He puts his hand over my heart. “I’ll protect it always, because breaking your heart would only break mine. I love you, Phoenix.”
“I love you, Evan.”
He closes his eyes briefly. “I love the way that sounds. Say it again.”
I smile. “I love you, Evan.”
“I love you, Phoenix.”
SIXTEEN MONTHS LATER
I WAIT FOR the bell to ring, signaling the end of the school day and the beginning of Christmas break. Ten minutes later, I spot the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her red sweater is barely visible under the black coat she’s wearing, but most noticeable is the pair of reindeer antlers on her head.
She walks with her students, each one of them wearing the same antlers, and helps a little boy zip the zipper of his jacket all the way up. He gives her a hug before scurrying off to find his parents.
As she stands near the line of parent’s cars waiting to pick up their students, she spots the cop car at the end. Her smile widens as she begins walking towards me. I move to meet her half way, the frosty air making both of our breaths visible between us.
“Hello, Officer Tyler,” she greets in a sultry tone.
“Afternoon, Ms. Nightingale.”
“Ms. Nightingale, are you in trouble?” a little girl asks, looking between the two of us.
We both laugh, and Phoenix kneels down, getting face to face with the cute little girl. “No, I’m not in trouble. I know him.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” the little girl asks with a shy smile, looking at me from the corner of her eye.
Phoenix looks back at me with a wide grin before facing the girl again, whispering to her, “He is my boyfriend.”
The little girl giggles. “My mom says I can’t have a boyfriend until I’m thirty. Are you thirty?”
“Actually, I’m twenty nine, but I think that’s close enough, don’t you?”
The girl seems to think about it before nodding. “I think so.”
“Okay, good. You enjoy your Christmas break, and make sure you’re really good so you can get lots of presents.”
“I will! Bye, Ms. Nightingale.”
Phoenix stands back up and faces me. “You’re gonna have all the kids thinking I’m a criminal.”
“Should I pull out my handcuffs?” I ask with a smirk.
“Maybe later,” she replies, leaning into me to give me a quick kiss.
I let out a low growl. “You’re distracting me from the main reason I came over here.”
She giggles, putting her gloved hands in her coat pockets. “Sorry. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to let you know that Jenn’s flying in late on the twenty second instead of the twenty fourth, so I’ll need you to go pick her up before she tries driving on these roads. She thinks she can do it, but she’s a Cali driver, and she’ll probably freak out over an inch of snow.”
She laughs. “Kind of like you did your first winter?”
“I wasn’t that bad.”
“Uh-huh. Well, of course I can get her. She can come with us to Marissa’s on the twenty third, too. It’ll be fun.”
“Okay. Oh, and your mom called to make sure you were still gonna make the pies for the dinner at their place on Christmas Eve.”
“Shit!” she curses, putting her hand to her forehead. “I need to get the stuff from the store, but yeah, I’ll have them ready.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back inside, because it’s freezing out here, but I just wanted to come see you while I was on lunch.”
“Okay, baby. I’ll see you at home.”
“Love you.”
She sends me one of her heartwarming smiles. “I love you.” With one more quick peck, she turns on her heel and makes her way back into the school.
Phoenix moved in with me five months ago. We’d been dating for about a year at that point, and if she wasn’t spending the night at my house, I was at hers. Moving in seemed like the logical thing to do, well, that and the fact that I was ready to have a home with her.
Anthony, Marissa, Max and Carol—who are now married—and even her parents, all came out to help us move everything she wanted to bring to my house, and get rid of or store the rest.
Her and her parent’s relationship is much better now, and the four of us get together at least twice a month for dinner. They both seemed to embrace me with no qualms, and I was very grateful for the lack of awkwardness between us. Phoenix took me to their house in late October, after we’d been together about five months, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared shitless. With the stories she told me about her parents, I was nervous they’d be stuck up assholes, but that wasn’t the case at all. They were a bit stiff at first, both of them showing concern over my job. They seemed surprised that Phoenix was okay with it, and we didn’t go into detail about how she almost wasn’t.
We stayed there for three hours, and by the end of the night, everybody was feeling more comfortable with each other. Thanksgiving was spent at their house, and Phoenix was able to convince them to have it just be us with none of their usual business associates joining. It was the best Thanksgiving I had in a long time. Last month, though, we had Thanksgiving with Marissa and Anthony, along with some other officers from the department.
Most of the friends I made are from work, and then of course Max and Carol have become good friends of ours. We got new neighbors who are about our age, and we have game nights with them from time to time. Most of the people in this neighborhood are retired couples, which means it’s quiet, so that’s good.
Phoenix has stuck by her decision to never drink again. She’s pretty solid, and doesn’t need the constant appointments anymore. I’m so proud of how far she’s come.
The next several days are chalk full of things we have to do, people we have to visit, and shopping we need to get done, but one thing in particular weighs heavy on my mind, and it’s time to make necessary arrangements.
DECEMBER 23RD
“Oh my gosh, I’m exhausted!” Phoenix exclaims, collapsing onto the couch.
