Finally, You (The Finally Book Duo 2)

by Burke, Roseanne

  "You're welcome," he smiled. "Now why don't you ladies head on out. I'll lock up tonight."

  "Sounds good. Thank you again," I said, stepping out of the office.

  Lacey was looking at me expectantly as I emerged. I hurried towards her.

  "What was that about?" she asked.

  "Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!" I exclaimed. "Johnny is making me a full time manager once we hire some more bartenders!"

  Her eyes lit up. "That's great! Congratulations!"

  "Thanks." I still was trying to process everything that just happened. "I can't wait to tell Todd."

  "Well, we're done for the night. Go over and tell him!" she grinned.

  We quickly finished up what was left of our duties, said good night to Johnny, and headed out into the freezing cold night.

  I decided to call Carrie on my way. Maybe she would be impressed with me for once.

  "Hello?" she answered.

  "Hey, it's me. How are you?" I immediately regretted asking her that question as she started in on her list of pregnancy symptoms. I rolled my eyes and added some "uh-huhs" here and there as she spoke.

  "So what's new with you?" she finally asked as I pulled into Todd's garage. Of course, as I'm ready to end the conversation...

  I put my car in park, but didn't get out. I wanted to be able to tell Todd my news without worrying about rushing her off the phone.

  "Oh, well, I got a promotion at work," I said, grinning. God, it felt so good to say it out loud again.

  "What's that? Head bartender or something?"

  I cleared my throat. I should have expected this.

  "Um, no. I'm going to be the manager," I replied.

  I could hear her take a deep breath. "So what does that mean?"

  "It means I'm going to be the manager. What else would that mean?" I could hear the ice in my voice. "I'm going to be hiring new bartenders, and I'm going to manage them, and manage the business side of the bar. I get to work during the day, and get paid a salary."

  "Well, that is a good thing," she replied. I could just picture her, distractedly brushing away a wrinkle in her shirt.

  I felt completely let down. I thought she would've been more excited by my news.

  "I just got to Todd's, so I'm going to let you go. I'll talk to you later," I said, getting out of the car.

  "Ok, talk to you later."

  "Bye."

  I groaned as I stepped into the elevator. Why did I even bother with her? I tried to stop the tears from filling my eyes. Why was she being so hurtful? I shook my head, effectively stopping the tears. The doors slid open, causing me to quickly change gears. I made my way to Todd's door, knocking softly.

  I could hear his footsteps approaching on the other side of the door. He opened it wide, pulling me swiftly into the entryway. I giggled as he spun me around, planting a sweet kiss on my lips.

  "You know, I've been thinking this is a major problem: you having to knock, me having to get up to answer the door. It seems so tedious at this point, doesn't it?" he smiled.

  He kept his hands on the small of my back as I peered up at him. "Yes, quite tedious. And knocking certainly does a number on my knuckles," I laughed.

  He brought my hand up to his mouth, kissing my fingers softly. "Well, I thought of a way to fix that." His other hand reached into his pocket, bringing out a key. He grinned as he put it in my hand.

  I felt the small heavy piece of metal on my skin, and I recognized what it was, but I couldn't form any words.

  "What?" I asked, my eyes widening.

  He laughed, kissing my nose. "It's a key, for here. I want you to have it."

  I looked to the key, then back at him. Here was the second big hill on my rollercoaster evening. "Really?" I asked, starting to finally smile.

  He laughed again, pulling me into the living room. "Yes, silly. Of course I do."

  We settled down onto the couch together, him wrapping his arm behind me. "Well thank you. I love it. And I love you." I placed my hand under his chin, reaching up to kiss him.

  "I love you too, babe," he smiled. "So, how was your night at work?"

  I had almost completely forgotten my first good news of the evening. "Oh my gosh, so good!" I cried.

  He chuckled, running his hand through my hair. "And why is that?"

  I shifted myself to face him completely, bringing my leg up on the couch. "Because, you are now looking at the manager of Johnny B's bar."

