"Parked out front," Brian said, appearing from the bedroom with a duffel bag over his shoulder. "Rodriguez is already down there."
"Then let's move." Shane was halfway to the door before he finished the sentence.
Maria swept in next, already directing traffic. With the efficiency of someone who clearly ran her household the same way the captain ran the firehouse.
"Shane, start with the couch. Garrett, grab the other end. Marco, no running in the hallway."
A small boy streaked past her, giggling, followed by his sister.
"Lucia! Get your brother!"
"I'm trying, Mama!"
Zoe appeared in the doorway, clipboard in hand, earbuds dangling around her neck. Fifteen, all sharp angles and barely contained opinions.
"I made a loading plan," she announced. "Heavy furniture first, then boxes, fragile stuff on top. If everyone follows it, we'll be done by lunch."
"When did you become a project manager?" Brian asked.
"When I realized you guys would mess this up without me."
She handed him the clipboard. He looked at the clipboard, then at her. The smile came slowly, spreading across his whole face.
"You color-coded the truck layout."
"Obviously."
Garrett grabbed one end of my couch without a word, nodded at Shane, and they maneuvered it toward the door in perfect sync.
Within twenty minutes, my apartment was empty of everything that mattered.
By noon, the new apartment was full of boxes, furniture, and people arguing about where things should go.
"The couch should face the window," Maya said.
"It should face the TV," Shane countered.
"What TV? They don't have a TV yet."
"They'll get one. And when they do, they'll thank me."
Maria was unpacking kitchen boxes, organizing cabinets with a system I didn't understand but immediately trusted. Rodriguez had assembled my bed frame in the time it took me to find the sheets. Zoe directed Garrett on optimal bookshelf placement. The kids chased Watson around the living room, and Watson—for once—didn't seem to mind.
"You okay?" Brian appeared at my elbow, voice low.
"I wasn't expecting—" I gestured at the room. At the people filling it. "This."
"Yeah. They don't really do halfway." He looked around at his crew, his family, filling the space with noise and warmth and the kind of chaos that felt like belonging.
Ourapartment. The word caught in my chest before I could examine it.
Maya appeared with bags that smelled like fresh pastries. Maria followed with a cooler full of drinks and containers of food.
"Figured we'd need fuel," Maya said, setting the bags on the counter. "Long afternoon ahead."
Brian surveyed the spread, shaking his head. "I wanted to throw a proper housewarming party."
"You could still throw one," Captain Rodriguez suggested, appearing from the bedroom with Marco on his shoulders. "What's stopping you?"
