Live, Laugh, Love

"How about this one?” he asks, pointing to an apartment ad in the newspaper. “It sounds like it would be just right for us.”

“How much time would you be spending home, anyway?” He frowned and I automatically regretted my words. “Sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to spoil this for you.”

“It’s fine.” He mumbled, pecking me on the lips. “You’re right. I’d never be home anyway.”

“Why don’t we just check it out?” I wanted to bring the smile back to his face. “If we like it… who knows?”

“Really?”

“Really really.” I said, laughing as he pounced on me. We were definitely going to have to get a bigger couch for his hotel room.

“Rob?” I asked as soon as he was done devouring my lips.

He responded with a content “hmmm?”

“How much do you love me?” I asked in my cute, innocent voice.

“What do you want?” he groaned, throwing his arms into the air exasperatedly.

“Well, I was thinking since I couldn’t have a baby…” He looked at me, shocked. I hadn’t brought this up since we first saw each other again. It still bothered me how comfortable I was talking about this with him.

“Yes?” he asked, intrigued.

“Well…I…”I stuttered.

“You can have anything you want.” He promised, and I frowned.

“I want a puppy.” I said, and he started laughing.

“A puppy?” he asked.

“What’s wrong with a puppy?”

“Nothing. Nothing.” He assured me. “I just thought you were going to say you wanted to adopt a baby. I was kinda freakin out there.” He said, chuckling.

I laughed with him now. “Rob, I’m only twenty two.” I said, grinning.

“Yeah, I know. But with you it’s hard to tell.”

“You’re such an ass.” I said, smacking his shoulder playfully. “But I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

He smiled as we connected our lips.

Riley was downright the cutest thing I had ever seen. He was a little Great Dane puppy, and he was beyond adorable.

“You do know how big this thing is going to get?” Rob had asked me as we drove away from the Vancouver puppy farm, Riley in my lap and already chewing on my seat belt strap.

“He’s so cute, though, Rob.” I had said, nuzzling into the fur as he let out tiny puppy yips. “Yes he is.” I said, using my baby voice. “Yes he is the cwutest wittle thing. You are just adowable.” I ruffled his fur as he playfully smacked me with his little paw.

I will never forget that day as long as I live. That night when we brought him home, he cried the entire night. Rob and I ignored it at first, but there was no denying that this little guy had quite the set of lungs.

“What are we going to do?” I asked Rob as I tried to cover my ears with a pillow.

“I think I know.” Rob said and climbed out from under the sheets. He came back a few moments later with Riley in his arms, still yipping. “Let’s try this.” He laughed, putting him in the bed with us.

The little puppy came over to me and started licking my face before lying down right beside me. Shortly after, we were all fast asleep in our bed.

“I think we spoiled him.” Robert had said, laughing.

But I knew that mothers were supposed to spoil their children a little, and so that’s what I did with Riley. I refer to him as my son because of one day when Rob got home from filming early. The memory still lingers in my head.
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I heard the door shut. “Babe?” he called from the kitchen. “I’m home.”

I heard Riley’s little paw pat across the kitchen floor, and I heard a slight yip as if he was welcoming Rob home.

“Hello, Riley.” I heard Rob say. “How are you today, little fella?” he was using his baby voice, and it was absolutely adorable. “Did you miss daddy while he was at work today?” and at that I ran into the kitchen.

“What did you just say?” I asked him, shocked.

“What?” he asked, confused. “And hello to you, too.”

I ignored his greeting. “Did you just say ‘Daddy?’” I asked, incredulous.

“Is that okay?” he asked, ruffling his eyebrows.

“Okay? Rob, you just made me realize something.” I said, “Riley is our little baby.” And with that I reached down and picked up our son. I walked over to Rob and he put his arms around Riley and me.

“We’re a family.” He said, smiling. “Isn’t that right, little baby?” he cooed, reaching down to pat Riley on the head. “You’re the luckiest little dog in the world. You have the best mommy anyone could ask for.”

Simple words, yet they brought tears to my eyes. I reached up and kissed Rob passionately, pulling away just to put Riley down. He wandered out into the living room as if to say. “Get a room, you two.”

I never really knew how sappy that story sounded until I told it to our friends. Our friends, yes. Rob had introduced me to the cast of Twilight and I found myself being intertwined with the greatest friends I had ever known. I had especially become very close with Kristen, Nikki and Ashley, and we all had regular girls’ nights out. It felt nice to not have only one guy friend. Tom, of course, still stayed very much a part of my life. He was now engaged to a waitress at a local Vancouver bar we all like to go to.

I was happy. Oh Dear God, was I happy. It was hard to imagine a better life. Rob and I were going strong, loving each other more than ever. We had our little baby, whom was getting more spoiled as time went on. And we had our friends, and it was all I could ever ask for.