The List: One Year, One Adventure ✔️

Chapter 19: All It Took Was A Lemur

Dean

As I stepped outside, letting the rays of Miami's warm sun fall on my face, the only thing I could think about was the future. Our future. I had never been in a solid relationship in my life, only casual encounters and the occasional business arrangement for the press, that kind of stuff. However, that kind of stuff all felt like tedious work. It was all a chore that required more energy than I cared to expend. Being around Ari never felt like a chore, but rather a luxury.

I had also never told a woman who wasn't my mother or grandmother that I loved her, because why lie? I had plenty of friends that pushed the L-word in an attempt to get what they wanted from a girl. When the time came to say it to Ari, it would be because I meant it with all my heart.

Kisses and declarations of intentions regarding being in a relationship aside, now was the time to put the effort into building something with her. I knew how I wanted things to go and I knew I wanted it to progress quickly. I had waited around long enough and gotten enough out of my system to know that I didn't care to waste time with her.

However, if Ari was anything, it was indecisive when it came to the future. I didn't blame her, considering her situation.

She had been burnt before and add to that the years of disappointments and broken promises, I knew that in order for her to view me as a real contender for husband material, I needed to show her that my past was just that, my past.

She came up behind me and wrapped one arm around my waist, her five feet, eight inche frame was just tall enough to place her forehead on my shoulder. I clutched her arm and leaned into her, turning to place a soft kiss on her face.

"Hey, beautiful. I missed you terribly."

"I wasn't gone that long, Dean." She chuckled and came around to the front of me, placing her hands on my waist and leaning in, her soft wet lips pressing against mine.

"I know. I've just been away from you too long. It feels right having you back," I told her as she rested her head on my chest. I just held onto her, enjoying the moment of the bustling city around us, while we were at a stand still in time.

When Venise and Patrick finally made it downstairs, we jumped in my truck and headed off to Ari's Miami surprise; breakfast, then Jungle Island.

Jungle Island, was a fan favorite zoological park destination in Florida, nestled between downtown Miami and South Beach. I picked it as a place to take her, because it was also home to some of the world's rarest and most exotic animals.

Ari loved animals of all kinds. Anytime we went to the park, she always stopped at the store to buy a loaf of bread, even though she knew it wasn't healthy for the geese and ducks. She always said she just felt like it was right to spoil them once in a while. Ari was the kind of person who never met a dog that didn't like her and we spent insane amounts of time at the local zoo, especially when the weather was nice and she could sit and sketch the animals.

Ari had always been an animal lover. When she was six, she found a little dog in the street while riding her bike. It had been badly hit by a car and couldn't walk. She was so afraid of what would happen to it if she went to get help, that she took off her little pink sweatshirt and made a sling, carrying the dog the half a block to her house. I don't know how she managed to carry any sized dog as far as she did, because I had seen pictures of her when she was six and she was tiny, with absolutely no muscles.

Her dad and her took the dog to the nearest vet and Ari held it in her little lap the whole way there, whispering in her little Russian voice to calm him. She even named him Peanut Butter Crackers.