“Let’s start with your clothes. That way, you have everything you might need. We can get the rest later.”
“Solid plan,” I agree. Grabbing a box and tape, I head down the hall to my bedroom. I hear Royce on the phone, but don’t bother to listen in; I’ve got too much to do. Taping the box, I start opening dresser drawers and emptying them. I don’t worry about wrinkles or packing it nice and neat, as I just want it done. There will be time for that later once we get back to his place.
By the time Royce joins me, I have my large dresser emptied. “Wow, you work fast,” he says, looking at the three already full boxes. “One more dresser to go before diving into the closet.”
“Is there going to be room for all of this at your place?” I ask.
“Our place,” he corrects me. “Yes. There is another walk-in closet. I’m sure you’ve never been inside. It’s bigger than mine and has a closet organizer already installed.” His phone rings in his hand. “Hello.” He pauses. “Yeah, that’s it. I’ll let you in.”
“Who was that?”
“Jase. He and Sam are stopping by to help. My brothers are on their way too.”
“Royce, I thought it was just going to be us?”
“Our family, baby. Hadley and Derek are picking up pizza and beer and are on their way.”
“This is an ambush,” I say, not the least bit upset.
“Yep.” He grins. “I told you, baby. This is our future. It’s time to start living again.” I feel his words, as well as hear them. Until I met Royce, I didn’t realize I too was a shadow of the person I used to be after losing my parents. I was going through the motions. I put up with a pig for a boss for far too long. I like to think that my parents gave me the strength to end it that day. I want to believe that they led me to Royce, guiding me toward my happily ever after.
“You good, babe?” he asks, sensing my mood shifting.
“Yeah,” I say honestly. “I’m good.”
A knock sounds at the door. “That’s them. Love you.” He kisses my cheek and rushes to let Jase and Sam into my apartment.
I trail after him, hoping to get my baby Aria fix. “Hey,” I greet Sam with a hug.
“Hi. Hope you don’t mind us crashing your party? Jase’s mom is at the house with Aria and insisted that we get out for a few hours.”
“And you came here? Go see a movie or out to dinner.”
“Nah, we’d rather be here.” She claps her hands together. “Where should we start?”
“You can help me in the bedroom,” I tell her. She follows me back to my room, and we dive in. I hear Royce’s brothers arrive, and not long after Hadley joins us in the bedroom, and within a couple of hours, my entire room is packed.
“Wow, that didn’t take long at all.”
“That man is determined.” Sam laughs.
“That he is,” I agree.
She looks down at her watch. “I hate to abandon you, but I need to get home to Aria. I’m sure she’s fine, but I’m missing my baby girl.”
“I can’t thank you enough for helping. Give her a kiss from me.”
“Will do.”
The three of us make our way to the living room, and what I see stops me in my tracks. The walls are bare, all of my decorations are packed away, and the cabinet doors in the kitchen are open, showing me that they’re bare too. “You all work fast. I was going to donate some of that,” I tell Royce.
“You still can. Let’s get it moved, and you can take your time going through it.”
“But why move it if we don’t have to?” I question.
“Because I need you moved. I need you living in our house sooner rather than later. We have the space. Keep it, donate it, sell it, trash it, I don’t care as long as we share an address.”
“What about a last name?” Jase asks, smirking. Sam smacks him in the chest, but she looks toward Royce as if she’s waiting on an answer.
“That too,” Royce says, kissing my temple.
Jase nods approvingly. “We’re heading out. Mom has Aria, and it’s been long enough.”
“Thanks for coming. We’ll get together soon,” Royce tells him.
“All right, I’ve got the truck and trailer, so we’re going to start loading this stuff up.”
“Today?”
“Yeah.” Conrad shrugs. “Why not? We’re here. Let’s get this done, so my brother can stop whining.”
I look at Royce, and he shrugs. “All right, let’s start loading.” There’s no use in arguing with them. They’re all five stubborn as hell. Besides, moving in one day? Yes, please. I’d rather have it done. I would have liked to have gone through some of the things I don’t want to keep, but this gives me time to mix my things with his and decide for certain what I want to get rid of. At the end of the day, I’m moving in with him, and that’s all that matters.