  His smile widened. "That's awesome, babe! I'm so proud of you." He pulled me to him, hugging me tightly.

  I smiled into his chest, savoring his touch and his words. He was proud of me. The memory of my sister's lack of enthusiasm crept back into my mind. I must have let on with my body language, because suddenly he pulled back. "What's wrong?"

  God, he knew me too well. I sighed, not wanting to ruin the exciting moment, but I knew I would feel better once I got it off my chest.

  "Oh, just my sister. I called her to tell her about it on my way here, and she was not nearly as excited as you are," I said spitefully.

  "What the hell? Why not?"

  I shrugged my shoulders. "Who knows. Maybe she still doesn't think it's a 'good enough' job."

  He rested his hands on my shoulders. I peered up into his gorgeous blue eyes. "Forget her."

  "That's easy for you to say."

  "And it should be easy for you to do."

  "Well, what if she's right? Am I even qualified for this?" I suddenly felt my anxiety increasing. Honestly, what qualifications did I have?

  "Stop, right now," he admonished. "You are more than qualified. You are so great with people and you work so hard. You're going to do an amazing job. Johnny knows how good you are, that's why he chose you."

  I was trying to let his words win over her's. I couldn't help but smile. "You really think so?"

  He kissed me softly. "I know so."

  His arms tightened around me as he continued to kiss me. I felt all my concerns melting away and my desire for him growing by leaps and bounds. "Now, it's time to celebrate," he smiled.

  "Ooh, what did you have in mind?" I asked teasingly.

  "Right this way," he said, pulling me off the couch as we headed to the bedroom.

  I woke up the next morning to the clicking of laptop keys. I stretched my arms out, yawning, as I rolled to face Todd. He grinned sheepishly at me.

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he said, setting the laptop aside and scooting himself back down to lay with me.

  I smiled. "No, you're fine. I was starting to wake up anyway. What were you working on?"

  His grin widened. "Just our plans for the day."

  "Oh, yeah? And what would those be?" I didn't remember us having anything specific we had to do.

  His hand came up to the side of my face, his thumb rubbing my temple. "I thought we could take a little road trip. We need to celebrate your promotion."

  "I thought we celebrated last night," I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

  He chuckled. "Well yes, that was definitely very celebratory. But you deserve more."

  I grinned, thinking about how hot our escapades had been the night before. "More, huh? So what's more?"

  "More, would be us going to Minneapolis, having a great time in the city, going to dinner, getting a hotel." With each pause, he softly kissed my lips. I felt myself tingling down below.

  "I like the sound of more," I said, placing my hand at the back of his head, pressing him close to me. "But first, I want some more of what we did last night."

  He opened his mouth, allowing my tongue in. His kiss was deep and passionate as he rolled on top of me. "I am happy to oblige, my girl," he said with his heartwarming grin, as he brought his mouth back to mine.

  "So, I'm not sure I like this whole keeping me in the dark, thing," I said, brushing my hands along my jeans.

  Todd quickly looked at me, flashing his dimple, before turning his attention back to the road. "Oh you don't?"

  I shook my head no. "Nope. I wa
nt to know our plans! How are we going to celebrate? At least give me a general idea," I pleaded.

  He snickered quietly. "Well, first we'll have lunch. Then, I was thinking that since it's about negative forty degrees out, we could go to one of the museums. After that, we can check into the hotel, and we have dinner reservations tonight."

  "Ok, and where is all of this taking place? Where are we staying? Where are we eating?"

  "You said general idea. That was the general idea," he teased.

  I glared at him playfully. "Fine. You win." I settled back into my seat. There wasn't any sense in pressing him further. He really wanted to surprise me, and I didn't want to ruin that.

  We were entering the city, and I was happily realizing that I didn't have nearly as much anxiety as I had when we came here last month. The conversation with Carrie was still nagging at the back of my brain, though, but that's where it was: the back. I wasn't even worried about running into Josh. I realized, it would be kind of glorious if I were to see him. Look who I'm with now: a perfect ten, you jackass of a five, you.

