Lea helped by slicing and dicing and running the dishwasher and distracting me by talking about the drama on her favorite reality show. I knew what she was doing, and I appreciated it.
While we waited for the flatbreads to cook, I put my arms around her from behind and rested my chin on her shoulder.
“Thank you,” I said. She’d done so much for me and I wasn’t deserving of it.
Lea turned in my arms and gave me a sweet kiss. “You’re welcome. I like being at your house. There’re kittens here.”
That was a plus.
“Your appliances are nicer,” I pointed out.
She snorted. “Maybe. But you have way more room. And did I mention the kittens?”
They were a good perk.
* * *
Dallas arrivedright on time and I had to swallow a few times as I walked to the front door. Why was I nervous? This was my literal brother. He wasn’t going to come in, put on a pair of white gloves, and look for dust. Or look everything over and comment about my lack of taste.
Allegra’s voice was still in my head. Fuck. Her. Dallas wasn’t Allegra.
He grinned and put his sunglasses on his head. “Hey, nice to see you.”
“Come on in,” I said, stepping back. Lea had left only a few minutes ago with the kittens and the stroller. It had felt like kicking her out, but she assured me she’d been thrilled to go out with them. She’d even packed some snacks and water and said she’d be fine and to enjoy my time with Dallas. A final kiss and she’d been gone.
I wished she would come back.
“Wow,” he said, looking around. “This is not what I expected.” Hadn’t Lea said the same thing?
“I’ve heard that before,” I said, watching him take the house in.
“It’s a great house. Lovely neighborhood.”
He spun around and faced me.
Right. Food.
“Are you hungry? I made a little something.” Dallas motioned to me to lead the way into the kitchen.
He whistled when he saw the view of the backyard. “Very nice. I’m almost jealous. Laird and I are talking about houses and we definitely want one with a yard. Yours is perfect.”
Wow. Buying a house together. Big step.
“You, um, said you were proposing?” Why was I so bad at this? So I wasn’t just standing there staring at him, I went and started cutting pieces of the flatbread and setting them on plates for us.
“We can eat outside if you want. It’s nice enough.” I had furniture in the backyard that was more aspirational than useful.
“Sure, what can I do to help?”
Dallas and I carried everything outside and sat together drinking glasses of iced tea and nibbling on the flatbread.
“You, um, said you were going to propose to Laird?” I asked.
He smiled at his plate. “Yeah. It’s my second proposal, but at least I know this one is right. I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”
It was difficult to swallow my current bite. For some reason this talk of proposing was making me start to sweat again.
“Have you picked out the ring?”
