritability bubble up inside. Why is he being so weird and thoughtless about the fact that he lied to me?

“Oh my God, come here you. You’re not even talking and I can hear your thoughts loud and clear,” he says and grabs my hand, pulling me into his arms and resuming his grip on my lower back.

“Why did you lie?”

“Because I had a surprise for you and I needed to be out of the house to get it ready,” he says.

“Oh,” I say. “Are you lying to me again?”

Linc smiles and kisses me. “Never.”

“So why couldn’t you just tell me that instead of telling me you were working?” I ask.

“Because I wanted you to be thoroughly surprised when I gave you your present.”

I frown and look around him but I can’t find any bags or wrapped presents.

“The surprise is waiting for you in the living room,” he says with a smirk.

God, I’ve gone from super giddy to super-grumpy in record time, haven’t I?

Get over it, Cam.

Linc hasn’t lied to me since we got together and he’s been the best boyfriend one could ask for. There’s absolutely zero reasons to start doubting him now.

He steps behind me and covers my eyes with his large hands, guiding me to the living room, his breath on my neck making the hairs there stand up.

“You know how we’ve been talking about something in the last few months?”

“We’ve been talking about a lot of things. You’ll have to be more specific.”

“I don’t need to be specific, Mr. Impatient,” he says and I can hear the eye roll in his tone.

“Well, in that case I can’t participate in the conversation if I don’t know which of the many things we’ve talked about you’re referring to,” I say.

Okay, to be honest, there are a couple of subjects that come to mind, but I sure hope one of them is not what he’s talking about.

It would so ruin my surprise.

“Dear God. You’re such an awful smartass, you know that?” he huffs in my ear.

“It’s why you love me.” I chuckle.

“True. True. Anyway… as I was saying, we’ve been talking about this for a while and it took me a while, but I finally found the right fit.”

Fit? Is he talking about getting married? Because that is one of the things he’s been bringing up. But he knows I don’t want to do so just yet. Not so close to his last engagement. I want us to get to know each other and be with each other and be sure of each other before we take the next step.

His hands ease around my eyes and the light in the living room blinds me momentarily. And then I see it.

A light grey crate on the floor in front of the front door and I almost forget to breathe.

“Oh God, you didn’t,” I say, worry coloring my voice and drop to my knees.

“I did,” Linc says, crouching down as well.

I open the crate and a grey tabby cat saunters out and rubs on my leg, stretching its tail and body.

“I think she likes you,” he says.

“Oh God. We’re a funny pair,” I say.

I lift the kitty in my hands and she meows in greeting.

“Why? What are you talking about?” Linc asks beside me then he starts doing silly faces at the cat.

“Because I also have a surprise.”

I stand up and with the kitty in one hand and Linc’s hand in my other, I take him to the bedroom.

“After you,” I say and gesture for him to open the door.

He slits his eyes but pushes the handle and cracks it open when a little tornado of a puppy comes yapping at Linc’s legs, tail wagging like a trigger-happy pendulum.

“Oh my God. You didn’t!” he coos and lifts the chocolate colored pug in his arms.

The kitten hisses at the dog, but the puppy isn’t defeated and instead greets the cat with a howling bark.

“I can’t believe we both got a pet for each other on the same day,” he says.

“I’m just glad we got one of each,” I say.

Linc smiles and makes more silly faces at both the dog and the cat.

“What are we going to name them?” he asks.

I lift the kitten in my hands and look into her yellow eyes. She meows at me again, as if criticizing me for daring to remove her from my chest, and I laugh.

“How about Katie and Doug,” I offer.

Linc bursts in laughter, startling the puppy for a moment.

“Are you seriously suggesting we name our cat Katie and our dog Doug?”

“Why not? It’s funny. It’s cute. It’s us,” I say.

“That is one hundred percent true.” He smiles and turns to look at me.

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As we stand foot to foot, Doug starts licking Katie and any feud between them extinguishes in that moment as the kitty purrs.

“Happy anniversary, baby,” he says.

“Happy anniversary, sweetie,” I tell him, looking right in his eyes and I breathe a sigh of joy and bliss. “Here’s to our next year together.”

Linc raises an eyebrow.

“Next year? Honey, we’ve got a dog and cat now. We’re stuck together for at least another decade or two.”

I smile at him.

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“I can live with that,” I say and kiss his lips.

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I can so live with that.