“Really?” he asked in surprise. “Don’t you need to get a dress or something?”
“I’m gonna wear my mother’s.”
His eyes softened. “That’s sweet. I’m sure you’ll look beautiful.”
“I will,” I said with a smile.
“I’ll spend the week moving.”
“Moving?” I asked. “Where are you going?”
“Moving our stuff in here. Getting rid of your apartment. Getting this place cleaned up. Putting groceries in the fridge…”
“You think you can do it in a week?”
“If my brother helps. You can stay with Damien while I handle everything.”
“Wait, what?” I asked. “What do you mean by that?”
“Stuff is gonna be all over the place.”
“Where you sleep, I sleep.”
He smiled. “Thought it could be romantic…if we sleep apart until Saturday.”
“That’s a long way away…five days.”
“It’s the only time we’ll ever have to wait. Besides, I want to get this place fixed up for you. So, on Saturday…it’ll be your home.”
I wrapped my arm around his waist and moved closer into his side, my face pressed into his neck. “I’m so excited. I’ve never been so excited in my entire life.”Twenty-ThreeHeathBalto taped the box of my clothes shut with duct tape then wrote on the side with permanent marker. Asshole’s clothes.
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll get you back for that someday.”
“We aren’t moving.” He picked up the box and set it on the table.
“Really? Your son is never gonna play outside?” I picked up my box and set it next to his.
“Let me worry about my family, alright?” He wiped the sweat away from his forehead with the back of his arm. “We’ve got the clothes and essentials. What about the guns?”
“I’ll leave most of them here.”
“The furniture?”
“The place is already furnished.”
“Alright. So, we just need to do Catalina’s place?”
“Yeah.”
“And then make a few repairs?”
We’d been working nonstop every day, getting the new place ready. I continued to sleep here—alone. It sucked, but it would be worth it on Saturday. “If you’ve got things to do, I can ask someone else.”
“No. Just wanted to get our ducks in a row.” He picked up another box and set it on top. “So, you’re getting married on Saturday. Getting cold feet?”
I looked him in the eye after I straightened. “No.”
“Everything’s changing. You’re moving, saying goodbye to this place, agreeing to have a woman at your side day in and day out…”
“Yes. I understood all of that when I asked her to marry me.”
“It’s a big commitment.” He seemed to be testing me. “And we need to have a bachelor party.”
“My whole life has been a fucking bachelor party.”
He chuckled.
“So, did I pass?”
He grabbed his beer and took a drink, sweat stains on his t-shirt. “Yeah…looks like you did.”
“I thought Damien was supposed to grill me?”
“It’s my job too. Catalina is my little sister now.” He leaned against the table, holding the bottle by the neck. “And I want to make sure you aren’t making a mistake. You haven’t known her long.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m ready.”
He gave me a grin. “Good. That’s all I wanted to know.”Balto was on his hands and knees, ripping up loose pieces of the floorboards to repair them in the entryway.
I removed the ancient paintings and hung the ones I’d asked Cassini to pick out, images of sunflowers on a beautiful landscape.
Cassini made us sandwiches and set them on the table. “She’s going to love it when she sees it.”
“I know.” I was proud of the work I’d done all week, working around the clock to make this house suitable for her. When she saw it, her eyes lit up like Christmas morning. It made me proud, proud that I could give this to her after all the shitty things I’d done.
Cassini kneeled and placed his plate beside him. “Anything I can do to help?”
“No,” he barked. “Just sit.”
“I’m pregnant, not disabled,” she argued.
“Sit,” I said in agreement.
She rolled her eyes and took a seat at the dining table, eating the sandwich she’d made.
Balto took a bite but kept working.
Cassini stared at him. “I mean…it’s pretty hot just watching you work.”
He straightened to his knees and pulled his shirt over his head. Then he tossed it at her and kept working.
“Ooh…much better.”
I tried to ignore their foreplay.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Expecting anyone?” Balto asked. “Catalina better not be peeking. We’ve still got shit to do.”
I opened the door and came face-to-face with Damien. “Hey, what brings you here?” I hadn’t spoken to him all week, not since the battle at my place. Things were better with him since Christmas, but after all that shit happened at my house, he might have had a change of heart. He’d been on the fence already.
He stepped inside the house, revealing his father behind him. “Wanted to see the place.”
“Hello, sir.” I extended my hand to shake his. “Come in.”
He shook my hand but brushed off that comment. “Call me Richard.”