  We maneuvered our way through the streets, the traffic picking up. I was definitely recognizing where we were at.

  "Pretty please, tell me where we're having lunch?" I asked, patting my stomach. "I'm so hungry!"

  He silently pulled up to a stoplight. He turned and looked at me, his eyes dancing. "We're almost there. Be patient," he scolded.

  I pouted out my lip. He quickly leaned over and bit it, before driving forward as the light turned green.

  "Ah!" I cried, rubbing my lip with my finger.

  "I hope that will teach you to be patient," he laughed as he turned the car around a corner and pulled into an open spot on the street.

  I eagerly looked out the window to see where we were at. I turned back to him, confused. "We're parked in front of Randy's Diner."

  He nodded. "Yes we are. Have you heard of it before or something?"

  I turned back to the window, taking in the familiar neon red sign. I could see people in the booths closest to the windows. I recognized them instantly.

  "You want to eat here?" I asked uncertainly. "Why? There are so many other options with better food."

  His hand reached for the door handle. "I'm interested in seeing this place for reasons other than the food." He winked at me as he opened the door and stepped out. I sat for a moment, still trying to wrap my brain around the situation, until he knocked on my window. I snapped back to the present, seeing his breath and watching him shiver. Time to get inside.

  I stepped out of the car as he wrapped his arm around me, trying to shield me from the bitter cold air. He pulled open the glass door, causing a ding to sound. God, hearing it was bringing back so many memories. We walked into the entryway; I started removing my scarf and unbuttoning my coat as I eyed the tall glass case loaded with cakes and pies. They always looked so pretty in the case, too pretty to eat. I smiled as I recognized the man coming towards us.

  "Shannon!" Randy called. His dark hair was slicked back, and he was wearing his usual white dress shirt and black pants.

  "Hi, Randy. How are you?" I asked.

  "Very good, business is good. Come, this way. We have your table all set up," he said, motioning with the menus in his hand.

  He hadn't seemed surprised at all to see me. I looked back questioningly at Todd, but all he did was grin at me. We walked through the restaurant and we were seated at a table right in the middle. I realized we were surrounded by all the old regulars I used to wait on. They all seemed to be smiling, recognizing me. It had been almost a year since I left; I couldn't imagine they would still remember me.

  "I can't believe you brought me here," I smiled.

  He rubbed his hands together, then reached for mine across the table. "You got the scoop on me from my brothers. I figured I could maybe get a little scoop on you."

  "Babe, everyone here is like eighty. I doubt they have anything to say about me."

  "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he grinned.

  Suddenly, a man approached our table. "Shannon, I'm so glad to see you, sweetie."

  I grinned up at him. "Hi Ralph, how are you?" I had always loved waiting on him. He was the definition of a sweet old man.

  His hand shook slightly on his cane. "I can't complain, I guess. Now I don't want to bother you, but I just wanted to say that you were always such a bright and happy girl, and made my breakfasts much more tolerable after Hildy died." His wrinkled hand patted mine gently.

  "Aw, well thank you," I said, slightly embarrassed.

  "When Randy said you were coming in today for a visit, we all knew we wanted to hang around til lunch," he said, gesturing around the room.

  I looked at all the collective smiles and nods. A grin was spreading across my face.

  Throughout our meal, one by one, several of the patrons came up to our table, reminiscing and reminding me of a story or joke we shared. I was trying as hard as possible not to tear up, but it was incredibly sweet. I had no idea these people felt the way they did about me. Todd just sat quietly across from me, a smile plastered on his face.

  We finished up our lunch, said our goodbyes, and headed out to the car.

  "So how on earth did you plan all this?" I cried as he started up the engine.

  "I called there this morning and Randy and I hashed it all out," he grinned. "He told me everyone would be so excited to see you. And I knew they would be, too."

  I fiddled with my hands in my lap, gazing down.

  "Hey, look at me," he said, bringing a finger up under my chin. I met his crystal eyes, biting my lip. "You see what happened here? The impact you have on people and you don't even know it? That's why you're going to be amazing at your new job. You're like this shining beacon that people can't help but feel good around."

