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“I’ll go cheap on the grill, but I’m buying the porterhouse.”
“I won’t argue with that.”
“Also gonna make some salt potatoes—that’s a Central New York thing. You will love them.”
“Sounds good, man. Get some shut-eye.”
“Love you, bro,” he says as he exits the room and heads to the stairs.
“Love you. Sleep well.”
* * *
After shoving my feet into my shoes, I hook Elle up to bring her outside. “All right, little miss, since you and I are gonna do this, we’re going to have to adapt to each other’s schedule. In the mornings, we watch the sunrise and take in the quiet.”
I chuckle to myself because, in less than a week after moving here and watching the sunrise from my back deck—my weekday morning meetings with myself and the sun—those meetings changed into daydreams and fantasies about the beauty next door.
“During the week, we try to catch a glimpse of our new friend, Cecilia, while she runs out the door.”
She sits down and looks up at me.
“I think we’ll manage. Do you?” I reach down and scratch behind her ears, and she wags her tail. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
7
Prep
Hand smacking against the nightstand, I search blindly for my vibrating phone while rubbing my eyes with the other. Sitting up, I blink away the sleep and see Chloe’s name on the screen.
“Shit,” I grumble as I hit Accept. “Morning, Chloe.”
“Hey, did I wake you?” she asks.
“I needed to get up, anyway.” I scoot back against the headboard. “Are you heading back East?”
“We’ll be landing at around seven tonight. Can’t stay away too long, you know. I need my CeCe time.”“I need my Chloe and Aggie time, too.”
“I should take offense.” My brother-in-law, Danny, chuckles in the background.
“Sorry, Danny, but Aggie trumps all the humans.”
“She misses her auntie CeCe, too.”
It might have taken years, but I love how I can actually hear a smile in her voice and no longer worry.
“Any chance I can get you to go watch Pope play tomorrow?”
It hits me that I was supposed to do that with the girls, but I know they’ll understand since Chloe and Aggie and, yes, Danny will be here.
“I’d love to.”
“Good. And you’re still good with us crashing at your place for the week?”
“Yeah, of course. Can’t wait.” I throw my legs over the side of the bed and mentally prepare to power-clean the place and get everything set up for their arrival, which will include grocery shopping because my fridge and cupboards are bare.
“Do not get overwhelmed and go crazy getting ready for us. We don’t need anything but you.”
“I’m not.”