“I’m stuffed,” Jenn complains, falling next to Phoenix. “I wasn’t expecting a full on Italian feast.”
“Anthony insists she cooks Italian food for every holiday,” I say with a laugh.
“Their baby is so cute, but man, I think I held him way too long. My arms are aching!” Phoenix says, rubbing her arms.
“Well, you did hold him almost all night.”
She shrugs. “He’s adorable.”
“We’ll see how he acts when he gets on a plane,” Jenn grumbles, still not over her “flight from hell” over a year ago.
Marissa gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Travis Gordon Grimes about five months ago. Phoenix is crazy about him, and I’m starting to think she’s getting a little baby fever.
“Babe, will you turn on the Christmas lights?” Phoenix asks.
Plugging in the lights, the entire seven foot tree is illuminated in bright colors. About twenty presents sit under the tree, and I’ve already caught Jenn and Phoenix shaking a few of them while they thought I was in the other room.
I walk over to the couch and squeeze my way into the middle of them, stretching my arms across both their shoulders.
“I’m so glad I get to spend Christmas with my two favorite girls this year.”
“Aww, we love you, too,” Jenn replies.
DECEMBER 24TH
“Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad,” Phoenix says, hugging her parents. “Thank you for dinner.”
“Of course, sweetie. You two drive back safely,” her mom says.
“Alice, your cooking was incredible,” I say, giving her mom a hug. “Don, thanks for everything,” I state, giving him a handshake.
“No worries, son,” he replies back, giving me a firm nod.
“I’ll call you guys tomorrow,” Phoenix says, grabbing a bag of presents her parents are sending home with us.
I take the bag from her as we head out, and hold her by the elbow as she wa
lks down the icy steps in her heels.
Once we get back home, Jenn is lying across the couch watching TV in her pajamas.
“Evan,” she croaks. “Can you please go get me some medicine? I think I’m dying from all this cold.”
I laugh at her dramatics. “Oh, come on. You’re not dying.”
“I’ll go get you some,” Phoenix chimes in. “Do you need anything else?”
“No, no. You stay here and make sure she doesn’t freeze to death,” I say, rolling my eyes. “I’ll go grab the medicine.”
“Be careful, sweetie.”
I lean in and give Phoenix a quick kiss and head back out. Thirty minutes later, I’m finally pulling back into my garage. I place a few things down by the door before walking inside with a plastic bag full of medicine.
Jenn jumps up from the couch, snatching the bag from my hands and kissing my cheek. “Thanks, bro. I love you. I’m gonna go take some and lay down. Night, Phoenix!”
“Good night, Jenn. Hope you feel better soon!”
I take off my jacket and hang it up in the closet before sitting on the floor next to Phoenix.
“Whose presents are these?” I ask, gesturing to the boxes she’s wrapping up.
“I went and got something for Max and Carol, then I saw the cutest little outfits for Travis, so I had to buy him some more.”
“You know he’s gonna grow out of those in like two months, right?”
“I don’t care,” she says with a shrug.
“Hey, I was thinking we could each open one of our presents tonight.”
“Really?” she squeals. “I know which one I want you to open,” she says excitedly, scrambling towards the tree.
She comes back and hands me an envelope. “This is the one?”
“Good things come in small packages. Just open it!”
I tear open the side of the envelope, taking my time on purpose, because I know it drives her crazy. Once it’s finally open, I spill the contents on the floor. When I pick up the pieces of paper, my eyes widen.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes! Are you excited?”
“Tickets to California? Yeah, I’m excited. I can’t wait to show you around, Phoenix. Jenn’s gonna be so excited.”
“She already knows.”
“Of course she does. When are these for?” I ask, scanning the tickets.
“April. School will be out for spring break, and hopefully you’ll be able to get some time off.”
“I’ll make it work.”
“Yay!”
I lean into her, forcing her to lay on her back, and cover her face in kisses. “I love you so much. Thank you for this.”
She giggles, turning her head from side to side. “Get off of me.”
“I don’t think I want to,” I reply, kissing her some more.
“You can’t start anything with your sister in the other room,” she says, swatting at my chest playfully.
“Fine.”
“Now, give me my present,” she says with a smile.
I climb off her and pull her up. “I gotta go get it.”
“It’s not under the tree?”
“No. I know you’ve been shaking them.”
She blushes. “No, I haven’t.”
“Liar.”
I get up and make my way to the garage and grab the big box I left near the door. When I walk into the living room with it, her eyes light up. “Ooh, it’s big!”
“Hey, no naughty talk with my sister in the next room. You already know it’s big.”
“Oh, shush,” she says through a laugh.
I sit down across from her, placing the box between us. “Okay, open it.”
She grins wide, pulling the top of the box off and peering inside.
“No way. Oh my god, Evan. Oh my god!” she screeches.
“You like it?” I ask with a smile.
“Oh my god!”
She reaches in and pulls out the grey bundle that’s fast asleep on the pink blanket I put in there.
“I can’t believe you did this. You got me my Pit?”
“I did.”
“Just now?”
“Yep. Jenn was in on it. She didn’t need medicine, but I needed to go pick up the dog.”