  Here came the tears. I tried to blink them away rapidly.

  His face softened as he brushed a tear aside. "Babe, please don't cry."

  I smiled, running my fingers under my eyes. "No, these are happy tears," I laughed. "Thank you so much. This really did mean a lot."

  He leaned across the console and kissed me deeply. "You're welcome," he replied. "Now, where to?"

  Chapter 21

  March

  The next month and a half passed quickly as I settled into my new role at Johnny's. The transition seemed to happen so seamlessly; it was funny to think I had ever been nervous about it. And I was loving the new schedule. It was so nice waking up at a normal hour, and actually being tired when we went to bed at night.

  I gazed at myself in the mirror as I fastened the back of my earring. I eyed the flowy light purple dress I was wearing. It was a little short.

  "Does this look ok?" I asked, turning to Todd.

  He moved his eyes dramatically up and down my body, causing me to giggle.

  "No, the dress doesn't look ok. It looks incredible," he replied, grabbing my waist and kissing my neck.

  I laughed, pushing him away. "No, not now. We're already late as it is!"

  "I think Ben and Lacey would understand," he grinned. "They're probably doing the same thing. I'll bet they're later than us."

  I grabbed his blue tie in my hands, peering up at him. "I don't want to rush. I want you for a very long time, later." God, maybe standing this close to him and handling his tie wasn't such a good idea. The things this man could do to me...

  His eyes narrowed, piercing into mine. "Fine, you win. Let's get going."

  He bent down and swiftly kissed me before we headed down to his car. We were on our way to Ben and Lacey's engagement party. I was so incredibly excited for them. I had to admit that I didn't necessarily anticipate this when I initially tried to get them together, but there was no other option. They were meant to be together. Magnets.

  The party was the perfect distraction for me, as it was the one year anniversary of my bridal shower. I had once called it the worst day of my life. But looking over at the man next to me in the driver's seat, I couldn't help but smi
le. As painful as that day was, it was the best thing that could've happened to me.

  We made our way to the outskirts of the city, turning into a private gated neighborhood.

  "Jeez, this is where they live?" I asked as we pulled up to an enormous sandstone house. Everything about it looked pristine: the lawn, the landscaping, even the driveway. I felt bad even parking on it.

  "Yep. It was always fun spending the night here. It's enormous."

  We looked at each other and said, "That's what she said."

  I didn't care how many times we said it; between us, it would never get old.

  We walked into a grand entryway. I was in sheer amazement at the height of the ceiling, and the estimated cost of the chandelier hanging from it. I could hear music playing from a distance. A woman with auburn hair and a crooked nose came flitting toward us.

  "Oh Todd, how are you, darling?" she asked, kissing him on the cheek.

  "I'm good, Mrs. A," he smiled. "May I introduce you to my girlfriend, Shannon."

  I offered my hand to her. "Nice to meet you."

  "You too, my dear. Now please, you both follow me this way. The party's in here." She spun on her heels, leading us down a hallway.

  Once she was a few steps ahead, I whispered to Todd, "Is that the mother?"

  He winked at me. She was exactly how Lacey had described her. Nose and all. She seemed so pompous. I was just glad she had eased up on Lacey.

  We turned into a large sunlit room that was filled with tables of food and drinks. There was even a dance floor set up. Tons of people were already gathered, having boisterous conversations. We seemed to be one of the last to arrive. I scanned the room for Lacey, unable to find her.

  Todd bumped me with his elbow. "See, I told you they'd be later than us."

  I glared at him teasingly. "Fine. I guess I'll have to just make up for that later, then, huh?"

  His eyebrows raised. "I like the sound of that."

  My attention was turned to someone waving at me out of the corner of my eye.

  "Hey Shannon!" Johnny called. He was standing over by the bar area, sipping a vodka tonic. He looked so nice in a white dress shirt and black tie. He was always so casual at the bar.