Love to Hate You

EPILOGUE

Jennie

Eighteen months later, and I am still picking glitter from my car. I'm only at peace with it because one, I plan on milking it for all that it is worth, and two, it serves as a daily reminder of our love story.

I know our journey is a little unconventional, but no amount of glitter can keep me away from Lisa Manoban.

So, we have become serious adults and purchased a modest home in actual suburbia. It's a quaint four bedder sitting on a generous block with enough room for a small farm. Okay, maybe not that big, but when you move from the city to the suburbs, the space kind of blows you away.

Our little home isn't perfect. It has erratic central heating that goes from zero to furnace in a nanosecond, which means you are either freezing or cooking, with no in-between. The carpet is deceptively plush and gives you electric shocks whenever you touch anything. And I am pretty sure we have squirrels, raccoons, or large rats, living in the roof.

But it is our little home, nonetheless.

Lisa has her own vegetable patch, and she is super happy. I'm not really allowed in there yet because Lisa isn't sure that I know the difference between seedlings and weeds. This is probably true given my lifelong aversion to vegetables.

But things are slowly changing, we are eating a lot more plant-based meals, and I find myself in constant shock that they can have so much flavor. I am well past my days of microwave meals.

Work hard, play hard new is my new motto, which means that I run in the woods behind our house twice a week while listening to cooking podcasts about decadent desserts.

I seemed to have found the balance that suits me.

Lisa, Canny, and I are going to be running a 5K next month in the local MS fundraiser. I told Lisa not to wait for me; I am still moderately slow at everything I do. Besides, Canny is in no hurry either, and she will run/walk with me.

Obviously, I am the tortoise, and Lisa is the hare in our relationship.

We have also purchased another dog. For me. Since I have all but lost Kuma to Lisa.

Love is a clingy black doberman pup, and he sleeps at my feet every night, while Kuku is still a traitor and continues to snore alongside Lisa.

I feed Kuma treats now, too, so I am hopeful he may come around one day.

As for work, I have been made junior partner, so now it is 'Hammond Fox and Kim' and I have my own office, away from the loud-typer Anna. Angry Alastair and I are almost besties with this taekwondo malarkey that I go to each week, although I still politely refuse when he gets up in my grill and challenges me to a match.

I have even achieved a white belt. Don't get too excited – it's the first one and basically impossible not to get. I know how to run away from attackers and how to fall over correctly.

Celeste was a bit funny about my friendship with Alastair, so that's why I didn't invite him today. I make a point of showering her with treats to show her that she is still my favorite (I learned my lesson with Kuku).

And Lisa, well Lisa, now has residency at St Joseph's and has moved from the Emergency department into Gynaecology.

Exactly.

That was my reaction. I am not sure how I feel about Lisa looking at hoo-has all day, but she comes home to me every night, so I am zipping my lip for now. I have my fingers crossed that it's only a short assignment.

The other bombshell is that Jisoo is my sister. That's how we bought our home, oh, and managed to pay for Canny's stem cell treatment in Russia. We fly to Moscow in just over ten weeks. We have given the majority of money away to reputable charities and are setting up a few foundations of our own.