The Way We Get By

26 // Liam

One chapter left omg :(

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I gaze around the quiet confines of Ramona and I's bedroom and sigh. It's getting late, and Ramona and I have a whole night ahead of us. We're doing something that we haven't done in a while and something that we're long overdue for—a date.

It was a spontaneous idea, one that I brought up to Ramona last night and one that was reluctantly agreed upon by her. She's always been more of a 'stay in' type of person, but for tonight, I feel like we need to get out. I need to breathe and spend a night with my wife before tomorrow hits.

Tomorrow is too close for me. It's a day that I don't know if I'm ready for—Mr. Danny's plea hearing and Alex's arrival back home. So many emotions packed into twenty-four meager hours. And so I need a night out with the love of my life, for the sake of my sanity and mentality.

I turn around from my perch in front of the mirror to grab my suit coat from the bed. I stick my arms in the sleeves as I feel the soft fabric cover my body, and a heavy exhale escapes my lips as my look completes. I'm not dressing overly fancy, just nice jeans with a button-up and suit coat, and I know for a fact Ramona won't be going out of her way to look nice, either.

Although from the way she's taking forever in the bathroom, I might be wrong.

I'm about to ask her what's taking forever for third time when the bathroom door finally opens. I breathe a sigh of relief as Ramona finally makes her way out, although that relief doesn't last long when my eyes meet hers. She didn't dress in an overtly fancy way, although the way her jeans hug her tightly and the way her purple, silk blouse flows around her makes her effortlessly stunning. But I'm also her husband, and I may be biased when I say that she's absolutely beautiful.

"Don't even start," she scolds with a light smirk. She points her finger at me for good measure, and I know she's well aware of what I'm about to do.

"Well who's that pretty lady?" I beam while leaning back on the wall behind me.

She glares at me while she grabs a black cardigan from her closet and she drapes it around her small frame while suppressing a smile.

"Shut up," she mutters while walking past me and out into the hall. I follow behind her with a devilish smirk and am sure to continue to annoy the hell out of her.

"But you look so beautiful!" I call out in a freakishly weird voice while following her down the stairs and into the foyer.

She stops once we're both standing in the foyer, and behind her I can see Lucy and Angel laying in the den and watching a movie about talking dogs. Angel looks like he's at least somewhat interested, meanwhile Lucy is drifting to sleep in her older brother's arms.

"Behave, and don't set the house on fire," Ramona calls as she turns to face the two of them.

Angel peers up at her and gives her a simple thumbs-up gesture.

"And call us if you need anything," I add, getting a nod from him in return.

I hate that he's had to watch Lucy so much lately. He and Alex have always evenly split up who stays home to watch her whenever Ramona and I have things to do—or, on occasion, when we go out for a date. But with Alex's absence, everything has fallen to Angel, unfortunately. It's a burden I wish he didn't have to carry.

I watch Ramona as she slips on her shoes and grabs her coat. She takes the extra time to walk over to Angel and Lucy and kiss each of them on the forehead before we leave, and after she's satisfied with the goodbyes she's given to them, we both head out for the night.