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With her…it’s like I’ve finally found my purpose.
I find great meaning in my work and helping my patients and family, but until now I’ve never felt anything like this. I look into her eyes, and I just know…this is it. This is why I’m here. To adore her and support her and spent the rest of my life letting her know how grateful I am that I get to share it with her.
Everything is better with Wren along for the ride. Even unpacking a moving truck.
The three of us spend the next half hour laughing, unpacking, and shifting things around to make the house feel less sterile. Starling puts up new curtains, and Wren hangs the portraits of Keanu and Kyle that she framed last week. Add a few throw pillows and a quilt their mother made as a housewarming present, and by the time Christian arrives, my bachelor pad is already starting to feel like a couple’s home.
My brother stops in the entry to the living room and kitchen, grinning as he glances around the space. “Nice. Shacking up looks good on you guys.”
“Thanks,” I say, hugging Wren to my side as she wraps her arms around my waist. “We were trying to decide where to put Wren’s couch.”
Christian frowns. “We could do the two couches back-to-back in the middle of the room. Then you could have a TV watching side and a looking-out-the-window side.”
“That’s a good idea,” Starling says, earning a glare from Christian.
“So glad you approve, Agent of Chaos,” he says.
Starling rolls her eyes. “I’m not an Agent of Chaos. The photo shoot is going to be fun. And I’ll be able to make oodles of new promotional materials and keep the donations flowing in.”
“We’ll probably be at the venue cleaning poop off the floor until midnight,” Christian says, “but sure, anything for your meme addiction. But when Theo lands the fundraising position, he’s taking down all the shots of me and that bulldog. He’s my cousin, and he owes me one for bringing his Harley back from the dead.”
Starling sticks her nose into the air with a sniff. “I might get the job, you know. I may be younger and have less experience, but I’m smashing fundraising records for Furry Friends. And it won’t matter if Theo takes it down or not. A meme on the internet is like toothpaste in a tube. Once it’s out, it’s not going back in.”
“Okay, you guys move Barrett’s couch closer to the television,” Wren says. “We’ll go get my couch from the truck.”
Leaving them grumbling in the living room, Wren and I head outside. “Are you sure you can carry it?” I ask. “I can make Christian come help with the heavy lifting. That’s why he’s here.”
Wren arches a brow. “Oh yeah? I think he’s here because he’s up for any excuse to spend more time with Starling.”
Frowning, I say, “They hate each other.”
She laughs. “No, they don’t. They’re fight-flirting.”
“I don’t think so. I’ve known Christian a long time, since birth, in fact, and he doesn’t flirt that way.”
She makes a non-committal sound. “We’ll see. I’m betting they’ll be banging in my old bed before the end of the summer, but I could be wrong. You want to place a wager?”
“No. I don’t,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “I’d really prefer they remain at odds. Or become friends and nothing more. I don’t like the idea of my brother dating your sister.”
“Why?” She turns to look up at me at the back of the open truck. “I think Christian would be really sweet to Starling, once he stops fighting his feelings and remembers having a girlfriend is fun. Don’t you?”
I grunt. “Maybe. But if he was a dick, I’d feel obligated to step in and adjust his attitude. The last time I did that, we both ended up with black eyes and didn’t speak for months. It made family functions very unpleasant.”
Wren frowns. “How old was he?”
“Nineteen,” I say. “I caught him getting high in our uncle’s shed with our seventeen-year-old cousins.”
“Oh, well, that’s not so bad,” she says, her features softening. “And it was a long time ago, when pot was more of a big deal.”
“It’s still a big deal,” I insist. “If you’re smoking with underage kids and planning to drive home afterwards.” I cross my arms at my chest, adding in a softer grumble, “And I wouldn’t want anything that happens with them to get between us.”
Resting her hands on my folded arms, she says, “It won’t. I promise. I don’t intend to let anything get between us, even my little sister.”
I grunt again. “Me, either.” I untangle my arms and wrap them around her waist, smiling as she leans closer. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me, too,” she says, her eyes flashing as she whispers, “It’s not crazy, right? I mean, two weeks is fast, but we’ve known each other forever. And if it doesn’t work out, I can always move back to my place, assuming Starling hasn’t filled the house with rescue turkeys by then. She’s talking to a farmer over by my mom’s place who has a female turkey he’s been keeping as a pet but needs to rehome. Apparently, she doesn’t get along with the new baby.”
