“What? No, no, no. You don’t have to pay for it,” she said. “I can afford it.”
But I knew for a fact that she couldn’t. I wanted to give her the best life possible. But I knew she wouldn’t agree, so I had another idea.
“Or we can use my brothers’ muscles. They all have big cars. If they all join, we can bring everything in one trip.”
She smiled. “They wouldn’t mind?”
“No, they wouldn’t. They’d give me shit, that’s for sure, but they’d be happy to help.”
“That would be terrific. I’ll make a delicious meal for everyone to enjoy afterward.”
Her reaction touched me unexpectedly. Phoebe couldn’t receive anything without giving something back. It was endearing. Cooking after spending the whole day moving sounded exhausting, but I knew it was important to her.
“I’ll text them right away.”
“If they don’t have time, there’s no hurry, really. I just need to be out of the house by Thursday the week after next.” Her shoulders sagged.
“When are you meeting the realtor?”
“On that Wednesday.”
“And Marshall will be there.”
She nodded, and all my muscles tensed up.
“I’ll come with you.”
She looked at me intently for a few seconds, then shook her head.
“No. I’m tempted to say yes because having all these muscles,” she said, tracing my arms and my abs, “and this smile”—she touched my lips—“always fills me with good energy. But I want to do this on my own. Just firmly close the door on that chapter in my life.”
“Phoebe, every time you face that guy, he hurts you.”
“I know. But this will be the last time I ever have to see him. And it’ll be good for closure, you know?”
I actually didn’t. I had no experience with closure or anything even remotely similar.
“All right. I understand,” I said. “Where are you meeting them?”
“Near the Central Library.”
As she told me the exact address of the realtor’s office, it got me thinking.
“Know what? I’m meeting Jude that day.”
“Wow, you do like to schedule stuff in advance.”
I nodded. “It’s absolutely necessary in my line of work. I can have our meeting at a coffee shop nearby. And after you finish, you can come straight over. We’ll wrap everything up quickly, and then I’ll be all yours.”
Her face lit up with a smile. “You’d rearrange your day for me?”
“Oh yes, babe. I’d do a lot more than that for you.”
The real question was what Iwouldn’tdo for this woman. I wanted her to be happy and content. I was feeling on top of the world because she was moving in with me.
“All right. Let me text my brothers.”
I wrote to all five of them, expecting them to respond over the course of the day. To my astonishment, they all answered before I even had time to make coffee for myself.
