“I love you, too,” she replied.

Part of me felt completed by making love to Lily, but as she hurried down the hillside to her house, it felt as though she was taking a little piece of me with her, too.

BRAYDEN

THE PRESENT

“Babe, come on. It isn’t that mortifying,” I said, as I tried to coax Lily to stop hiding her face in her hands.

“I just talked about making out in the backseat of your car and how we lost our virginity. I would say that was pretty embarrassing,” came her muffled reply.

Giovanni chuckled. “I’m sorry I needed some details about that first time in the tree house.”

His statement caused Lily to jerk her head up. “Thankfully, they were just the bare minimum.”

Wagging my eyebrows at Lily, I said, “Maybe for him, but trust me, I was reliving them in all their glory.”

“You’re terrible,” she replied, although the corners of her lips did turn up a little.

After clearing his throat and shuffling his notes, Giovanni said, “So, to do a little recap. The original question was what was the most romantic thing Lily ever did for you. I believe you were setting up the importance of this car and how it might play into the most romantic thing?”

“Yes, that was the point of that story,” I replied, with a laugh.

“A ‘68 Challenger was a pretty impressive car to have as a teenage boy.”

“Oh hell yeah, it was. That baby was my pride and joy.”

“Did your parents give it to you?”

I snorted. “No, my parents believed in you getting a job and earning the money for a car. Thankfully, my mom’s dad came through for me. See, she was an only child, and I was the only grandson. He had several old cars he had collected over the years, so when I turned sixteen, he gave it to me.”

Givoanni’s brows shot up. “He must’ve been a special man to entrust such a special car to a teenager.”

“Yeah, he was. When I was just thirteen, I used to go over and wash it for him, put special oil on the leather seats. He taught me a lot about cars.” I sighed. “It’s sad to say, but I was glad he had passed away when I had to sell it.”

“Why was that?”

“Even though in my eyes, it was for a good cause, I know it would have broken his heart.”

“So why did you sell it?”

“To get the cash we needed to fund Runaway Train’s first album.”

Giovanni’s eyes bulged in surprise. “I had no idea that you weren’t with a studio the first go around.”

Shaking my head, I replied, “No, the one that got us the attention we needed to get that first real record deal was from the Challenger.”

Lily reached over and squeezed my thigh. “I really didn’t know if he was going to make it those first few weeks after he sold it. Whenever he would have to go get in the older Honda he’d bought, there would be tears in his eyes.”

I swatted her hand away with a laugh. “That’s not true.”

She grinned. “Yeah, it is.”

Rolling my eyes, I countered, “One time. I cried one time about that car, and she wouldn’t let me forget it.”

Giovanni’s brows lined in confusion. “So if you sold the car when you were twenty one, how does it figure into being the most romantic thing Lily ever did?”

“Well, that’s because my wife is really good at surprises.”

BRAYDEN

The Past

“Are we there yet?” I asked for probably the hundredth time in the last ten minutes.

Lily groaned. “Would you stop? Jeez, I never realized you were so impatient.”

I turned toward the sound of her voice. I couldn’t see anything since she had insisted on blindfolding me. Today was our first wedding anniversary. I’d managed to get a night off the road to fly back home, so we could celebrate. While I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her, Lily had other plans when she picked me up at the airport.

I’d missed her more than just physically. She had only been able to come out two weekends this month to be with me. Whenever she wasn’t with me, I felt lost. But between her job and the pregnancy, she was worn thin. Regardless of how much I wanted her with me, I wouldn’t allow her to do anything to jeopardize her health or our baby’s.

When the car started slowing down, I sat up straighter in the seat. “Is this it?”

Lily giggled. “I bet you used to drive your parents crazy.”

“No comment.”

The car came to a stop, and I held my breath until Lily put it in park. “Okay, I’ll come around to get you.” When she opened her door, I was tempted to jerk off the blindfold. As if she anticipated me, she said, “No peeking, or you don’t get your gift.”

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled.

Tapping my foot, I waited for her to come around the car. She opened my door and undid my seatbelt. Taking me by the hand, she led me out of the car. We took a few steps and then she let go of my hand. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, dammit, I’ve been ready the last thirty minutes.”

She laughed and then pulled off the blindfold. I was momentarily disappointed to see that we were just in our driveway. But then when I saw what was in front of me, I dropped onto my knees, which earned me another laugh from Lily. “Oh. My. God.”

It was a black, 68’ Challenger just like I’d had gotten when I was sixteen. Just like the one I’d sold to fund our first record deal. Staggering back to my feet, I said, “I can’t believe you found another one.”

Lily slid her arm around my waist. “I didn’t find another one. I found the one.” When I stared at her in shock, she said, “That’s your old Challenger, babe.”

I was speechless. She had literally stunned me speechless. “But how?”

“I ran the VIN number through some collectors, tracked it down, then explained to them the story behind the car.” With a teasing grin, she winked at me. “I might have used my feminine wiles a little bit to sway them to sell it.”

“Please tell me you didn’t show them your boobs?”

She smacked my arm. “Honestly, Brayden. I merely tossed my hair, gave them lots of smiles, and then maybe I turned the waterworks on about my dad and the baby.”

I threw back my head and laughed. “You’re terrible.”

“It got you the car, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did.” I pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her. “Baby, this is the most amazing gift I think I could ever receive.” Feeling her tiny bump brush against me, I quickly corrected myself. “The most amazing gift until our baby is born.”