“Nothing fits me anymore,” she announced loudly, more to Maisie than to me. “You know what I mean, right? Absolutely nothing fits, so I had to come as a fruit.”
Maisie nodded, her beautiful face softening with empathy. She went over to Laney, leaning closer so they could talk without yelling. The two women bent their heads together like they’d been friends forever, and while it made zero sense to me, Sterling just fucking smirked.
Obviously satisfied that they were preoccupied, he turned those sharp eyes to mine. “Why the hell haven’t you married her yet? What happened to going down to the courthouse a couple weeks ago?”
I blinked, caught off guard, but I recovered quickly, giving it to him straight because that’s who Sterling was, a straight shooter. Besides, he would see right through me if I lied. “We were planning on doing that, but it turns out, it’s not so simple.”
“It looks pretty simple from here.” He gestured toward Maisie, still chatting to Laney with her gown glittering like she was a fairytale princess that was going to disappear at midnight.
I sighed, ignoring the ache that invaded my chest when I realized she kind ofwasgoing to disappear at midnight. At least, she was going to have to go home to Brody and her mom. We never could seem to carve out enough time for just the two of us.
“I want Brody comfortable first,” I told my brother. “I’m not just going to spring it on the kid. He’s been through enough.”
Surprisingly, that shut him up for half a second. “That’s fair. It’s actually pretty good thinking on your part. Who would’vethunkit?”
I groaned. “Thanks a lot.”
He pumped his eyebrows at me but his gaze sharpened again. “Brody really does remind me of you as a kid, you know. You guys are a good match. I’m pretty sure you can just tell him already and get it done.”
Something twisted in my gut again. Every time someone mentioned the similarities between Brody and me, I felt this weird, nagging tug of familiarity deep inside. Sterling gave me an odd, contemplative look, but then his hand clasped my shoulder and he gave me a rare smile.
“She’s the one, Callum. We can all see it. I’m proud of the way you’re handling things with the kid, but you need to think of her as well. You can’t make her wait forever, not knowing if you’re actually going to go through with it.”
I sighed but nodded curtly. “Yeah, I know. It’s just a balancing act, but we’ll get it figured out.”
Sterling smirked again. “Alright, then. I’m going to get the pregnant watermelon home before she bursts into tears about her costume. I quite like it but she’s not a fan and we’ve made our appearance. You guys have fun.”
He took Laney’s hand, but she flung her free arm around Maisie’s shoulders for a hug before she let him tug her away. I followed his cue, taking Maisie’s hand and leading her over to the bar instead of the doors.
For another hour, we drank, danced, and had a good time, but then the party really tipped over into chaos. Someone in a vampire cape was crowd-surfing and one of the IT guys had passed out right in front of a fog machine, so I made the call.
Tightening my grip on Maisie’s hand, I waited for her to look up at me before I bent over to speak into her ear. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
Her relief was immediate, a soft exhale against my shoulder. She nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Let’s go.” Instead of stopping to say goodbye to anyone or tell them we were leaving, I simply planted my palm in the small of her back and led her through the crowd back to the elevator.
Harrison could represent the Westwoods for the rest of the night. I’d caught a brief glimpse of Jameson earlier, but he’dbeen gone before I could even reach him. When I led her out into the cool air outside, away from the noise and the madness, I suddenly understood why he’d left so fast. Why Sterling had, too.
This felt like the best decision of the night, and there wasn’t even any tequila or karaoke involved. I glanced at Maisie, nowhere near ready to take her home yet, though. “Do you want to go grab a drink at my apartment?”
“I’d like that,” she said quietly, still smiling. “You know, I always imagined the Westwood parties to be a lot more civilized than that.”
“They usually are,” I said, more than happy to finally have her to myself as we strolled the short distance to my place. “Halloween is the exception to the rule.”
“Isn’t it always?” She chuckled, twining her fingers around my elbow again and leaning her head against my bicep as we walked, all without hesitating at all. I liked that this kind of thing was becoming natural for her. It felt good. “Hey, Callum?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you really ready to get married?”
I would’ve tripped over my own feet if she hadn’t been holding on to me the way she was. “You know, even just six months ago, I probably would’ve given you a different answer, but I am.”
“You’re not sorry to be leaving the party and all the slutty nurses behind?” she asked, half like she was joking, half like she was genuinely curious. “Back in the day, you used to be the life of the party.”
I let out a short laugh. “Yeah, I was and I loved it, but every child has to grow up at some point, right? If even Peter Pan did it, I guess I have to, too.”
She glanced up at me but didn’t stop walking. “Is it what you want, though? Or is it only because of the pressure you’re under?”
