But I guess I never really thought about giving it a definite date. I knew this would come to an end eventually. I just never thought about when.
After the wedding makes the most sense, though. She’ll move on to another wedding at another venue, and with any luck, I’ll havemy hands full with the iceplex. We won’t have time to keep seeing each other.
I rub at my chest, a dull ache forming.
Huh.I’m sure it’s probably from all the overhead hammering I was doing this morning before my shift in the taproom. We’re still juggling things a bartender short with Sophie still being out to help her grandmother recover from her fall.
That has to be what it is.
“After the wedding, then,” I say, tipping back the rest of my cider.
“Good. Now that that’s settled ...” She rises from her chair, grabbing her plate. “Stevens family dinner rules? You wash, I’ll rinse?”
“Deal.”
We clean up the kitchen, put away the leftovers—not that there are many—and make quick work of the dishes.
Odette sets a bowl out for Pork slightly away from where Beans has hers, and the cats go to town on the wet food.
“They work well together,” she says, resting her head on my chest as she watches them.
“They do. Wonder if they have the same mama cat. Maybe that’s why they’ve bonded?”
“Maybe. Or who knows—it could be true love or something.”
“True love? That sounds awfully optimistic for someone cursed with failing love.”
She snorts a laugh. “Yeah, I guess it does.” She peers back up at me. “Race you to the couch?”
“Last one in owes the other an orgasm?”
We take off at the same time, but there’s no keeping up with someone who played professional hockey. I beat her by a long shot, and she pouts as she settles beside me, breathless.
“No fair.”
“Sorry. Rules are rules.” I kiss the side of her head, and she curls her legs up under her, snuggling against me in her favorite spot. “But don’t worry, I’ll collect later. I’ll let you get your Mulder fix first.”
“He is hot ... for an old guy,” she teases.
I don’t get jealous of her words, mostly because it’s me she’s holding on to and not him.
I don’t collect on my winnings either. We spend the night watching TV. No sex, no fooling around. Just us.
And it’s not until I’m falling asleep in her bed that I realize that’s just as good, if not better, and that nights like these are quickly becoming a favorite of mine.
Ezra was right.
I am in over my head, and I’m not so sure I want a way out.
Chapter Eighteen
Odette
“There’s our girl!”
I wave to my mother and Nonna as I walk up my grandmother’s driveway. Though I’ve always been told I look just like my mother, who has been told she looks just likehermother, it always surprises me when I see them together and realize just how true that statement is.
We all have dark hair—though Nonna’s is more on the gray side these days—and our blue eyes are all the same shade. We even have the same small noses and dimpled chins. It’s a little eerie sometimes.
