Logic-brain knows she right.
Fear, and the protective father, is still trying to chatter away at me. “How’d I get so lucky?”
“Our guy is sneaky, and greedy, and loves us both.” She grins. “And I wouldn’t have him, or you, any other way.”
* * * *
Monday morning, Zoey drives Lucas to school, because she’s got to handle his change of address with the front office.
Arlo and I take care of returning the rental truck, and I drop him off at the dealership on my way to work. Before he gets out of the car, he leans in and gives me a long, deep kiss that makes me forget I’m due in the office in thirty minutes.
A kiss that makes me want to say fuck it, call off for the day, and take him home so I can fuck his brains out.
Last night we ended up working until nearly eleven trying to put the house into some semblance of order, and we ended up collapsing, exhausted, after taking a shower together.
No sex, just a satisfactory dog-pile in the middle of the bed that feels like perfection.
He’s going to take a long lunch today. I’m picking him up for the trip to the bank. On the way to return him to work, I’ll stop by the apartment complex to check my mailbox one last time and turn in my keys. I filed an online change of address form yesterday after Zoey Googled it and found out I could do it like that. I don’t get much mail at the apartment, because I pay all my bills online.
And then…
I’ll handle switching my auto insurance registration so I have that bill to show the DMV when I change my driver’s license, car registration, and voter registration to their address.
Ouraddress.
Yeah, it’ll take me a little getting used to, saying that.
Ours.
I walk into the office five minutes early and head to my office just to have another thought. I detour through to HR and stick my head into her office.
Lucy Patterson is sitting at her desk. “How do I change my address in the system?” I’ll have to change it on my health insurance, too. And Katie’s school.
“You moving?”
“Moved. Over the weekend.”
She grabs her notepad and holds it up. “Just write it down for me. I’ll change it in the system right now.”
Five minutes later…one official change is made.
I smile all the way during the walk to my office.
* * * *
I’m sitting out in the parking lot waiting for Arlo when it suddenly hits me howdomesticall this feels.
Yet, in some ways, it feels like nothing’s changed.
Because for the past four years, aside from the moving and change of address stuff—and the shiny new joint banking account—we’ve alreadybeena family. There have been times I helped shuttle them or Lucas to work or school because of a car issue, or they helped me get to work, or getting Katie to school.
This is anextensionof the past four years. Hell, Arlo and Zoey are the beneficiaries of my life insurance policy so they can take care of Katie. In my will, I name them her guardians if something happens to me and Jerilyn’s dead.
Because…
Because they’re my family. My chosen family.
Even beyond that, because I always felt more like I was part of a family when I was just friends with them than I ever did when I was in an actual romantic relationship with Jerilyn.
