Happily Ever After

Chapter Thirteen: Corey Fillmoore

 Next day...

    Zeke plants himself down on the bedroom door with a huge wooden slab. 

     "So how was your date?" I ask, smiling as I put toddler clothes into the closet. 

    "It wasn't a date." 

     "Okay well you met up with your ex so it sounds like a date," I explain. 

     "It was a friendly meeting," he says, smiling softly to himself. "And it was good, thank you." 

     "Did you kiss?" Amelia asks from the corner.

     "No," He shakes his head. "You don't kiss your friends." 

      "Unless you're meant to be more than friends," I suggest. 

       "I'm not going to date someone to live across the seas," Zeke explains. "Plus he's still figuring out life. I'm not going to way him down by having him feel like there's someone else to attend to." 

      "You are definitely not a burden," I explain. "You guys were great together. Long distance wouldn't be such a bad idea, Z. Plus he still comes back once every few months. You guys will still get to see each other it just won't be as much as it was when you first got together." 

     "Yeah, Z. If you really like him, I wouldn't let that hold you back." 

     He sighs and turns back to the shelf. "I guess." 

  These past few months have been incredibly hectic. Each day we've been surrounded by adoption paper works, texts from our agents, and paint color sheets. It's been overwhelming but in such a good way. In a few weeks, all of this is going to pay off. Plus, it's been really exciting seeing Z and Morris hang out again. I've literally been waiting for this moment for years. I had always bet he'd get married to Morris because I even popped the question to Amelia but I guess I was off. I have no doubt it's coming one day though. 

          "Does this look high enough?" Zeke asks, holding a shelf up with one hand and a drill in the other. The guy has been renovating his own house for years so he was excited to jump onto this project when we told him the news. 

           "Yeah," I nod before fixing a t-shirt in Miles' closet that fell off the hanger. 

            Zeke quickly drills the shelf up before turning to a bunch of boxes. "You should put those animal figures up there." 

            "That would look good," I agree. I go to put them up, trying not to stumble over my wife who has dozens of children's books scattered across the ground. 

           "It's Elliott's dinosaur book!" she smiles, happily showing it to me. 

           "Jesus, I forgot about that," I laugh. 

            Elliott was the world's largest dinosaur addict. At three he could name pretty much every dinosaur by its full name and say what kind of diet they had. He was obsessed and it was adorable. There's nothing cuter than a little kid stomping around with dinosaur feet slippers and rawring. 

            She gently places the book on the shelf before continuing to organize the rest. 

            "Speaking of the devil," Zeke laughs as Elliott stands in the doorway.

           "That shelf is crooked," he says, tilting his head. 

            "No, it's not. I used a level and marked the wall," Zeke explains, eyeing the shelf.