“You two are so sneaky,” she says, bringing the puppy up to her cheek. “But I love you both. She’s so cute. I can’t take it!”
“I also bought dog food, a bed, some toys, and everything else you could possibly need. Everything’s in the garage. And I know you’re worried about leaving her alone while she’s still young, so when you go back to work, Max and Carol have agreed to watch her.”
“Evan, this is so great. I don’t even need any more gifts. Thank you so much.”
She leans forward to kiss me, still cradling the puppy in her hands. The pup starts to wake up, and Phoenix puts her down on the floor, watching her get up and sniff around. Looking up at me, she smiles, petting the dog’s head.
“I bought her a pink collar, and there’s a little dog tag on there already, but we can take it to get engraved with her name once you pick one out.”
She moves to inspect the collar and tag. “Oh, so cute! It’s a diamond.” She pauses, her face going blank. “Wait.” I smile as she tries to get the puppy to stand still. “Evan, is that . . .”
I grab the puppy and put it in my lap, unclasping the collar from around her neck. The diamond ring that was hanging from the collar falls into my hand. The puppy is quick to get off my lap and makes her way to the presents.
“Evan,” she breathes my name, her eyes glistening.
“Phoenix, I can’t imagine going a day without you. Ever since you came into my life, you’re all that I think about and all that I want. I was always prepared to wait for you. If you weren’t ready to be with me when we first met, I knew that I’d wait for you, because I knew you’d be worth it. It’s been almost two years since we met, and I swear I fall in love with you more each day. I look forward to a lifetime of experiences with you, and to starting a family together. I love you, Phoenix. Will you marry me?”
I’m sitting in front of her, holding the ring up. The three princess cut diamonds sparkle under the Christmas lights, and the accent stones rest along the band. Her eyes flicker down to the ring before coming back up to meet my gaze.
“Yes,” she says through a shaky voice. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
I pull her into a tight hug, relief flooding my body, because I had no idea if she’d say yes or not. It’s been a little under three years since she lost her husband, and I know I’ll never replace that love or connection she shared with him, nor do I want to, but I wasn’t sure when she’d be ready to marry again. She’s talked about wanting kids, so I knew she’d want that family life. I was just hoping she was ready to start it with me, because I can’t wait to be her husband.
I pull away and slip the ring on her finger. She studies it on her hand, before squeezing me into another hug. The puppy comes back around to her lap and she lifts her up with one hand.
“What do you think, Diamond? Daddy did good, didn’t he?” she says, showing the ring to the puppy.
“Diamond?”
“It’s fitting, right?” She flashes me a bright smile.
“It’s perfect.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, Phoenix. More than you could possibly know.”
Dear readers,
Thank you for buying my book! I really hope you enjoyed Evan and Phoenix’s journey. Please leave a review on any purchase site, letting me know how you feel.
This was a tough book for me to write, as I wanted to make it as real as possible. This could be anybody’s story, and it’s hard to get that just right. I could only go off my mother’s situation. She lost her husband, and I knew the pain she went through, and the struggle to get back to normal. She found love again, and I’m glad she did. My hope to anybody who may be reading this who’s gone through something similar is that they’re able to find strength in t
hemselves again.
-Isabel
If you or someone you know has mental health and/or substance use disorders, please visit the following website for information on how to get help.
http://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
AS ALWAYS, I have to thank my husband first, because he’s my biggest supporter. Thank you, baby, for always being there for me, for understanding when we have to order dinner instead of having a home cooked meal, and for knowing exactly what I need to hear sometimes. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for being my best friend, and the one I can always count on. I love you.
Kizzy and Tonya. Where would I be without my girls? I love you both to death, and I’m so happy we’ve become friends. Thank you for your support, encouragement, and opinions. I’m grateful to have you as beta readers, but even more thankful for your friendship.
A thank you to everybody who’s always willing to share any new content I put out. Lupita, Iris, Christina, Beverly, Tonya, Kizzy, Lindsay. I appreciate you all!
Dana, Brooke, and Stacy, I’m so happy to have had your thoughts on this story. Brooke, you helped so much with your notes. Thank you for your insight!
Robin, my amazing cover designer, you’ve really outdone yourself. This cover is hauntingly beautiful, and I couldn’t be more in love with it. Thank you for all of your hard work. I appreciate you so much!
Christine, my ever so patient and wonderful formatter, thank you! I’m so grateful to you for being so patient with me, and always being a joy to work with. I never fear putting my book in your hands, because I know it’s only coming back to me even better.
Mom, I love you more than words can express. You’ve been a supporter of mine since I was kid, constantly changing my mind about what I wanted to do, and you’ve always believed in me. I admire your strength and hard work, and I hope to follow your footsteps when it comes to being an amazing mother.
To every reader, blogger, and author who has ever read any of my books, shared any of my teasers, covers, links, reviewed a book of mine, or just taken the time to sit and chat with me, thank you! I’ll never be able to thank you enough for everything you all do to support me. Just know that I appreciate you all so very much.
Resurrecting Phoenix Page 24