Love Of My Life

Chapter 1 - Catching Up

"So, when's the date?" He asked, excited to know the answer.

"Slow down there, we just got engaged yesterday," I responded.

"There's no better time than now to start planning," he replied. I just shot him a look.

"Give us a chance to breathe first, Jesus," Joe responded. "I'd been waiting to propose for like a week and I was stressed the whole time. Let's just take a little time before we start planning everything." He breathed out, trying to relax.

"You were nervous?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course I was. We hadn't even mentioned marriage let alone talked about it. I didn't know if you would say yes. And they always say you shouldn't propose unless you know. But, I didn't, so I was stressed." He explained. I just smiled at him.

"Even if I was going to say no, I wouldn't have done it there. I would have done it later during the car ride home. Wouldn't want to leave you there down on one knee." I joked.

"You gotta stop making jokes about us breaking up," he laughed. We all laughed with him.

"No, no. I'm never going to leave you. You're stuck with me forever." I said.

"Good. That's just what I want to hear," he said, pressing a kiss into my hair.

We stayed and talked with Gio until we finished eating. Joe and I went back home and Deacon greeted us at the door. Barking and jumping up as best as he could. Excited that we were back. I immediately started scratching behind his ears and petting him. Joe did the same. This was beginning to be routine when we came home, just petting Deacon and making him feel loved. We both plopped down on the couch. I wrapped myself around Joe and straddled him. Not in a sexual way, but because I wanted to be as close to him as possible. I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck and wrapped my legs around his back. He wrapped his arms around me as well. His warmth felt so nice and inviting. I wanted to fall asleep in his arms.

"Julie," Joe said, getting my attention.

"Hmm," I hummed into his neck.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. I pulled my face from his neck and looked at him.

"What?" I said, slightly broken.

"Oh no," He rushed out. "No, no. I love you so much. It's just that this is a huge decision and I want to make sure that you want this just as much as I do," he explained.

"Of course, I do," I replied, a little hurt that he would doubt my love. "What brought this on?"

"I was just thinking about your jokes at lunch an-" He started.

"Those are just jokes, babe," I replied, cutting him off.

"I know they are. It just got me thinking that...maybe," He couldn't find the right words to say.

"You made a mistake?" I asked, trying to fill in the end of his sentence. I dropped my head as I spoke those words. Knowing that all of this was too good to be true.

"Fuck no. Never. I want to marry you. God. I want to walk into this house and see you and think 'holy fuck, that woman there is my WIFE!'" He explained. I laughed a little, glad that I wasn't a mistake to him. "No, I think it's just registering now that I asked you to marry me. Like that's a big deal. I'm not getting cold feet. I'm just realizing that this is a huge change in our lives and I couldn't be happier to be with you. To have you be the one I'm going to marry."

"I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too," he repeated at the same volume. We kissed and I went back to my position against his neck. There was a small silence between us.

"Hey, Thanksgiving is coming up, right?" I asked. Taking my face out of his neck again.

"Yeah, it is. Why?" he asked.

"Well, why don't we invite everyone over here. Of course, we'll invite Rami, but what about Gwil, Ben, and Lucy. And heck even Brian and Roger if they're willing to come back for a while." I said, with a new excitement in my voice. Joe thought about it for a minute.

"That's pretty close to when we leave for another premiere. I think we leave that weekend," he answered. Still racking his head for his mental calendar.

"That's perfect," I answered. "We can invite everyone here for Thanksgiving and then a couple of days later, all you guys can go off to the next country. It's just another stop." Joe still seemed skeptical. "Plus, all of the English people in our friend group don't celebrate the holiday so they'll just be coming to see us for a few days before you all leave. How is this not a perfect plan?" I was waiting for Joe to be as excited as I was, but that wasn't happening.

"I don't know," he said, dragging out his words as he thought.

"Come on, Joey. Where's your sense of fun?" I asked, teasing him a bit.

"I'll tell you what," he said as he readjusted his grip on my waist. "I'll text everyone and ask them if they want to do it. If they all say no, that's it. No more talk of it, okay? It's up to them." He tried to ground me as much as possible, but I was too excited now. But, I straightened my face and nodded. "Okay," he affirmed as he brushed a piece of my hair behind my ear. "I'll ask them." I threw my arms around his shoulders with a wide grin. Excited to see all our friends again.

For the rest of the night, we just stayed on the couch and watched TV. We were in various stages of cuddling with each other. Someone's leg was always over someone else's or someone's arm was wrapped around the other person. It was amazing and comfortable and loving. The more I sat like this with him, the more I was sure about spending the rest of my life with him.

I would look around the house and think about how I lived here now. This was my home as well. And with Deacon, it was just that. A home. Not a house anymore. And Joe started to call it home as well. Not just 'let's go back to the house,' but 'Let's go home'. My heart would melt every time he would say that. Just confirming for me that I had made the right choice.

I couldn't wait to be the doting housewife. Making food for him and staying around the house just like we do now. The only difference is that I would call him my husband. Husband. I'm going to have a husband. A man that I truly love, admire, cherish, and respect. Truly my equal. Someone who loves me for who I am and I love him back just as much. I had only ever dreamed of having a husband. Having someone as remotely charming and loving as Joe. I didn't know what I did to deserve him, but I'm not going to ask any questions. I'm just going to live in the moment and take all the time with him I can get. Because I know deep down, that forever won't be long enough for me.

(Kinda short first chapter, but I wasn't quite sure what to put in here. So, here's the deal. This sequel is going to be much shorter than the other book, but hopefully, the chapters will be longer??? Not entirely sure on that yet, but that also means chapters won't be coming out as frequently. Just to spread the story out for a while.)