I think I’ll be falling in love with her for the rest of my life.
CHAPTER 40
Declan
Knock, knock, knock.
I don’t have to check the time on my phone to know that it’s almost 8 p.m. I’ve only been home from work for about twenty minutes. I haven’t even had the time to make dinner yet.
I don’t know who would be knocking on my apartment door at this hour – or in general, really – but I know who I want it to be. But with the wedding tomorrow and a long day getting both herself and the flowers ready, I doubt it’s Elsie.
Still, my dick twitches at the thought. Especially with the image of her in those fake leather leggings last night still fresh in my mind.
But when I open my door, it’s Sean waiting on the other side.
“What’s up?” I ask, looking around the hall to see if he’s alone. “Everything okay? Is it Frankie?”
“Chill, dude,” Sean laughs. “Frankie is good. She’s currently at home in her PJs, watching some trashy reality show and eating thechicken wings I brought home for her. Her latest pregnancy craving.”
I step back so he can come in and close the door behind him. “What’s going on? I just saw you, like, a half hour ago.”
“I just wanted to talk to you about something quick.”
“You couldn’t talk to me at the shop?”
“Not about this, no. Figured it was more of a sit-down conversation without Maya and Eddie around.”
I run my hand over the back of my head, suddenly nervous. “I don’t have any beers to offer you, but I’ve got soda and water.”
“Soda is fine,” Sean says, so I grab us each a Coke from the fridge and we take them to the couch. My apartment is small, but newly renovated thanks to Matt and Mike. The kitchen and living room are all one big room, and there’s a small bedroom and bathroom. It’s a place to call my own, and that’s really all I need.
Sean kicks his feet up on the coffee table and studies me. “So,” he says. “How you doing, Deck?”
“Are you here to play therapist, or do you want to just spit out whatever it is you came here to say?”
“Jesus,” Sean chuckles. “You really are a grumpy motherfucker when you want to be.”
I shrug. He’s not wrong.
“I wanted to find out how you’re doing,” he says. “You know, moving to a new town, working in a new shop. Just wanted to check in, see how things are going for you.”
I eye him across the couch. “How come?”
“Because you’re my friend and I care about you?” he says, though it sounds like a question.
“Nice try,” I tell him. “What are you really doing here?”
He sighs. “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?” He leans over and sets his can on a coaster, then turns and faces me,resting his arm along the back of the couch. “I really do want to know how things are going. Basically, I want to know if it’s going well enough that you plan to stick around.”
I freeze with my soda halfway to my lips, because suddenly, I know exactly why he’s here.
“You know where I’m going with this.”
I take a sip of my soda and set the can back down, buying myself some time. “I wasn’t expecting it yet,” I admit. “It’s been, what, seven weeks or so? I thought we agreed on a few months.”
“I’ll give you more time if you need it,” Sean assures me. “But consider this my formal offer. I want you to be my business partner. Hell, you’ve put in just as much work as I have to get the shop to where it is today. Let’s make it official and keep building something great together.”
I blow out a long breath, considering. I knew this would be coming at some point. Before opening the shop, we had had a few conversations about it. Although I already planned to stick it out long-term in Port Myles, neither of us was sure if things would really shake out that way. So we’d discussed a trial period of sorts, to make sure I liked it here, liked the shop, and make sure I could picture myself staying. I’d been banking on having those few months to be positive. I wasn’t expecting him to bring it up again so soon.
