Chapter Eleven
Zoey
Our attorneys put their heads together and come up with a stack of paperwork to create a trust, update our wills, give us all power of attorney over each other—all of that.
This shit is reallyrealnow.
When the new debit cards arrive for our joint account, I can’t help grinning when I tuck it into my wallet.
And which woman has two thumbs and stupidly stood there smiling over our new checks, which had all three of our names on them?
Yep.Thischick,righthere.
Not even going to lie about it.
We’re three days into our third week living together when the first hiccup occurs. Last week was Katie week at our house, but our weekend without Katie got borked because they needed Arlo at work all day Saturday and most of Sunday, thanks to some idiot fucking up their accounting system. He had to help them manually process financial applications old-school style.
So we’re going to have an adults’ night tonight.
And ofcoursethe fact that Lucas is spending the evening with Caine over at his house, leaving me and my guys free to plan some fun of our own tonight, means that I wake up already feeling a migraine trying to stomp its way into my brain.
Damnit.
It’s probably due to the weather front that moved into the area overnight, bringing rain and a change in the barometer.
Arlo and Nolan have already left for the morning by the time I roll out of bed and head to the kitchen for coffee. Nolan left at an obscenely early time because he had to drive down to Ft. Myers for meetings, and Arlo left early to hit the gym before work, because a kid-free evening means he’d rather be doing push-ups in bed with us instead of at the gym.
That afternoon, I’m sitting at my desk in the office, where I’m still not quite winning the battle against one hell of a migraine, when my cell phone rings.
It’s Jerilyn.
For a moment, I consider not answering it. Then I remember that the only reason I have her number in my phone is in case there’s an emergency with Katie. Arlo and I are listed as emergency contacts with Katie’s school, and have been since they first enrolled her in Pre-K. We have permission to pick Katie up if Nolan and Jerilyn can’t.
With my gut tensing, and knowing I’m probably going to regret this, I reach out and answer her call in speaker mode. “Hello?”
She sounds like she’s in a rush. “Zoey, oh my god! Thank you! I need you to do me ahugefavor.”
I close my eyes and sit back as I pinch the bridge of my nose with my other hand. “What’s going on?”
“I have to fly out to LA. It’s an emergency. Eh, work. I have to leave for Tampa in forty-five minutes if I’m going to make my flight. I just called Nolan’s cell, but he didn’t answer. Then, when I called his work, they said he’s out of the office, and…”
By the time I get off the phone with Jerilyn five minutes later, I’m feeling pissed off, in addition to battling this damn migraine.
OfcourseI didn’t let on to her that I’m pissed off.
In fact, I think I should get a cookie for pretending as well as I did.
I get up and walk out front to tell them I’m leaving early for a family emergency, and then hurry to gather my stuff. I’ll have just enough time to meet Jerilyn and get Katie’s things from her, and to make it back down to Katie’s school in time to pick her up.
So much for our evening alone tonight without Lucas.
Then again, with my headache, it probably would have meant me watching my two guys having fun while I laid there and tried not to puke.
As it is, driving under a tight deadline is going to be…interesting.
When I pull into the parking lot of the Target, where we’re meeting, Jerilyn immediately jumps out of her car and heads to her trunk as soon as she sees me, before I even get parked next to her.
Then she’s practically throwing Katie’s things at me. “Thanks for this!”
