AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Can we do this later in the week?” I suggested. I hadn’t packed a single thing yet, nor had I told my parents I was moving in with a man I didn’t know but was married to.
“No,” he said definitively, and I pulled the phone away from my ear and gave the device a skeptical look in his place. I put it back to my ear in time to hear him say, “There’s no point in putting it off. Plus, now that you don’t have a job, you can unpack and get organized in no time at all.”
“Hmmm,” I sounded through pressed lips.
“What? What does that noise mean in Agatha-speak?”
“It means you seem to have it all figured out, don’t you?”
“No. Not really. I’ve definitely thought about some things since yesterday, but I can honestly say supporting us both hadn’t crossed my mind.” Then, in an intentionally brighter voice he said, “We’ll make it work.”
If he was always this upbeat and positive, we’d be going to the mat by the end of the week. There was positive, and then there was annoying. Overly optimistic people were suspicious creatures. Because I didn’t buy into the attitude fully, it was hard to believe the authenticity of a person who did.
But I already knew this guy was the real deal.
Regardless, bad shit happened to good people all the time. And good things came to really bad people just in equal measure. Acting like everything was status quo when it really wasn’t was basically lying. Lying to yourself, at the very least. Projecting that sunshine-and-rainbow crap out to the world was just as dishonest. I tried to live authentically. My friends and family knew I’d always give it to them straight.
It was good to be counted on for something.
My husband’s deep voice shook me from the mental lashing I was about to start on myself.
“All right, Storm, I’ll see you in a few hours. Try to get packed so we have time to make two trips if we have to.”
This guy… I just shook my head. He was in for a big eye-opener once we were roommates.
Playing house was cute when we were kids, but this was real shit.
And I already knew it was going to be a disaster.
Chapter Seven
Carmen
Getting anything done after that phone call was hopeless.
Elijah stalked past my desk in a huff about something, and I was too stressed about my own predicament to go handhold him too.
Normally I tried to be a sounding board for my boss if he needed to bounce ideas around or just vent about an office frustration, but I was too wrapped up in my own brood to knock on his door and offer to help like I normally would.
Impressively, he was back in front of my desk after just ten minutes. I really thought he was a great guy, if a bit egocentric. When he took the time to come back out and initiate a conversation simply because he sensed something was off—well, I was genuinely touched.
“How are things going, man? We haven’t really had time to shoot the shit since we’ve been back. I mean, I knew I’d be behind the eight ball from taking four days off, but it’s way worse than I predicted.” His sleeves were rolled to the elbow, and his tan skin was a striking contrast to the white cotton.
“Sorry. I’m not on top of things today like I usually am. At least I think I normally am. A lot going on.” I tapped my temple to indicate the mental chaos I was dealing with.
He chuckled. “You know, I just realized, we’re brothers-in-law now. That doesn’t make it different around here, though. Cool? I’ve come to depend too much on you at this spot right here”—he stabbed an index finger down to my desk—“to let an intoxicated screw-up ruin things.”
“We’re going to try to make it work,” I said plainly, and my comment rendered him speechless. And maybe it was cruel, but I sat back in my chair and enjoyed the look of shock until he formed a response.
“Whoa. Really?” He laughed and asked, “Does your wife know this?”
Everyone who knew her knew what a force of nature Agatha Christine Farsey was. The woman was a tiny little package, just five feet one or two, I’d guess. But what she didn’t have in height, she had in balls. The traits that most people didn’t know about were the ones that kept reeling me in…closer and closer. I wanted to learn everything there was to know about her.
I shrugged and then told him, “We’ve committed to one year. A solid effort for twelve months, and then we will decide where we go from there.” I held his gaze for a longer moment than conversation usually permitted. I needed him to shift out of boss mode and into friend or brother-in-law or whatever the hell we were now.
“There’s something about her, man,” I said with a deeper level of seriousness. He and I didn’t usually talk about personal relationships like this. “I haven’t quite figured out what, but I want this to work. She’s…” I shook my head slowly, grinning the whole time. “I don’t know, she’s so many things. So many I haven’t even discovered yet.”
If we were drawn in cartoon cells, hearts would be shooting from my eyes. His too, when I finally refocused on the guy.
