Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“As long as you don’t get weird or treat me differently, I’m good,” he said.
I exhaled a chuckle and shook my head. “Just wait. Next time we do a Tequila Licking, I’m gonna assume you have the hots for me.”
That broke the last of the ice, and I was glad to hear him laugh again.
“Dada, bowww!”
“Oh, for—” What did bow mean? One of life’s biggest mysteries.
Chapter 3
2012
March 11 of 2012 would go down in history as a fucking perfect day. We’d just celebrated my twenty-ninth birthday yesterday, we were celebrating Roe’s twenty-fifth this weekend, Colin was in a great mood, Nikki and I were getting along much better, and, as of now, Roe and I were homeowners.
We had the keys.
One hell of a mortgage too.
Greetings, Marina del Rey.
Roe and I parked outside the house and just stared. It was a nice, quiet street—but not far away from the bustle. The Realtor had called it everything from an exclusive bungalow to a hacienda dream. I just called it ours. Mine and Roe’s. It was perfect. One story, three bedrooms, a big open kitchen and living room, nice patio, even nicer pool, two and a half baths.
The back was so compact that the pool took up most of the space, but we had a decently-sized front yard too. We had fucking lemon trees, man.
“If only this place knew what kinds of plans we have for it,” Roe marveled.
Big, big plans.
This was going to be the official Two Condor Chicks Production headquarters in the future. We’d have our podcast studio here, our office, and a place to crash for late nights. A place to volley new ideas and put pins on a map. And yeah, for now, it was also our new home.
“Can you fucking believe this?” I had to ask.
“I can’t,” he laughed. “I totally fucking can’t. We’ve made it, Jake.”
We absolutely had.
I was so goddamn happy.
Roe opened the gate and walked through, and I followed. Last time we’d been here, the previous owners hadn’t moved out yet, but now there was no trace of them. I glanced at the front lawn, where I could goof off with my boy. The hedge was fairly tall, and I liked that. I liked all the greenery too. The couple who had lived here before had loved to garden, and I was actually looking forward to taking over.
Grandma had sent us seeds as a housewarming gift.
But already, we had plenty to start with. Lemons, figs, limes—I was fairly certain that was a plum tree in the corner. Roses, succulents, lilacs…
The moment we stepped into the house, I could see my future ahead of me. We could actually host barbecue nights for the friends Roe had found us.
The gleaming hardwood floors and the beams in the ceiling were dark against everything else that was a natural white color.
We took off our shoes and walked farther in, where everything opened up. The bedrooms to the right, kitchen to the left, living room straight ahead. Big patio doors that let in plenty of light. The pool was right there.
Roe’s party this weekend was gonna have an interesting theme. Two of his cousins and his big brother were coming out to help us move—but mostly to visit, of course—and Nikki and Haley were helping us decorate. Just…I was gonna have to make sure they didn’t make plans for the garden. Both the backyard and the front would be my territory.
I could already feel my thumbs turning green.
I slid open the patio door and walked out on the deck, and I took a deep breath.
Complete privacy.
The wooden wall on the other side of the pool had been designed for a vertical garden with several pots and flower beds built into it.
Roe joined me and eyed the future barbecue area next to the pool. The spot was shielded by a pergola of some sort, also made from wood, and it had a canvas sunroof.
“How high up on the list is an Xbox?” he asked. “Before or after patio furniture?”
“Right after a new PlayStation,” I replied.
We exchanged a grin.
We could fucking afford both.
“Let’s go check out the bedrooms again,” I suggested. “You have approximately two days to back out of your offer on who gets the master.”
At the viewing, he’d said it was obvious I should have it since I’d be sharing my room with Colin every other week. But it wasn’t obvious to me. We’d gone into this fifty-fifty, and I was happy to take one of the other two.
“No backing out,” he replied. “You take the big one and keep the diaper changes in the en suite bath.”
I chuckled. Fair enough.
I reckoned most of my room would be dedicated to Colin anyway. I just needed a bed—and my shit could go into the walk-in closet. And speaking of, we had plenty of those. The hallway leading to the bedrooms had several closets. Perfect for…whatever we might need.