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“Thank you, Gunner. I’ll just say Heather appreciated it and I was rewarded very nicely that evening.”

“You’re still getting your man card revoked. I’m logging on when I get home,” Jeff said as he pulled out his phone. “If I thought I could get a signal, I’d log on now and do it.”

Josh looked at him and shook his head. “Dude, are you kidding me? If you do that I’ll revoke your card.”

“For what?”

Josh tilted his head and looked at Jeff. “Twilight?” Josh said as he winked at Jeff.

Jeff sat up and dropped his mouth open. “How do you know about that, you little fucker?”

Gunner, Lark and I all leaned forward. Oh, this was gonna be good.

“What about Twilight?” Gunner and Lark said at the same time.

Josh gave Jeff a smirk and said, “Jeff here, who claims not to be pussy-whipped, watched all the Twilight movies with Ari. Might I add…all the movies one right after the other. Twilight marathon.”

Gunner leaned back and let out a chuckle. “Damn Josh, you’re reaching now.”

“Oh, I’m not done,” Josh said. “Not only did Jeff watch the movies with Ari, he invested hours into reading the books.”

All of us busted out laughing as Jeff rolled his eyes. “Fuck you, Josh. You read Fifty Shades of Pink.”

Josh shook his head, “It’s Fifty Shades of Grey, you stupid shit, and you had Ari read it to you!”

“Hey, that was a good book. I let Amanda read it to me, too, and my dick had never been so exhausted in my life as it was when she was reading that book to me,” I said with a smile and wink over towards Josh.

“Shit dude, tell me. Ells wanted to try almost everything in the book. That book should be like some kind of required reading for men,” Gunner said with a laugh.

“Dude! Jesus H. Christ. That’s my sister. I don’t need to hear that shit. I think I might have just thrown up a little in my mouth,” Jeff said as he punched Gunner in the arm.

“Oh hey, you know what are good books? It’s that one series where the guys eat a lot…damn, what’s it called again?” Josh said as he tried to remember the name of the books.

“Oh hell, Amanda and I read those, their last names are Bradford, right?” I said with a chuckle.

“Yes!” Gunner and Josh both said at the same time.

Lark stood up and looked around at all of us. “Holy hell. All of y’all’s man cards are officially revoked for twenty four hours.”

We all looked around. “Wait. Dude, are you serious?” Jeff asked with a panicked looked on his face.

“Hell yeah I am. You’re all a bunch of pussy-whipped, chick-flick watching, and romance-reading girls. Give them up. Now.”

“Son of a bitch. Good going, Josh!” Jeff said as he reached for his wallet and took out his man card and gave it to Lark.

“Gunner? Fork it over.” Gunner cursed under his breath as he took his card out of his wallet. “You don’t know what it’s like though, Lark. I mean, if you just gave it a try you’d like watching…”

Lark held up his hand and stopped Gunner from talking. “No. I’m pretty sure I’d rather jack off in a field of prickly pears then watch a chick flick. Guaranteed sex or not, no fucking way.”

Josh and I handed Lark our cards as he put them in his wallet. “Thank God Scott’s talking to Garrett, because if I ever find out he has watched a chick flick…oh I don’t even want to think about it.”

“He has,” we all said at once and then laughed.

Lark’s mouth dropped open. “This is exactly why I like being single.” He began pointing to all of us. “This reason right here. Pansy asses.” He turned and walked toward the large bonfire of Christmas trees, mumbling something about chick flicks, books and pussy-ass men.

Jeff looked around at each of us and then down to the ground before looking back up. “Damn…I feel lost without my man card. Just knowing it was there in my wallet and now…damn.”

I glanced up and saw Amanda talking to Heather. She was smiling about something and just seeing how happy she was caused me to smile. I was shocked when she had come home from dinner with my mother with a box full of baby pictures of me, and a smile on her face. When I asked her how it went she replied back with. “Great!” and then told me all about her dinner with my mother.

She must have sensed me watching her because she looked over and winked at me. I winked back and gave her the best panty-melting smile I could muster. She smiled bigger and then said something to Heather. Heather nodded her head and Amanda started walking toward me. She walked right up to me and then sat down in my lap.

“Hey baby,” she purred into my ear as I moved my hand up her sweatshirt.

“Hey back at ya,” I said as I kissed her gently on the lips.

Amanda looked around and said, “Jesus, did a puppy die or something? What in the hell is wrong with all y’all?”

“Got our man cards taken away by Lark,” Josh said as he kicked the dirt. Heather came walking up and must have heard him, because she started laughing. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and whispered something to him, causing him to smile from ear to ear.

Ellie came skipping over and skidded to a stop. “It’s almost midnight! Eeepp! Gunner, will you throw a few more trees on the fire?”

Gunner jumped up and stumbled before Ellie reached out to him. “How much have you had to drink?” she asked as she looked at Jeff with her hands on her hips.

“Oh my God. Why are you looking at me like that? He’s a grown man, I didn’t make him drink!”

Ellie gave Jeff the evil eye and then turned back to Gunner. “Baby, don’t drink anymore. I need you to not be drunk so we can…well you know,” she said as she winked at a smiling Gunner and then grinned at Jeff.

“Yuck. Gross. You’re a brat, Ellie.” Jeff jumped up and made his way over toward Ari. He walked up behind her and picked her up and spun her around before setting her down and turning her around to face him. He kissed the shit out of her as she smiled from ear to ear.

I rubbed Amanda’s back and said, “Gunner, I’ll help you throw a few trees on.” Amanda quickly gave me a kiss and then looked at her cell phone. “Oh gosh. Just fifteen minutes!”

Gunner and I quickly threw three more Christmas trees into the bonfire. The heat coming from it was perfect for this chilly night. Everyone began making their way over to the bonfire.

We all stood around the fire as each person said one thing that was for him or her, the best part of the last year. Of course Amanda said the birth of Meg. I couldn’t pick one…I had so many. When it was my turn I just smiled and said, “My wife’s love.” It was her love that pulled me back from the brink. It was her love that saved me from so much.

We counted down to zero and then kissed our loved ones. Before I kissed Amanda, I glanced over to all my friends. They were all kissing and laughing. I turned and looked into Amanda’s eyes.

“Happy New Year, pumpkin,” I said as I placed my hand on the side of her face.

“Happy New Year, Brad,” she whispered to me, before reaching up on her toes and bringing her lips to mine. As we kissed, every happy memory from last year just flooded my mind.

“To a new year filled with nothing but happy memories and lots of love,” Amanda said as she pulled away and looked up at me.

I grinned and nodded my head. I didn’t doubt what she said was true. I was going to be able to be home with her and Meg. Be there for every step of the pregnancy and build my wife her dream home.

Yes. Yes, it was going to be a year filled with lots of happy memories and even more love.

She tilted her head and looked at me. “Do you think this year will be the best yet?”

I couldn’t help but smile bigger and let out a small chuckle.

“Yeah, baby. I believe anything is possible with you by my side.”

Amanda bit down on her lower lip as I leaned down and captured her lips with mine. I wasn’t sure how long we kissed for, but all I knew was I had never been so happy and so at peace in my life. I thought back to how Bryan had told me in therapy I only had to believe. Believe in my own strength. Believe in the love of my friends and family and believe that only I had control of my future.