“We don’t have to make a big deal about it, do we?”
Quinn shrugs. “No, but we might want to.”
“Do you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t do well with being the centre of attention.” He grimaces. “Which could be problematic on our wedding day. I’m not sure slurring my way through vows would be acceptable. That’s something to worry about later, though, not now.”
“We can have a small wedding. You, me, Beau and Fraser, your dad, Sabella, Rubin, and your granddad. We don’t need anyone else there.”
Quinn turns to look at me. “Are you sure?”
I nod. “It’ll be a cold day in hell before I invite Dad to our wedding. As for Mum.” I sigh. “I don’t even think I’m going to ask to see her again. She’s moved on with her life. She’s sober, and she’s happy. I don’t want to disrupt that any more than I already have. I’ve learnt to live without her over the last sixteen years. I can carry on doing that. I’m already surrounded by the best family anyone could ever want. I don’t need to chase a childish wish anymore.”
Quinn pokes me playfully in the ribs. “Now who’s soliloquising?”
I laugh. “Me.” I cup his face and stroke his cheek with my thumb. “We’ll make our wedding day work for us, Quinn, I promise.”
His smile becomes so wide it turns his eyes into half moons. “I don’t doubt it for a second.”
I hug him to me. “Are you in a rush to move out of the shared house?”
“No. Why?”
“I think I need to stick around for a while longer.”
“For Beau?”
“Yes.”
“I love living there, Stefan. The only reason to move out quickly would be to get a dog. I think that can wait, don’t you?”
I kiss his hair. “Yes.”
“We should tell Beau and Fraser first, then call Dad and Sabella, and Granddad, and then the rest of the house.”
“What about Rubin?”
“Last time I saw him, he was playing video games with Hendrix. I’m going to bet he’s still at our house. If not, I’ll call him after talking to Dad.”
“That sounds like a perfect plan.”
* * *
When we get home, I check the kitchen and then the lounge. Hendrix and Rubin are still playing video games while Theo and Preston cheer them on.
When he sees me, Theo bounces to his feet and bounds over to give me and Quinn a swift hug each.
“Have you seen Beau and Fraser?” I ask.
Hendrix points at the ceiling. “They’re probably fucking like rabbits.”
“You’re mistaking them for Oscar,” Preston says in a deadpan tone.
Hendrix snorts. “No. They fuck like rabbits too.”
Quinn and I go upstairs to their room. I press my ear to the door but don’t hear anything to suggest they’re having sex. I knock.
Beau answers the door a moment later. He’s fully dressed. Fraser is on the bed, and there’s a messy patch of covers beside him, so I assume they were cuddling. Either that or they didn’t bother making the bed this morning.
