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“What?” I rush out, shaking my head at Two. “I’ve fallen in love with it.”
“Your parents really are loaded,” Two mutters. I punch his arm and he yelps. “Ow. You seem to forget I’m injured.”
“Keep being a butt and I’ll injure you some more,” I sass back.
Grant chuckles and Leo grins.
“Oh, you’re going to fit right in with this family,” Leo says, nodding emphatically.
I wait for Two to grimace or for some sort of awkward feeling to ruin the moment, but they all look at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue.
“Actually,” I explain to my boyfriend, “I was going to offer them cash.”
This has both Leo’s perfectly plucked eyebrows hiking up his forehead.
“It’ll wipe out my savings account,” I continue, “but I’ve done a lot of social media collaborations that have made me quite a bit of money over the past few years.”
“You think Paula and Gregory would actually sell it?” Two asks, frowning at me. “Paula seems to love it.”
“But she’s in over her head,” I say with a shrug. “Gregory clearly resents everything Hemingford Hall represents. I think for the right price, they’d move, especially considering they know us, trust us, and can count on us to restore it to its original beauty.”
“Us?” Two asks with a grin.
“I’m not doing all the work by myself,” I playfully huff back. “You won’t be injured forever. And last I checked, you’re still great at being bossy even if you can’t move around quickly.”
Leo snorts out a laugh. “I think he may actually be worse because he has us at his beck and call now.”
“Definitely worse,” Grant agrees with a chortle.
“I’m feeling outnumbered and picked on,” Two grumbles.
“He’s a Four,” I tell them. “They’re dramatic.”
Leo cackles at that. “Oh, honey, do I know that. And he’s told us all about the Enneagram types. I have learned more about my son from information on Fours on the internet in the past few weeks than I have the entire time he’s been our son.”
The teasing banter continues until it gets close to dinner time. Leo and Grant leave us alone to start the grill and get supper going. I snuggle up against Two, careful not to agitate his sore ribs, and kiss his stubbly cheek.
“This is nice,” I murmur, resting my head on his shoulder. “I was really nervous but it’s actually fun hanging out with them.”
Two squeezes my thigh and leans his head against mine. “It is. I thought, though, for a minute they were rethinking their choice of me over you.”
“I see how they love you, dork.” I tilt my head up so I can make sure he’s teasing and not really feeling that way. “You can’t fool me.”
He dips forward and kisses me. “I’m happy you’re here, Golden. My house looks good with you in it.”
After a dinner filled with lots of laughter and amazing food, me and Two head out to his workshop. He’s pretty proficient at using his crutches, but his dads still hovered behind him the whole way across the yard. Eventually, they left us alone.
“Want to help me finish up Cedarwood Mansion?” Two asks, gesturing for the model that he tinkers on when not messing with our class project.
“Of course.”
For the next several hours, we put the finishing touches on the micro-mansion. I marvel at all the tiny details he puts into the model. He may be strange and cantankerous at times, but he’s extremely skilled at what he does. It makes me proud of him.
“You really want to purchase Hemingford Hall, huh?” Two asks, back hunched as he peeks in one of the stained-glass windows on his model.
“I really do. And, like Paula and Gregory, I want to move in while restoring it.”
When I’d told my dad about it, he surprised me by being a hundred percent on board. In fact, he even offered to cover any additional costs outside of what I have in savings. Now all I have to do is convince the Nordstroms to sell to me.
