And again, he busted out laughing.
Liam joined him.
I didn’t.
I drank coffee.
I’d gone home, washed yesterday’s makeup off,showered, dressed, and was on my way to work when the first call came in fromsomeone I didn’t know.
I had a son who was out in the world, and he had a new car,which was a muscle car, but even before that I’d lived a life where I knewanything could happen, so even if this meant I regularly had to hang up onmarketers and scammers, I took the call.
“Hello?”
“Malia!Hey, it’s Indy.We’re putting together a Malia andDarius Are Together party.Obviously, since you’re one of the people of honor,you gotta come.Are you free Saturday night?”
“I think so.”
“Perfect.Text me Toni and Lena’s numbers.We have to askthem.And your folks.”
“Um…okay.”
“So are you moving in with Darius, or is he gonna move inwith you?”
“We haven’t really decided yet,” I semi-lied.
I was definitely moving.
And it wasn’t about the wine cellar I still hadn’t seen, norwas it about the décor.
It was the fact we’d shared our first breakfast as a familyin his kitchen, even if Liam finished eating well before Darius and me, and itmight be weird, but now, that felt like home.
“Oh?”She sounded disappointed.
“But I’m doubling up on toiletries,” I blurted, because noone wanted to be disappointing.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Rock on!”she cried.
I couldn’t help it, I laughed.
She hadn’t changed one bit.
And that made me happy.
“I gotta call Ally and tell her.Girl, you can’t know howthrilled we are for you two.This is the best love story of them all.”
I couldn’t disagree.
“Thanks.”
“And glad to have you back.Missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“Right, letting you go.We’ll catch up Saturday.Later!”
