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“I’m not following. What’s the problem then – I have to tell you that I’d love it if you decided to stay, and I know that Smoke would love to have Xander here too.”
Tori blew out a sigh. “I think I might want to stay, but what if I change my mind?”
“Then you move on and find somewhere else.”
“But …”
Laura smiled. “You don’t need to decide right this minute – or even this week or this month. You can just take it day by day. Stay for as long as it feels good – then leave when it doesn’t anymore.”
“But if we stay for a while, we’re going to need to find somewhere else to stay. It was good of Cam and Piper to let us use their place, but we can’t stay there indefinitely.”
“So rent somewhere.”
Tori nodded.
Laura cocked her head to the side, and then a slow smile spread across her face. “Oh! I get it. You’ve gone and fallen in love with the Flanagan’s house, haven’t you?”
“I feel so stupid!”
“Why?”
“Because it’s such a weird house. Because I’ve said that I don’t even want to live here. And most of all because it wouldn’t be fair to ask Xander to live in a house like that!”
Laura laughed. “None of that matters. You’re allowed to change your mind and want to stay here. Yes, that house is weird, but it’s kind of cool too, and it’s never unfair to ask a question – Xander’s a big boy, he’ll tell you what he wants. If he hates the idea of that house, he’ll say so.”
“But he keeps saying that all that matters is us being together.”
Laura chuckled. “Then you need to take him at his word. I have to tell you, Tori, from what I’ve seen, that man would be happy to live in an igloo at the North Pole if that’s where you wanted to be. You have to remember that guys don’t necessarily care about the house they live in the same way that we do.”
“But even apart from the house, I have no idea what we could do here.”
Laura shrugged. “You’ll figure something out – and so will Xander. And it’s not as though either of you have a career that’s pulling you elsewhere, is it?”
“No.”
“So, take your time, think about it – talk about it. Take it all day by day.”
She was right. Tori wrapped her arms around her middle. She had some thinking to do.
Chapter Seventeen
When Xander got back to the house, he showered quickly, then wandered downstairs, wondering why he’d been in such a hurry. Well, he knew why – he wanted to be done before Tori got back, but she would be a while yet.
While he’d been at the gym, she’d gone with her mom to get her hair done. He loved that the two of them were getting along so well. She’d even told him that she’d never in her life set foot inside a salon with her mom before. She hadn’t been nervous about it, either. When he dropped her off at Russ and Ria’s place, she’d been looking forward to spending the afternoon with her mom.
He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and took it out onto the front deck. As soon as he sat down, he got back to his feet and started to pace. He wasn’t the kind who could sit and do nothing. He drank half the bottle before setting it back down on the table. As happy as he was for Tori that she was rebuilding her relationship with her mom, it hit him every now and then that he would never have that chance.
He stared out at the lake with a small smile on his face. He’d loved his mom and dad. His dad was an awesome guy. His mom… Well, his mom had had her flaws, but she’d loved him. He knew that his sister, Hannah, hadn’t had it easy with her. But he’d been his mom’s favorite.
He pulled himself together. If he wasn’t one for doing nothing, he certainly wasn’t one to sit around feeling sorry for himself. Sometimes, he wished that he could talk to his brother and sister about their parents, but he just didn’t feel able to. Jacob had taken their deaths hard. He’d thrown himself into running the business – preserving their legacy. Hannah on the other hand, would probably welcome the chance to talk about them, but she tended to get emotional, and Xander wasn’t good at dealing with that.
He smiled as he took out his phone. There was one person who he’d always been able to talk to – Slade had always felt like his third sibling. Xander’s dad might have thought of Slade’s dad as an employee, but Xander had always thought of Slade as a brother.
“Hey, Xander! What’s up, bro?”
“Nothing much. Just wanted to check in – see how you’re doing.”
“I’m doing great. I just finished work for the day. Just got home and…” The line was muffled for a moment and Xander could hear Willow speaking in the background.
