Page 65 of About That Rule

“In corporate America?” She rolled her eyes. “Not likely. But I can see if I can do a week in the New York office once a month until you’re fully back home.”

“Perfect. Problem solved.” Nate smiled at the first victory. “What’s next on our agenda?”

“How will we pay bills? Separate accounts, joint accounts…?” she trailed off.

“Let’s do both. We both put money into a joint account that pays bills, and the rest stays in our personal accounts. That way, no issues with money. Next?”

He was doing a wonderful job at problem solving. Here was one that was bound to throw him. “When do we have kids?”

He paused. “You’re thirty, I’m thirty-one. I say in a couple years. Let’s enjoy marriage first.”

She high-fived him. “Deal.”

“I’m not naïve. Marriage will take work and commitment, but we can do this,” Nate promised. “We just have to communicate.”

“Agreed. So, how do we tell our family?”

Neither of them had an immediate answer for that one.

Nate spoke first. “I’m in town next week because of Thanksgiving. We can tell them all then since we celebrate with all our families.”

“I think we should tell our friends when we grab drinks the night before, though. Perhaps having them know will ease the anger of our parents freaking out,” Samantha added, unsure of how everyone was going to react.

At the end of day, it didn’t matter, but still.

What if their parents weren’t happy?

THE FOLLOWING WEEKrolled around. After Nate got his rental car, he headed to Samantha’s house. Technically, their house until they were ready to move into the house he had to work on, which made him smile. Since they left Vegas last week, they’d gotten into the routine of him FaceTiming her before she went to work, with her doing the same when she got home. The hours weren’t ideal, but they’d promised each other to keep the schedule up until he moved back home.

Tired or not, his goal was for her to see how dedicated he was. He’d sent lilies to her just to make her smile. Granted, she called and gave him shit for what he wrote on the card—Here’s to a chance at anal—but her laughter proved how much she loved the humor. He couldn’t wait to see her.

The traffic was horrendous getting from the airport to her house, but it was expected since it was the night before Thanksgiving. Everyone traveled.

He finally arrived, parked, and used his key to walk in.

“Hey, babe,” Nate called out so she knew he was home.

She met him at the door with a kiss. He dropped the two bags he held and wrapped his arms around her. He was about to lift her up when she wiggled out of his grip.

“We need to leave now to be only ten minutes late to meet our friends,” she reminded him, dragging him out the door.

Fuck. He wanted to see his friends, but he wanted to be alone with his wife more.

“How long do we have to stay?” he asked, climbing into the passenger seat of her car.

She shrugged. “Maybe an hour? I figured you’d be tired with how busy you’ve been with work, so I’ll drive so you can have a drink or two before we go to bed.”

“I need to fuck you before we go to bed.” Nate was getting hard just thinking about her naked.

“Duh,” she mocked him.

They talked about the weekend plans for the holiday and pulled up to the bar exactly ten minutes late, as Samantha had predicted. Nate grabbed her hand so they walked into the bar holding hands. When Samantha tried to drop the connection once they spotted their friends, he only held tighter.

She looked at him as he said, “Remember, we’re going to or the fuck out of marriage. Let’s go in strong.”

She smiled widely, showing him how much she loved his response. “Let’s do this.”

They walked to their friends, and everyone stopped once they saw them together, surprised at Samantha and Nate being together. Everyone except a smiling Charlotte.