Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
London’s waiting in the doorway, ready to help.
“Don’t worry about taking your shoes off,” she assures us. “We can vacuum later. Just get that stuff in here so you’re out of the cold.”
“I can help,” Caleb announces, running by in his sneakers. “We’re putting everything in the dining room.”
“I guess he’s the foreman,” Hudson says with a wink. “I’m following you, buddy.”
After another half hour, all the boxes are unloaded into the house, and I’m closing the door on the back of the truck.
“Thanks for the help.”
“I’ll take the truck back,” Liam offers.
“I’ll let you,” Keaton says. “Sydney and I are headed back to Nashville tonight. She has a show at the Opry tomorrow.”
“Will it be on TV?” London asks. “I love listening to her sing.”
“If it’s not on TV, it’ll be live streamed,” Keaton says with a smile. “She even roped me into playing piano for this one.”
“You play the piano?” Caleb asks. “That’s so cool. Mom, I want to learn to play.”
“I’ll look into lessons,” London assures him. “I’ll watch for the show. Have a safe trip out there in this weather.”
“Yeah, hopefully, the plane can take off so that we don’t have to wait until tomorrow. I fu-freaking hate winter.”
“You can say fuck,” Caleb says, making his mother gasp in horror. “I hear it all the time.”
“You do not,” London says and pulls Caleb against her and covers his mouth with her hand, making him giggle. “You little twerp. No cake for you.”
He just laughs some more, clearly not worried in the least.
“There’s cake?” Liam asks, interested. “I mean, I’m not in a hurry.”
“Cake for everyone!” Caleb exclaims and runs back toward the kitchen. “I’ll cut it.”
“No knives,” London calls after him, hurrying toward the kitchen.
“They’re pretty cute,” Keaton says with a smile. “You look good here, Drew.”
“I feel good here.” I sigh, hanging back. I can hear London and Caleb chatting in the kitchen. “I already told my parents, but I thought I’d let you guys know, since you’re my best friends, that I’m asking her to marry me tonight.”
“That’s…wow,” Liam says and pats me on the shoulder. “That’s great, man. Congratulations.”
“I think marriage is contagious,” Hudson says with a shiver. “It seems to be running rampant through the family.”
“That’s not such a bad thing,” I reply and laugh when he cringes.
“Does Caleb know?” Liam asks.
“Yeah, he’s in on it. And he’s not good at secrets, so I didn’t tell him until today, and I’m sticking close to him, just in case.”
“Come on, you guys,” Caleb calls out. “We cut the cake.”
After another hour, and an entire chocolate cake, the guys leave, and I stand in front of a mountain of boxes with London at my side.
Caleb abandoned us to play video games.
“This is going to take some time.” I glance down at her. “I’m sorry it’s such a mess.”
“It’s not a mess. It’s just boxes. We’ll get it figured out. I see this one is marked linens. What kind of linens?”
“Sheets, towels, kitchen towels. Stuff like that.”
“Uh, Drew?”
“Yeah, babe.”
“Have you ever lived with a woman before?”
“Aside from my sisters and mom? No, ma’am.”
“Well, how this works is, I pick that stuff out. Yes, this is our house, but when it comes to décor or linens, that’s my department.”
“And I’ll happily let you have that department, but I couldn’t leave it with Lucy. She wants her own stuff, too.”
“Oh, good point. Well, do you mind if we donate it?”
“You don’t even want to look through it to see if there’s something you want to keep?”
She just stares at me, blinking slowly.
“I’m going to take that as a no.” With a laugh, I kiss the top of her head and then lift the box. “Where do I put the donation pile?”
“In the garage,” she says, pointing to the back of the house, and I carry it out there, setting it in a corner.
“One box down,” I say when I return.
“This one is labeled office,” she says.
“Yeah, it’s office stuff. You don’t happen to have a spare room in this house that could be my office, do you?”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” she says and crooks her finger for me to follow her through the kitchen and living area, to a small room that faces the backyard. “I didn’t know what to use this room for. It’s small, but it’s definitely big enough for a desk.”
“It’s actually perfect. I won’t have to use it every day, but it’s great for the times I’ll need it.”
“I’m going to start a list of the things we need,” she says, taking out her phone. “First on the list is a desk and chair.”
“And a lamp.”
She makes the note. “We’re pretty good at this whole working as a team thing.”
I grin, relieved that she thinks so, because if all goes as planned, she’ll be my fiancée by midnight.