“I’m not asking for your permission,” pointed out Britney as she hefted another box. “Would you mind helping? These are a bit heavy.”
“Why didn’t you get a moving team?” grumbled Gabe as he grabbed a box and followed her to the spare bedroom.
“It was just a few things. I’ll bring the rest by later,” smiled Britney. “You’ll have to make it so I can get in the condo.”
“I have an extra pass card for the garage,” sighed Gabe. It was sitting unused in a kitchen drawer. He had never given it to anyone before. “You’ll have to be added to the facial recognition system. How did you get past the doorman?”
“Oh, I met this nice lady Delores,” grinned Britney. “As soon as she heard I was engaged to you, she was more than willing to sign me in as a guest. She lives just down the hall. I think we should invite her to the wedding.”
Gabe wondered what the point was of living in a high security building when his neighbors were willing to let anyone in. For all Delores knew, Britney could have been his stalker. She had been at one point. “Great.”
“I thought you’d be happy to invite her,” chirped Britney, ignoring his sarcastic tone of voice as they grabbed the last two boxes. “She’s such a sweetheart. We’ve offered to exchange a meatloaf recipe. Do you like meatloaf? I can make some for dinner.”
“I have a meal service,” Gabe informed her.
“You can cancel it,” advised Britney. “I’m more than willing to cook for us.”
“That’s not necessary,” began Gabe but he was cut off by Britney.
“I love to cook and bake,” gushed Britney. “I find it very relaxing. Maybe you should try it sometime.”
“That’s not going to happen,” said Gabe. He glanced at his watch. He was now extremely late. “I need to get to work.”
“Oh? Am I holding you up?” blinked Britney in surprise. “You could have just said so. I can unpack on my own.”
Gabe grabbed the pass card out of the kitchen drawer, putting it on the counter. In the foyer, he touched a few buttons on a screen. “The pass card is what you need for the parking garage and elevator. I’ll tell the doorman to add you to the building roster, but you’ll need to talk to them as well. Stand here and look at the dot on the screen.”
A confused Britney stood where he showed her, looking at a dot on an LCD screen. A moment later, her face appeared. “Wow. It just took a picture of me.”
With a couple of touches, Gabe added her to the system. “Press the doorbell and look straight at the screen outside the door when you want to come in. The system will recognize you and open the lock.”
“How expensive was this?” wondered Britney as she looked at the screen. “Is this even on the market yet?”
“No. It’s a before market prototype. I’m testing it for Ben. Do not take pictures of it or tell anyone as it is all confidential at this point,” advised Gabe as he grabbed his car fob and briefcase. “Ben hopes to finish the testing stage this month then offer it on the market.”
“Wow, I didn’t know Ben was into home security,” remarked Britney.
“He’s not usually but the opportunity presented itself and he was helping from the technical aspect,” answered Gabe. He paused as he opened the door. “I guess I’ll see you tonight.”
“Absolutely,” beamed Britney.
Quickly, Gabe slipped through the door, drawing it closed behind him as he headed for the elevator. Once the doors opened, he stepped inside, hitting the button for the parking garage.
Drawing in an unsettled breath, Gabe told himself he could do this. Surviving five years and three weeks with Britney was worth it. He could make this happen. Glancing in the mirror, he noticed he had completely forgotten his tie and blazer. He was going to arrive at the office untidy and late. There was also a board meeting today and Gabe needed to look his best considering this month’s investment numbers weren’t looking great.
Britney was already having an adverse effect on him.
Taking out his phone, Gabe quickly called security to have Britney added to his tenant agreement before he could back out. He gave as many details as he could, but he simply didn’t know some of the most basic information.
Gabe knew her birthday but not the year because she had skipped a couple of grades, or was it just one grade? He knew her eye color yet not her phone number. Where did Britney currently live or did he just list her address as his now she was moving in?
She was moving in.
He hadn’t expected things to move quite this fast. When he had accepted her proposal, Gabe had felt like the three weeks until the wedding was long enough away that he didn’t need to worry about it. Now it was Monday and Britney was moving in and the wedding was nineteen days away.
He was going to have to get a new tux or suit for the wedding. Gabe would have to talk to his mother to see which one, depending on how formal she wanted the affair to be. He wondered what else he needed to do.
This was going to severely affect his schedule and not at the best time.
