“Progress is progress.” He grins as he pulls out his food from the bag. He studies my face for a few minutes. “Is everything okay? You seem tense.”
He was making deliveries when my brother bombarded with his opinion, and I haven’t told him what all was said. A part of me wants to vent about it all. The other part wants to keep it shoved inside because he won’t understand how I feel. He has supportive parents, and gets along with them. There’s no way in hell he can know what it’s like to be under my parents’ scrutiny.
“Yeah. It was…a long day.” Nope, not ready to unload all my family disfunction on him just yet. He knows the basics and for now that’s all he needs to know.
“Anything I can help with?”
The amount of care he constantly shows me is a stark contrast to what my own family does. I’d be perfectly fine with him never meeting Mom and Dad. It might be the only thing that keeps us inside our bubble of contentment. Even though I know it won’t stay like this forever. Or, at least I don’t think it will. Every couple gets out of that super happy phase, don’t they?
“I wish.” And I do. I wish all of this was easy. “But I’ll figure it out. For now, I’ll be happy the latest bride has settled on what she wants and count the victory.”
“Sounds like a win to me,” he picks up the remote off the table, “wanna watch more cheesy sci-fi?”
“Not until after we eat. Some of those scenes are gruesome.” Even though the last one we watched wasn’t exactly cheesy, I almost spit my food out a couple of times. Some of these movies are just shy of being categorized horror.
“I can deal with that.” He takes a bite of his burger and sits for a second. “I think I may have found an apartment.”
“Oh, yeah? Where?”
I don’t miss the way he bites his lower lip, nervous over what I might think.
“In this complex, actually. Not in your building or anything, but on the other side. Someone is moving out, and I’m high on the list of possible renters.”
“That’s great.” I set my food down and give him a hug. “You’ll finally have your own space.”
“Don’t get too excited. It’s not mine yet,” he pulls away from me. “I wasn’t sure how you’d react to me being in the same complex. It wasn’t on purpose. I think I joined the waitlist to at least ten apartments.”
“We don’t even have that many complexes in Asheville.”
“I know. I looked in surrounding towns, too. I wanted to give myself options.”
Honestly, he could move in here. It’s not like we’d need another room. But I’m not ready for that. Not even close. Hell, we haven’t even said the “L” word, yet. Even though with each day that passes, I think I’m falling.
“That’s smart,” I take a bite of my food, “did you ever talk to Carlos? I’m pretty sure Eric and his girlfriend are looking for another place. That house isn’t big enough for them and two teenagers.”
“No. I didn’t want to say I’m looking and rush the process.”
“This town is growing,” I place my hand on his and squeeze, “you need to let Carlos know you’re interested. If not, some other renter is going to swoop in and take that prime real estate. Besides, you’d pay as much rent there as you would an apartment. And the house has an actual yard.”
He chuckles. “Why haven’t you talked to Carlos about it?”
“I don’t like doing all the maintenance stuff that comes with living in an actual house. Neighbors would be calling to complain about the grass because I live at the shop.”
“Clearly, that’s not entirely true.”
“What do you mean?”
He points his finger between me and him, then twirls it to encompass the room. “Because we are both here and not at the shop. And I don’t think you’re there as much as you think you are.”
He has a point. It all boils down to him. Before Xander danced his way into my life, I was always at the shop. Well, except for when we have girl’s night. We also have more help now than we did back then.
“You’re right.”
“I have my moments,” he smirks, “now hurry and finish eating so we can get this movie started.”
“Why are you in such a rush?”
“Because as I hate driving home late from here. Do you have an idea how many cops are out waiting for someone to screw up in the middle of the night?”
