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“Yeah, and a box labeled ‘bedroom stuff’ that looks like I don’t want to open it,” said Nate from the hallway.
“Yep, that all goes in here.” I stepped aside and gestured to the mattress. “You can put the box there.” When I looked back, Travis caught my eye. He was leaning against the closet doorframe, smirking, eyebrows raised. Heat fluttered in my gut.
“I think that’s nearly it on the storage units,” Nate called from another room, footsteps echoing in the hall as he approached. He stuck his head in the bedroom door. “Should we start unpacking?”
“Is that—I mean, you don’t mind?” Travis asked.
“Of course not,” Cam said.
“Yeah, as long as we don’t have to watch you two do whatever it is you’re doing in here.” Nate shook his head fondly and rolled his eyes, chuckling. “To be newlyweds again.”
With that, the guys dispersed again and got to work. It didn’t take long until the house was mostly unpacked, and things were in their places, the guys all grumbling they were hungry.
“Luckily, I have food.” I pointed at a cooler we’d brought in from Travis’s truck I’d packed with hot dogs and fixings, plus drinks. “I can grill hot dogs if anyone’s interested. Also, we have beer.” Cheers rose from the group, which I took as a unanimous yes. While I grilled, Bennett came to keep me company, leaning against the rail of the deck.
“I can’t believe Travis talked you into leaving the city.” He sipped his beer and shook his head. “I never thought I’d see you living out in the woods.”
He was right. I’d never imagined leaving the city, either. I’d loved my little house just outside of Port Grandlin, close enough to drive to just about anything in fifteen minutes or so. When Travis had pitched the idea of selling our individual houses and buying one out in the country, I’d laughed at him. It didn’t take long for me to see the benefits though—we were closer to his work and he really loved being outdoors. Besides that, as he’d pointed out, we had plenty of space for fucking wherever and whenever we wanted, considering how far our closest neighbors lived. I claimed it had been what had sealed the deal for me, but honestly, it was more about making Travis happy than anything else.
“Anything for love, I guess,” I said, putting another round of hot dogs on the grill.
Bennett laughed and took another swig. “I can still hardly believe it, you know?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Believe what?”
“How hard you fell in love with Travis. You changed up everything for him. Right from the start, you were ready to give up everything for him. You were so in love.”
My cheeks heated and I focused on flipping the hot dogs to get perfect grill marks. “Yeah, about that…” I swallowed and looked at Bennett. “We weren’t in love, not at first. I mean, we were always going to get married, but that was more of… I don’t know, we thought it would solve all our gripes about life. Meddling parents, loneliness, money troubles. The love came later.”
“Seriously?” Bennett pounded the deck rail softly with the side of his fist and shook his head. “Damn it.”
“Seriously. Why? What’s wrong?”
Bennett sighed. “Oh nothing. I’m just going to owe them all a shitload of cash if they find out, that’s all.”
“Wait—you guys had abetgoing on us?”
He smirked. “Yeah, we all put a little on the line.”
I glared at him and fought the urge to shove him off the deck railing and send him careening into the backyard. A wave of laughter rose from where the guys were trying to help Travis set up the fire pit. Just as a blaze started, the other guys cheered and clapped. Travis tipped an imaginary hat and nodded his head. The tension which had been building in my chest at Bennett’s words unraveled a little.
I reached for a platter and started pulling hot dogs off the grill. “Okay, what’s the next bet y’all have going on my life?”
“Kids,” Bennett said without missing a beat.
“Kids?” I turned the burners of the grill off and raised my eyebrows at him.
He nodded. “Some of us think you guys are going to work on kids soon, some of us think you’ll wait at least a year. Time’s ticking, though. It’s been, what, six months already?”
“Six months,” I confirmed with a nod. “Which side are you on?” The idea of having kids so soon made my chest tighten again. We wanted them, for sure, but we were still in the honeymoon phase, making up for years of lost time, and neither of us was ready to give that up for sleepless nights or a lack of privacy and alone time. Besides, we hadn’t even discussed how soon we’d have kids yet, other than a vague “someday.” We were in no hurry.
He made a motion across his lips like turning a key in a lock. “I can’t tell you that.”
Before I could respond with something snarky, Travis bounded up the steps to the deck. “Are the hot dogs ready? I’m starving.”
I grinned and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’ll give you something better.”
Bennett covered his eyes with one hand. “Ew, gross. I don’t need to see that. Get a room. Innocent eyes, remember?”
Surrounded by our friends and in our new home, with Travis in my arms, I felt more at home than I had in over a decade. We had all the time in the world, and I wanted to cherish every moment we had together. That in mind, I flipped Bennett off with a smile and kissed my husband.
The End
