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“I’m serious, though,” I said. ?
?I love our life together, and I love you. I love this house. But sometimes I get this feeling that it’s all just a dream. That I’d wake up and realize that none of this is real.”
“Then we’ll just have to make sure that you don’t wake up,” Andy joked.
“Andy.”
He kissed my head again and squeezed me closer. “I think we’ll do the best we can. I know I will. I love our life together, too, and I definitely love you. Whatever happens, I’m going to make sure we keep this up for as long as possible.”
“I want to grow old with you.”
“I don’t age very well,” Andy teased.
“Then I’m pretty much screwed, aren’t I?”
He laughed at that. “Maybe a face lift or something?” he suggested. “I know I’ll probably go bald somewhere around fifty.”
I laughed along with him, and we sat there until the sun set and the cold forced us back inside.
***
By the weekend, we were fully unpacked and having dinner on a real table instead of on a board balanced on four boxes. Bobby had come by, helping us with the final few touches and graciously accepting to be my second pair of hands in the kitchen. Especially when I told him that he really didn’t want Andy helping me out.
“So, California? Really?”
Bobby looked up from his steak and shrugged. “Hey, they want me there, I’m not one to say no. The Chief says it’s a step up for me.”
Bobby had received a call a few months before, a job offer to join a fire department in Los Angeles, station no. 4 or 9, or some other number I couldn’t remember. I didn’t like it, but at the end of the day, I supported his decision to take the offer. Still, I couldn’t wrap my head around Bobby fighting fires in a big city. Not to mention the constant California wildfires I kept hearing about in the news.
“Finally joining the big leagues,” Andy smiled.
“Don’t encourage this,” I said, shooting him a look.
“Hey, come on, you said you were on board with this,” Bobby pointed at me with his fork.
“I am,” I sighed. “Doesn’t mean I like it. I mean, what’s wrong with Mansfield?”
“Absolutely nothing,” Bobby said. “Especially now that you’re here.”
“Yet you want to move across the country.”
“Damn right,” Bobby smiled. “You don’t need me here anymore. Andy’s taking good care of you, aren’t you, Andy?”
Andy glanced at me, trying to read my face and figure out just how excited he was supposed to be for my brother. I kept a poker face.
“Besides, it’s not like I won’t come visit,” Bobby continued. “I know you two will be in need of a few exciting stories to spice up your otherwise mundane life.”
“I like mundane,” Andy said. “Mundane is good. Mundane is good for me.”
“Mundane is safe,” I added, more to myself than the rest of the table.
I could feel Andy’s eyes on me, and we ate in awkward silence for a few minutes before he asked, “So when are you heading out?”
“A week,” Bobby said. “I have a few things to handle here first, and I need to make sure the house won’t fall apart while I’m gone.”
“We’ll keep an eye on it,” Andy said.
“I’m counting on it,” Bobby replied. “Oh, and I’m going to need to sign over my stuff to you at the station. The Chief’s been on my ass about it for the past week, and I don’t want to wait last minute to get it done.”
