I smiled and stuffed it into the front pocket of my jeans.
It took me at least another hour to go through all our clothing and toiletries.There was a smaller black bag that I hadn't gone through.So, I opened it up.Hmm.Mostly what looked like business files and other papers.I snooped a little—I mean, it was right here after all.It looked like some quotes on a basketball court.Oh, actually, I held the paper closer.Quotes on multiple basketball courts.
Hmm.
I was pretty sure Stefan had a place in the city.And even if he owned another property outside of the city, he wouldn't need multiple basketball courts.
I looked—okay, snooped—at the next file.Three quotes on a large swimming pool facility.
Hmm.
The next file I looked at had quotes for a large, multi-purpose building.Yikes.
I'd never seen numbers that big in my life.Sheesh.
Stefan had some serious business deals going on.
There was also a stack of mail bound with an elastic.And yes, because I was curious—and nosy—I might have flipped through it.
A lot of letters from businesses I'd never heard of.Some from builders.Maybe those were communications for his projects.One piece of mail caught my eye.It was from the food bank.It was addressed to Stefan.Not just some random mailer that they sent out a few times a year to the “owner” of the house.It was still sealed.But something about it made me want to open it.I shrugged.Probably just a tax receipt or something.
I heard footsteps in the hallway, so I stuffed everything back into the bag and stuck it in the closet.
A few seconds later, Stefan walked into our room.His eyes dropped to me on the floor.Then he looked at the closet filled with our clothes, and suitcases stowed away in there.
“You did a lot.And here I thought you were resting.”He walked over and offered me a hand.
I slipped mine into his, and he pulled me up.“Nope, just finished.It took longer than I thought.”
He smiled.“It looks much better.And now we don't have to live out of suitcases.”He gave me a quick kiss.“I was just coming up to check on you before I started supper.”
I looked quickly around the room.Everything was neat and tidy.“I'm done.I'll come help.”
We made our way downstairs, hand in hand.Eve was already rinsing off vegetables in the sink.Giselle sat at the table.And Carlo and Nick were outside in front of the huge grill.
“What can I do?”
Eve turned to give me a smile.“In five minutes or so, can you grab the meat out of the fridge for Carlo, please?He's outside starting the grill.”And then she looked at Giselle.“Can you turn the news on?”
I didn't see a TV in here anywhere.Maybe Eve meant some podcast or online station.
Giselle nodded and answered a quick, “Sure.”Then she picked up her phone—and down came a large screen on the side of the room.
“Whoa,” I said, watching the screen roll down all by itself.“That's really cool.”
Stefan laughed and headed for the sink.“Giselle wanted a TV in the kitchen.But Carlo said no.”He and Eve looked at each other, and at the same time, they said, “So they got a TV.”Then they both burst out into laughter.
I glanced over at Giselle, who was rolling her eyes at her friends.“It keeps the kids busy.”
Eve, still laughing, said, “And it's handy so we can watch movies while we're cooking.And it’s nice to have something to occupy the kids while we're cleaning up.”
Speaking of the kids—none of them were here at the moment.The men had decided it was better if they were safely out of the way while all of us adults put the house back together from last night's festivities.
I was pretty sure it also had something to do with the fact that Nick and Eve had stayed up with us drinking half the night.We had a lovely time.And despite the fact that Eve was sleeping with her husband's best friend—she seemed very in love with her husband.They laughed and told us all about their impromptu wedding.It was a sweet story that involved 80's T-shirts.Very cute.
It seemed like every time I tried to push Eve away—she found a way to draw me back in.Which kind of ticked me off.I wanted to hate that woman.
I really, really, really did.
