Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“I think I learned that real good,” she snuffled into his shirt.
“Kleenex, son,” Darius murmured to Liam.
Liam took off toward the bathroom.
“Now Gabs is pissed at me,” she mumbled.
“Can’t help you with that. She was tryin’ to contain it and you swung her ass right out there. You gotta work that out with her,” Darius told her.
“Huh,” she told his shirt. She blubbered some more, then muttered, “Work is gonna be interesting tomorrow.”
“Bed you gotta lie in,” Darius muttered in return, but did it rubbing her back.
“Babe, wine, or something else? I make a mean martini,” I pushed.
She sniffled and then Liam was there shoving a wad of about fifty tissues (the same amount he’d stuffed into my purse before we went to Carmine’s) in her face. She took them and about ten of them drifted to her lap because she couldn’t handle them all, but she pulled away from Darius and blew her nose with some, dabbed her face and under her eyes with others.
She glanced at Darius.
He nodded.
She looked to me.
“I’d murder a martini.”
I smiled at her then turned to Darius because I hadn’t yet discovered the full lay of the land at his house.
“Vodka, freezer. Vermouth and olives, Liam’s gonna have to get those from the cellar,” he answered my unspoken question.
Liam took off.
So did I.
“Grab the shaker too, boy!” Darius called.
“Got it!” he shouted back.
I wasn’t real big on them shouting at each other all the time.
But whatever.
We’d just surmounted another obstacle, and we were still standing, and together, and we understood each other better, which meant we’d come out of it stronger.
So I could deal with a little shouting.
Chapter Nineteen
Big Events
I was in a conference room at work, surrounded by boxes and stacks of files, working with two other paralegals and highlighting and taking notes like a highlighting-and-taking-notes fool.
We’d just received the discovery on a huge case that the judge for some reason refused to give us a continuance on, so we had tons to get through and about two months less time than we needed to get through it.
It was exactly three weeks since Darius and I brought our family together.
And it had been three weeks heavy with big events.
First, within days of our drama at Miss Dorothea’s, I came home to two fully-kitted-out guest bedrooms upstairs, seeing as Darius called “his guy” who went and packed up all my bedroom furniture, and all Liam’s, and moved mine into the guest suite, Liam’s into the Jack side of the Jack and Jill.
Liam and I had already done a cursory packing of all our most personal items the Sunday before we went to dinner with Darius’s family, but we headed back the next Saturday after Liam was done watching films with the team. We carted over boxes of books, picture frames and other essential items, including packing up all the food in the kitchen.
The next day, Darius and I went back and got all the sheets and towels and bathroom accessories to stock up the guest spaces.
By this time, I’d done a full perusal of what Darius had and found there was nothing of mine I needed to fill the gaps. There was also nothing I needed to make the space mine.
Liam was thriving in Darius’s lair. It suited him, like it suited his dad.
And after not having Darius for so long, being surrounded by him at every turn, well, that totally worked for me.
Darius was surprised I didn’t want to make my mark on our place, but when I explained why, we had to take a break from putting away towels so we could fuck on my old bed in the guest room.
Thankfully, Liam was out with some friends seeing a movie.
At that juncture, Darius called “his guy” again, and he went and packed everything else up—dishes and pots and pans and knickknacks—and stacked those boxes in Darius’s storage room downstairs.
Darius then called a cleaning crew to go in, and after that, a management company to ready it for the market. We dropped some cash on some nice, middle-of-the-road bedroom furniture, and got word a few days ago it had rented, furnished.
In the meantime, I’d extended an olive branch to Danni and Gabby by explaining I did need someplace to put my books, as well as new frames for my pictures that would work in Darius’s space.
They took hold of that olive branch like their life depended on it (they really did love their brother, and actually me, not to mention Liam), and now we had three new handsome shelving units, one in the living room, another in the family room and the last in the study, where I put my books and arranged my newly framed pictures.
And with that, I was good.
Liam and I were firmly in Darius’s home, so it was no longer just his.