Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94313 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 472(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Titus was quiet for a long moment, letting the revelations sink in. Then he opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally spoke. “That doesn’t explain why you’re marrying her.”
Esther chose that moment to walk into the living room looking for me.
“Oh,” Titus said in understanding, his eyes on her waistline.
“Am I interrupting?” Esther asked, pausing.
“Not at all,” I assured her. “What’s up, sugar?”
Rumi snorted quietly. I ignored him.
“I thought you might want to see what we bought today?” she murmured shyly with a shrug.
“The dress?” I teased, heading toward her. My dad could deal with Titus.
“I told you,” she said as I led her toward the spare bedroom. “You can see that on our wedding day.”
“It’s awful, huh?” I joked. “Afraid I’ll change my mind once I see what you picked out?”
Esther huffed and looked at me over her shoulder, rolling her eyes. “Nice try.”
I shrugged.
“It’s really pretty,” she assured me as we reached the guest room. “A little more revealing than I’m used to.”
“Ooh,” I murmured, closing the door behind us as I imagined Esther in a cleavage-baring dress. I immediately shot that image down. I doubted she meant something that revealing. She’d spend our entire wedding blushing the color of a tomato.
My parents had gotten rid of our old bunk bed and replaced it with a queen, and the entire bed was covered in bags.
“We got tablecloths,” Esther said, reaching into a bag. “But they’re just rentals—did you know you could rent tablecloths?”
“I didn’t,” I replied in amusement.
“We got napkins, too. Your mom said that the club has plenty of dishes and silverware and all of that stuff.”
“They do,” I confirmed, leaning back against the door.
She’d been nervous when they left that morning. Scared, even. But the day with my mom and the girls seemed to have settled her. I thought it might be a stretch to say that she was excited, but she seemed calmer at least.
“We’re going to put these in the middle of the tables,” she said, pulling a little glass vase out of one of the bags and dropping a tiny candle into it. “Pretty, right?”
“Very.”
She stopped, the vase in her hand, and looked at me. “You don’t care about any of this, do you?”
I laughed. “Not really.”
Her shoulders slumped.
“If you like it, I like it,” I assured her, stepping further into the room. “You like it?”
“Your mom’s really good at making things look pretty,” she replied, gesturing at the room around us. “I think it’s going to look really nice.”
“As long as you’re there, I doubt I’ll notice any of it,” I confessed, reaching out to pull her toward me. The vase dropped onto the bed with a quiet thunk. “How are you doin’?”
“I don’t know,” she said, leaning against me, her head tilted back to look at my face. “It feels like we’re in some alternate universe.”
“It’s fast,” I agreed. “That’s why I want you comin’ home with me tonight. Give us a couple of days to get used to each other, yeah?”
“No.” She shook her head, her chin jutting out stubbornly. “Not until we’re married.”
“You don’t want to fuck until we’re married,” I said, reasonably, I thought. “We won’t.”
She scowled and pushed out of my arms.
“What?”
“We’ve already—” She threw her arms out in frustration. “I don’t want to live with you before we’re married, too.”
“It’s four days.”
“Exactly.” She crossed her arms and glared. “We can wait four days.”
“That doesn’t make any fuckin’ sense.”
“Could you stop swearing at me, please?”
“I’m not swearing at you.”
Esther let out a small screech, barely a sound, and my eyes widened. I waited for her to stomp her foot like a little kid and was surprised when she just glared at me.
“We’ve already done this completely backward,” she said through clenched teeth. “And we’re getting married in four days, and I barely know you and—I just—I just want the rest of it to be right, okay?”
“Okay,” I said softly as her eyes grew glassy. “Alright. Stay here.”
“Thank you.” Her shoulders slumped.
“But I’m pickin’ you up in the mornin’,” I said firmly. “And we’re gonna go over to the house so you can at least get familiar with shit over there.”
“I’m sure it’s fine.”
“It’s fuckin’ awesome,” I replied, making her smile faintly. “But you’re gonna be livin’ there. I want you to see it before you move in.”
“You can still change your mind. We can bring this stuff back and get a refund,” she said as I reached out to pull her into my arms again.
“You’re not bringin’ anythin’ back,” I replied. Once the decision had been made, I’d spent the entire day coming to terms with it, and now I couldn’t imagine not marrying Esther. It was going to be like living in the twilight zone for a while and I was sure that shit was going to come up that neither of us was prepared for—but I wanted her with me.