Nora

Nora


Zack wraps his arms around my waist and I lean my head back onto his shoulder as we look at our new home. Movers unload the trucks and carry our boxes inside as we admired the house. Five years ago, Zack and I moved to our Costa Mesa home. We loved it there, but it was time to come home to Huntington Beach.

Zack kisses my cheek. “I’m so glad we’re back.”

“You act like we didn’t come to Huntington Beach like every single day in the last five years,” I smile.

“Not every single day,” Zack laughs.

I turn in his arms. “Basically. We got married here…James was born here.”

Zack glances over to the three-year-old sitting in a bed of dandelions, picking at them. “You’re the one that chose to use a doctor here.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him. “James, come on, let's go see your bedroom.”

Before James can run over to me something catches his attention. “Uncle Matt!”

Zack and I both look over to see Matt walking down the sidewalk and into the yard. “Hey, little man!” Matt smiles, scooping James up in his arms and hugging him.

“Hey, Matt,” I smile as he puts down the three-year-old.

“Hey, I thought the movers weren’t coming until tomorrow?” Matt asks.

“Yeah,” Zack says, “We were able to move it forward a little bit.”

I grin. “Zack was excited to get back.”

“You guys were like here every single day,” Matt laughs.

“Told you,” I say, sing-songy.

“I thought we were going to see my bedroom,” James says from beside me.

I take his hand. “Yep, we are. Come on, we’ll let your dad and uncle Matt catch up.”

Later that night, I’m standing at a pile of boxes, digging through the top one when Zack walks up behind me. I feel one of his hands linger on my waist as the other brushes the hair from my neck. He kisses the nape of my neck softly.

“We should have hired people to unpack for us too,” he mumbles against my skin.

“Yeah, we should have,” I smile before digging out two wine glasses. “Found them.”

Zack takes them from me, pecking me on the lips. “Sit down, I’ll get it.”

I do as I’m told and Zack heads into the kitchen. I unlock my phone and read through the unread messages. I haven’t heard from Liam or my parents in five years, but I still expect to see a message from them every time I open my messages.

Zack reappears and joins me on the couch, handing me a glass of wine. He pulls my legs across his lap and caresses my thigh. “Matt invited us for dinner tomorrow night.”

“That’s good. James was asking about Cash and River today,” I tell him.

“We should do a sleepover sometime this week,” Zack suggests.

I nod. “Yeah. It’s good that Matt is right down the street. I think James gets a little lonely not being around kids his own age.”

Zack stares at me for a couple moments before setting his wine glass down. He scoots closer, taking my glass from my hand and setting it next to his. I give him a weird look, but he kisses me before I can ask him what’s up.

“Let’s have another baby,” he whispers, pulling away.

“What?” I laugh, pulling further away from him so I can see his face.

Zack smiles. “Let’s have another baby.”

“Are you serious?” I ask him, cocking a brow.

Zack nods. “Yes.”

I giggle. “What? Right here? On the couch?”

Zack nods again. “Yes.” Before I can reply, he kisses me. “We have a beautiful home with more bedrooms than we need. We have an amazing support system and a little boy that would very much enjoy being a big brother. We just got home from tour, and we haven’t even started our new record yet so I'm going to be home for a while.”

“Zack, you don’t have to convince me,” I giggle. “Let’s have another baby.”

Zack grins, kissing me. “I knew I married you for some reason.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I laugh, crawling into his lap. “I love you, too.”

Notes

The End!

Thank you, everyone, that stuck through and finished this story with me! Thank you to everyone that has read, commented, subscribed and rated! It means so much!

Title credit: Atreyu “House of Gold”