Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” I grumbled, the wind going out of my sails.
“But you still didn’t run it by Bas or Cian first.”
“I figured I would when I got home,” I replied.
“What if we said we weren’t comfortable with it?” Cian asked.
Myla grinned at me.
I stared at Cian.
“He bought this house for her,” Bas said quietly. “What do you think happens if you’re not comfortable with her and the girls livin’ here?”
Cian let out a huff of disbelief.
“I’m cool with it,” Bas said, nodding to me. “Anythin’ you need, just let me know.”
“Thanks, Bas.”
Cian got up and left the room.
“I told you I should’ve popped some popcorn,” Frankie muttered, stretching her arms above her head. “I’m guessing this means that the bunk beds are no longer ours.”
“I don’t think they’re old enough for bunk beds.”
“Dibs,” she said quickly. “Those babies are comin’ home with me.”
“You don’t have any room for them,” Lou argued.
They bickered back and forth with Bas looking on in amusement.
Myla turned to me. “I think it was really sweet that you made the offer,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry Otto was such a dick about it.”
“He said I was askin’ her to be my fuckin’ servant.”
“He’s an idiot,” she replied with a scoff. “He’s probably just stressed out and exhausted and worried about how Esther’s going to react to Noel moving out.”
“She’ll probably be relieved.”
“She just got her sister back after a long time,” Myla reminded me. “It’s probably not that simple.”
“We’re just down the road.”
“I know.”
“I think that they’ll be good here,” I continued, trying to convince her even though I knew she already agreed with me. “I have plenty of room. She can still go over to Esther’s all the time if she wants to, but now she’ll have her own space, too.”
“I know, brother.”
“I was just tryin’ to fuckin’ help.”
“Titus,” she said in exasperation. “I know.”
“Esther’s probably gonna talk her out of it anyway, so Cian is havin’ a bitch fit for no reason.”
“He’ll come around,” she replied easily. “Give him a minute.”
“Hey, T?” Bas called, interrupting us. “You want me to switch to Cian’s side of the hall or the other way around?”
Something about the question settled me. Bas wasn’t taken aback by what I’d done, he wasn’t even surprised. Instead, he was thinking out the logistics and came to the realization that Noel was going to need two bedrooms on the same side of the hall so she and the girls could share a bathroom.
“I think my side would be better for them,” he continued. “Since my bathroom’s got the tub and Cian’s side only has a shower.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” I replied. “Thanks for bein’ so cool about it.”
Bas just shrugged. “I had a single mom,” he said nonchalantly. “Wish someone woulda offered her a little help when she needed it.”
After a few minutes, I headed up to my room. I wasn’t really in the mood to watch whatever movie they had on. A little while later, I noticed that they hadn’t been into it either, because I couldn’t hear the tv anymore but I could hear Bas and the girls being loud as fuck as they moved furniture around. They were already moving Bas to the other bedroom.
I needed to remember to ask Noel if she wanted to keep the bunk beds or not. Or maybe I wouldn’t ask. The thought of Diana climbing up the ladder and falling off the top bunk made me break out in a cold sweat. There was no way Ariel could sleep up top without her little sister wanting to do the same thing and I had a feeling that scenario would be disastrous.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I let it sink in that I’d asked Noel to move into my house. The last hour had been a mess of trying to convince her, then Otto, then Myla and the boys that it was the right thing and I hadn’t had much time to fully process what I’d done.
I’d asked the woman I was in love with to move into my house with her two kids. To platonically move into my house with her two kids. When I’d made the offer I hadn’t been thinking about the fact that I’d see her every day, that I’d have full access to her and she’d have full access to me, that we’d be living together like a family without actually being one. Once I was alone, though, the implications of that hit me hard.
If Noel didn’t change her mind, she’d be living with me. We’d be sharing the same space. Having dinner together every night. I’d get to see the kids before they fell asleep at night. Hear them running down the hallway. Watching them play in the yard.
It was everything I’d hoped for while she was gone, but also somehow exactly the opposite. They weren’t my kids. She wasn’t my woman. We may be sharing the house, but we’d still be separate. I’d still be on the outside of their little trio.