Penny - Two Years Later

It was June in New York, which meant it was hot as fuck, but things were looking up. A double scoop of salted caramel was in my hand-slash-mouth, and Bodie was smiling at me from across the table of the ice cream shop where I’d seen him for the first time since high school.

I moaned as I took a long lick of my ice cream, eyes rolling back in my head, hand resting on my very pregnant belly.

“Jesus, fuck, that is so good,” I mumbled around a full mouth, not even swallowing before I went back for more. “I swear, everything tastes better when you’re knocked up.”

He chuckled and licked his ice cream. “Feel better?”

“Mmhmm.” I swallowed. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a raging bitch. It’s just so fucking hot and I’m so fucking fat and I’m so fucking hungry. But this ice cream is so fucking good.”

“You’re not a bitch, Pen.”

I barked out a single laugh. “That’s funny. I nearly slit your throat this morning for leaving your shoes in the living room after I almost tripped and fell and broke my neck. You know I can’t see anything past this.” I gestured to my stomach. “I haven’t seen my feet in a month. Who even knows what my bush looks like.”

He laughed. “Trust me, it looks perfect.”

“Psh, you say that now. Wait until I push your baby out of it. God, my vag is gonna look like a roast beef sandwich.” I frowned, bummed out. And just like that, I thought I might cry.

“Penny,” he said sternly, “your pussy is pink and perfect and mine and nothing will change that.”

I sighed and reached for his hand. “I fucking love you.”

He smiled. “I fucking love you too.”

“Even though I’ve spent a small fortune on fancy stretch-mark lotions?”

“Yep.”

“Even though I’m crazy?”

“Especially because you’re crazy.”

I sighed and licked my ice cream. “You’re the best, babe. You’re like a unicorn.”

“A sex unicorn?”

“I dunno what that is but clearly, the answer is yes.” I pointed to my stomach.

“Hmm, well, the sex unicorn is horny.” He took a lick, eyes twinkling.

I laughed, and the baby shifted and stretched. My hand flew to the spot. “Whoops. I woke Coco up. Sorry, cupcake.” I patted the spot that I thought might be her butt as I took a full-on bite of my ice cream. My teeth stung, and I couldn’t even care — I moaned like I was in a porno.

Bodie laughed and took a bite of his cone.

“This is all your fault, you know,” I said, motioning to my belly. “You and your super sperm. Only I would be in the zero-point-one percent of the population who gets pregnant on birth control.”

“Psh, that was all you. And the stomach flu. You puked your pill up three days in a row.”

I shook my head. “I’m going with super sperm. Lucky for me, you’re a hottie. Our baby is gonna be so pretty.”

“Rock the Casbah” played over the speakers, and I lit up. “It’s our song!”

He smiled at that, and I saw a little secret behind his eyes.

“Know what today is?”

My brow quirked. “June something?”

“Two years ago today, we sat right over there while you ate your ice cream just like that. And that night, we went to—”

“Circus!” I grinned stupidly as my lovesick heart sprouted daisies and butterflies. “I didn’t even know what day that was.”

He shrugged and ate his ice cream like it was no big deal. “I remember stuff like that.”

“I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning,” I said in utter awe. Why a guy like him wanted anything to do with the likes of me, I’d never understand.

“Bagel with strawberry cream cheese, lightly toasted.”

I shook my head, giggling. “You’re my dream guy, you know that?”

“I’m glad you feel that way.”

He pushed a black velvet box across the table at me, taking another lick of his ice cream like it was a totally normal day and he wasn’t giving me one of those boxes with what I was pretty sure was one of those things in it.

“Bodie,” I breathed, my eyes on the box and ice cream dripping onto my hand.

“Penny,” he said softly, a lightness to his voice that betrayed the heaviness underneath.

When I looked up at him, his face was soft and beautiful and perfect and made my insides turn to goop.

“I love you, and I don’t want to be without you. Not ever. I’ve wanted you to be mine every day for the last two years, and I want you to be mine for every day for the rest of my life. I’ve had this ring since we found out you were pregnant, but I figured it would be best to wait until you were so big and dependent on me for foot rubs that you couldn’t say no.”

I laughed through a sob.

His voice softened. “I’ve been waiting for the perfect day, and I found it. Open the box.”

I shoved my ice cream at him and wiped my hands off before picking up the box with trembling fingers. And when I opened it, the most beautifully simple ring lay inside, shining with diamonds and gold and promises of forever.

“Marry me, Pen.”

I breathed for just one second, one savored moment where the man I loved told me he wanted me always, when the life we’d created stretched inside me, when everything was right and perfect and an absolute dream.

And then, I jumped out of my seat and into his arms as best I could weighing a metric ton, and he caught me as best he could with his hands full of ice cream cones.

“Of course I’ll marry you,” I said with my throat tight and heart singing. “I might be crazy, but I’m not stupid.”

He laughed, and it was only then that I realized I was crying, my cheeks soaked and warm and aching from smiling.

And when I kissed him, he tasted like mint chocolate and love and forever.